Ching Chong Chinaman: Vigilante Racism and the De-Americanization of Asian Americans

Several days ago, I posted the story of the arrests of U.S. servicemen for their role in the “suicide” of Chinese American soldier Pvt. Danny Chen. I have expressed some more personal views on this incident on Huffington Post:

Eight U.S. soldiers serving in Afghanistan have been arrested in connection with the apparent suicide of Pvt. Danny Chen, a 19-year-old infantryman who was Chinese American. The arrests came after family members pressured the Pentagon to investigate allegations that Chen had been repeatedly taunted with racial slurs. The alleged anti-Asian bullying and taunting started during basic training when fellow soldiers used a mocking accent while calling him Jackie Chan; others allegedly told him to “go back to China.” The eight soldiers have been charged with dereliction of duty and manslaughter.

Asian American history is replete with examples of the de-Americanization of its members by vigilante racism.

De-Americanizing antics often have been directed at Chinese Americans. In the midst of an international crisis in April 2001, when a U.S. spy plane had to land on Chinese soil and China would not immediately release the plane, many Americans took their frustration out on Chinese Americans. A radio station disc jockey in Springfield, Ill. suggested boycotting Chinese restaurants. Another commentator called people with Chinese last names from his local telephone book to harass them. Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Pat Oliphant ran a cartoon portraying a buck-toothed Chinese waiter yelling at a customer (depicted as Uncle Sam), “Apologize Lotten Amellican!” The American Society of Newspaper Editors was entertained by the renowned satirical group Capitol Steps, featuring a white man dressed in a black wig and thick glasses impersonating a Chinese official who gestured wildly as he said: “ching, ching, chong, chong.”

The profiling examples of Asian Americans are unending: Wen Ho Lee, Japanese internment, hate crimes directed at Muslims, Arabs, and South Asians.

Somehow the soldiers who allegedly harassed Pvt. Danny Chen felt licensed to engage in taunting and bullying of a young Chinese American who was trying to serve his country. Perhaps that’s the problem; those soldiers didn’t think that the United States was Chen’s country to serve. Somewhere the soldiers got the message that their private vigilante actions were condoned. Read more here.  For a broader discussion of this topic, go here.

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