Yellow by Frank Wu

All-American Asian by Mervin Liongco
America is known around the world for being a melting pot of culture. It’s difficult to find any place in America that isn’t multicultural. Yellow, by Frank Wu is a social commentary on how America treats and reacts to Asians. However, Wu expands the ideas of racism to not only Asians, but also all other minorities in America such as Mexicans and people from the Middle East.
The book begins with some comical Asian stereotypes. As I read the book and being of Asian descent, I frequently found myself saying, “Hey! That does happen!” For example, when the kids at school talked about Pokemon, they all had this notion that I would know everything about them because my being Filipino somehow related me to something of Japanese origin. Wu explains that it’s pretty frequent that Asians are believed to be other Asians. To the majority of America, Japanese people are Chinese, Koreans are Chinese, and Filipinos are Chinese. Aside from being mistaken as Japanese, I’ve also been mistaken as Chinese. However, mistaking Asians for other Asians isn’t just common to Asians.
Wu also points out that people of Central American descent are often confused as Mexicans, but these people in actuality could be Salvadorians, Guatemalans, or even Hondurans. This all stems from people’s ignorance of other races and how to differentiate from other races. However these things can’t necessary be helped because people will always be most familiar with who they spend the most time around. This also brings about the idea of discrimination.
In America, because racial discrimination has become such a taboo topic, it has evolved into something better called rational discrimination. What differentiates racial and rational discrimination is the fact that rational discrimination leaves out any sort of racial factor involved with reasoning. Rather, rational discrimination deals with behavior that is frequently witnessed. For instance, Wu generates this example. Rather assume a group of men is rowdy because they are black, one would look at a factor such as how they dress, i.e. baggy pants, and then assume they were rowdy. Clearly, no racial factor was involved. However, this sort of reasoning poses many dangers to human interaction.
If all judgment were based purely on rational reasons, all opinions would fall under some sort of extreme. People with nice clothes would be rich, and people with trashy clothes would be poor. People who sagged their pants would all be gangsters, and people who wore hard rimmed glasses would be good at math. As extremes as these examples are, if rational discrimination would take over all thinking, this is how people would be viewed. As bad as this sounds, discrimination isn’t actually a bad thing, according to Wu.
Discrimination is a natural self-defense mechanism that’s engrained into human nature. We instinctively integrate information into our lives in order to preserve ourselves. If we see a rowdy group of people, it is within our best interest to stay away in order to prevent any unnecessary antagonizing. In regards to race, Wu says discrimination is inevitable. People are always going to believe that Asians are phenomenal at math, and that black people are natural born athletes and singers. Which brings another issue to light: positive stereotypes.
Now, the idea of a positive stereo really should appeal as a good thing. However, Wu looks at it like a ball-and-chain. They don’t actually encourage people to excel, but rather they restrict people of their true potential. This is because when they’re expected to good at something and they aren’t, they feel they didn’t live up to the standards of their race. Take Asians for example. They’re renown for their abilities in math and science. Therefore, there is instant pressure for them to pursue a career in the medical field. I’ve seen many times over, people pursuing dreams that people create for them. If people didn’t create positive stereotypes, the dreams of others would only be influenced by themselves. Asians parents also hold high expectations for their kids.
One of these main expectations is in regard to marriage. In a hierarchy of preference, Asian parents prefer their own race, then other Asian, then everything else. Most Asian Americans however don’t really care and don’t see race as a reason to marry or not marry someone. This really is for the best because it means people marry because they love someone, not just because they’re the same race.
In reality, all of these pressures are not healthy for any body of people. Racism will only serve to stifle the growth of mankind. Rather than base ourselves in a world of stereotypes, rather, we should work to create a word where no ones’ abilities are doubted, everyone lifts each other up. Wu says that in order to abolish racism, we must not be blind to race. Being blind to race robs people of their identity. Instead, we embrace all races and just love regardless.