By Jason Lim
In Detroit, on the night of June 19, 1982, Vincent Chin was bludgeoned to death with a baseball bat by two auto plant workers enraged that the success of Japanese cars was threatening their jobs. It didn't matter that Vincent was a Chinese American. To them, all Asians looked the same and shared the blame. Neither of the murderers served jail time.
As Vincent Chin slipped into a coma from which he would never awaken, he whispered to a friend, ``It's not fair."
What does the tragic murder of a Chinese American more than 25 years ago have to do with Korean Americans today? Everything.
America is often held up as the model ``melting pot," with countless ethnicities living in harmony. Such stereotype is true to a certain extent. However, when we look beneath the surface, we see that huge ethnic gulfs exist, with many minorities building separate ethnic enclaves that often cater exclusively to their own groups and are beholden to their traditional prejudices and cultural chauvinism.
Asians, especially, seem to have eagerly planted seeds of the traditional prejudices of their homeland in America's soil, reaping crops of mutual scorn rather than cooperation. This is tragic considering our fates in America are inextricably tied together.
About 100 years ago, Koreans began their lives here in America as sugar cane workers in the sweltering fields of Hawaii. They arrived on rickety boats, risking their lives during the dangerous journey across the Pacific. They arrived looking for freedom from oppression and despair. They arrived looking for opportunities to make better lives, not only for themselves but also for their children.
Hawaii was no paradise then. The working conditions were predictably brutal. The unrelenting heat, as well as the intimating stares was unforgiving. They were no better than slaves.
This is how Korean Americans began. In fact, that's how all Asian Americans began, regardless of ethnicity and color. The location and timing may have been different. But that's pretty much how we all began. And here we are today in America. All of us.
I emphasize the important of ``us" because I want all Asian Americans to feel the organic and unbreakable bond that connects us to one another, regardless of whether we are old or young, whether we are Koreans, Japanese, Chinese, or Southeast Asians, and whether we are first generation, 1.5 generation, or second generation. I want all of us to feel our common past and buy into the future that we will together create. I want us to recognize the importance of the collective stake we share.
We share this collective stake because we share a collective identity. Although we may identify ourselves as Koreans, Japanese, etc, the world does not see our differences. They only see our sameness. They judge us by the actions of our collective community, and we are also uplifted by the same actions of our collective community.
Can you deny that Japanese cars' success in 1970s gave credibility to Korean carmakers? Can you deny that the success of Chinese movies opened doors to other Asian cultural products? Can you deny that you root for Michelle Wie maybe slightly harder than other golfers?
And, as Vincent Chin tragically found out, can you deny that we are in this together whether we like it or not?
We are in this together because the world sees us as being in this together. Therefore, we should defend our rights, safeguard our dignity, and contribute to our future together.
Of course, there is a lot of cultural diversity in Asia. And such diversity should be celebrated and enjoyed. Already, Korean soap operas are hugely popular in China and Japan. Japanese singers draw big crowds in Vietnam. Hong Kong movie stars are renowned throughout the world. Bollywood stars are universally celebrated.
We are rightfully proud of our diverse cultures. However, cultural diversity should be the way to bring us all together. Cultural diversity should not lead to cultural distinctness that could be misused to spotlight one Asian people at the risk of alienating another one. Know that we are all in this together.
But keep in mind that we are all in this together as Americans. We should never forget that we live in a nation where our cultural diversity can be celebrated and our collective abilities rewarded. We should never forget that we live in a nation where fundamental human freedom is guaranteed. We should always be thankful for this, and be on guard against the political forces back in our originating homelands that seek to use Asian Americans as pawns in their geopolitical power games by pitting us against one another.
America is nothing less than the grandest human spirit experiment in the history of the world. Let us do our part as Asian Americans to continue to make this grand experiment a rousing and lasting success for all to come and answer Vincent Chin's last whisper with a shout of our own: ``Together we can make it fair."
Jason Lim is a 2007-2008 fellow at Harvard Korea Institute. He can be reached at jasonlim@post.harvard.edu.