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发帖数: 3091 | 1 小中男参军为何自杀？
临死前为何写下： my mom deserves the truth？
Why he is being repeated called racial slurs like "gook," “chink” and “
dragon lady"？
以下为Jeff Yang文章,后面美国人的讨论并没有多少同情。
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http://inamerica.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/17/opinion-what-the-deat
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What the deaths of two soldiers say about anti-Asian bullying
by Jeff Yang
By Jeff Yang, Special to CNN
Two young soldiers, Private Danny Chen of Manhattan, New York and Lance
Corporal Harry Lew of Santa Clara, California, volunteered for military
service over the objections of their families. Both ended up being posted to
remote parts of Afghanistan, deep in hostile territory and largely cut off
from the world. Both subsequently experienced extended campaigns of
harassment at the hands of their comrades-at-arms. And last year, both, it
appears, were driven to take their own lives as a result.
Their shocking deaths have raised new questions about hazing in the armed
forces — but the truth is, "hazing" isn't even the right word for what they
experienced.
After all, hazing is generally part of a process of initiation, in which a
newcomer voluntarily undergoes ritual abuse in order to win acceptance
within a group.
There was nothing voluntary about the punishment Chen and Lew experienced,
and it was designed to alienate them from their peers, not create a path to
solidarity. In Chen's case at least, the program of isolation included being
repeated called racial slurs like "gook," “chink” and “dragon lady" by
his tormentors (all of whom were white).
The more appropriate term for what Chen and Lew faced is targeted bullying
— and it's something that's hardly limited to the military.
In fact, recent research suggests that young Asian Americans are facing a
bullying epidemic. Last year, the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education
released a joint study showing that over half of Asian American teens said
they'd been the subject of targeted abuse at school, versus around a third
of blacks, Hispanics and whites.
See CNN's special coverage on bullying
There's also plenty of anecdotal evidence to support this phenomenon. In
Philadelphia, a series of concerted assaults against Asian American students
at South Philadelphia High School in 2009 counted 26 victims in a single
day, 13 of whom were sent to the emergency room with serious injuries.
The attacks were part of an ongoing stream of persecution and violence that
included racial taunts, anti-immigrant slurs and mockery of accents. The
incidents continued, despite pleas for the school administration to
intervene, until one student finally organized a strike, with 80 Asian
students refusing to attend classes until their physical safety could be
guaranteed.
Why are Asian Americans disproportionately targeted for abuse?
A harmonic convergence of factors. There's the perception — and in some
cases, the reality — of the "nerd" stereotype. The trinity of social
awkwardness, physical frailty and academic overachievement has always served
as a magnet for bullies.
There's the rising tide of animosity toward immigrants, particularly those
from predominantly countries that are seen as emerging rivals of the United
States, like China and India.
There's the plain old fact that those who are "different" in obvious ways —
appearance, name, faith, accent — are often the focus of unwanted
attention in environments where fitting in is prized, like high school. Or
the military.
And especially among immigrants and the children of immigrants, there's the
reality that cultural and familial expectations push them to submit to
bullying rather than being "disruptive" or succumbing to "distraction."
Yul Kwon speaks out about being bullied, and identity
As a result, incidents of anti-Asian bullying frequently go unreported, and
victims can find themselves increasingly distanced from peers, parents and
authorities, in a growing sense of desperation.
Over the past ten years, depression rates among Asian Americans have
skyrocketed — with young Asian American women, in particular, more likely
to be diagnosed with depressive symptoms than those of any other racial or
ethnic group.
So have suicide rates: It's now the fifth most common cause of death among
Asian Americans; by comparison, among white Americans suicide ranks ninth.
Clusters of Asian American suicides have emerged in situations that are both
heavily stressful and highly isolated. Like Cornell University, in remote
Ithaca, New York, where nearly two-thirds of suicide victims — 13 of 21 —
over the past decade have been Asian, even though Asians currently make up
about one-fifth of Cornell's student body.
Or like the remote frontlines of Afghanistan, where soldiers, far from home,
family and the comforts of civilization, have only one another to turn to
for social and emotional support.
When that sole source of aid and encouragement is removed — when it's
replaced instead with coordinated contempt and repeated abuse — it becomes
easier to understand the mindset of Lance Corporal Harry Lew when he wrote
his final message in pen on the skin of his forearm, before shooting himself
with his own rifle: "May hate me now, but in the long run this was the
right choice." And then: "I'm sorry, my mom deserves the truth."
We all do.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Jeff Yang. |
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