In July,  Pvt. Danny Chen, 19 yrs. old, committed suicide while stationed in Afghanistan.  According to New York Times, the reason behind the Private Chen's suicide was that he was "being harassed by his superiors". Sgt. Adam M. Holcomb was charged of negligent homicide and few other crimes. However, Sgt. Holcomb argues that the reasoning behind Pvt. Chen's death was because he was doing poorly as a soldier and his parents disown him.


Here is the article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/27/nyregion/pvt-danny-chen-talked-of-suicide-over-hazing-friend-testifies.html?_r=1&ref=asianamericans

Do you believe that Private Chen's mistreatment from his comrades was an act of discrimination due to his ethnicity that may or may not have triggered his suicide? Or do you have other opinions about Private Chen's mistreatment or about his reason for suicide? What do you think about the actions led by some of these comrades relating to or was part of the young man's suicide? What do you think about Sgt. Holcomb's response to Pvt. Chen's suicide?  Please share your opinions and let us know what you think.


If you want to follow up more on this issue, here are more links to other articles following up on Pvt. Chen's suicide case.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/31/nyregion/army-jury-acquits-sergeant-of-driving-pvt-danny-chen-to-suicide-in-afghanistan.html?ref=asianamericans

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/01/nyregion/jury-recommends-30-day-sentence-for-sergeant-in-death-of-pvt-danny-chen.html?ref=asianamericans

Please check out these articles and let us know what you think about the verdict of the Pvt. Chen's suicide case.

New Exec Board Members~

Welcome new Execs!!

I am glad we have a new board this semester. I hope that this year would be a good year for the AAA.
We will soon be coming up with events to do for our members. 

That's all for now.

P.S. I will be posting up some more stuff in the very near future. :P


~BTG

Hello to the New School Year

Hello Everyone,

       I like to say hello and welcome everyone to the new school year. School is starting up and that means new events, new people, and new stories. The AAA has already met up today to prepare for events this week and several weeks after. It's going to be a very busy beginning this Fall semester. I hope that everyone will have fun and do good this year. I also hope to see everyone old and new visiting AAA's events. I wish you all the best.

P.S. 

I will later post up events happening in the next few weeks. Also, for those who are new, AAA is the Asian American Association at IU. For more information, please visit our official Facebook webpage: 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/aaa.iub/

See you all soon,

~Keri

The Horrible Blogger~

Hello everyone,


 I apologize for being on a hiatus from the blog. However, my goals and hopes is to jump back into blogging. I had a lot of things happening these past several months that preoccupied my time and realized as a first time blogger that keeping up with the blog is very hard. Well hopefully, I can get back into it. I probably won't be on it everyday but I will definitely make a goal of blogging a few times a month. That might seem bad but my idea was to collect news articles and other pieces of news about the Asian American community and blog about it in one go. Also, everyone is welcome to blog your opinions as well as post any news relating to Asian Americans and life stories or experiences as an Asian American or anything related to that. 


(P.S. Sorry for being a horrible blogger -__-; )


~Keri 

Living as an Asian American-Laura as Guest Writer

Hello all!  My name is Laura Markou. I am guest writing about my experience growing up as an Asian American. I am the Asian American Associations’ current Programming Chair at Indiana University Bloomington. 

 When I was younger, I saw no difference in my appearance than any other child.  All that made a difference back then to me was which Barbie doll I had and having the bragging rights when being in possession of the most recent doll.  I was born to a Korean mother and a Greek-American father.  Although I was born in Seoul, Korea, I spent the majority of my childhood and teenage years in the remote town of Peru.  Peru, Indiana…not the country.  I never learned the Korean language.  My mother began to teach me a few words, but my father said that it was “stupid.”  How I wish I had learned the language of my mother or rather the language of my own heritage back then, it would had made life much easier (rest assured, I am currently enrolled in a Korean language course).

  I recognized my difference in appearance when I was around 5 years old.  I was with my brother exploring the woods, sliding in dirt while the rest of my family was fishing.  There were two Caucasian boys around the same age of my older brother and I playing as well.  I remember this action clearly and will never forget it for the rest of my life.  The two boys strode up to us, put their fingers up to their eyes, curled up the corners, and said “Chinese, Chinese, Chinese.”  I was baffled.  I clearly remember being confused yet at the same time I felt greatly offended.  I remember wondering what was the reason was that caused them to do this.  My brother just grasped my hand, and we simply walked away without speaking a single word.  This was the first time I had ever experienced any racial prejudice.  From that point on, I began to notice more.  I noticed how my mother always spoke in Korean.  I began to feel ashamed. Whenever my mother spoke Korean to my younger sister, who is full Korean, I would tell them to stop it or be quiet.   I clearly remember sliding down in my seat while in the car with my family.  

 I desperately wished that I wasn’t part Asian; I didn’t want to be “different.”  The demographic of Asian Americans in Peru is greatly small.  Such a small number it most likely isn’t much over one percent.  I hated myself sometimes.  I have long dark hair and eyes which are hazel yet have an almond shape.  I looked at girls with blond hair in my class with envious eyes.  Jealously overtook me during middle school.  I would never have sky blue eyes or light hair.  I did not bother to learn any culture about Korea or Greece, I felt lost and empty.  

 The change of my thoughts came in high school.  For some reason, around my junior year of high school, I began to be interested in Korean culture.  I urged my mother to teach me more words and phrases.  I actually began to speak Korean as well.  I would spend quality time with my mother helping her in the kitchen and observing as she made the best kimchi jiggae in this world! No doubt about it J Strangers would tell me I was beautiful and exotic.  I had never heard that before.  I’m quite unsure what caused me to have the change of heart, but I am glad I did.  To this day, I still struggle with maintaining both sides of my identity, but now it is completely different.  I love myself, I love my family, I love my culture.  I am Korean, I am Greek, and I am American.   Don’t let anyone ever negatively influence your life.  You are above that.  You are you.  

~Laura

Check 'white' please-Avoidance or Degrading?

 An article was posted yesterday about discrimination against Asian American in the college admissions. According to Jesse Washington, a journalist for the Associated Press, a young woman who is Taiwanese and Norwegian, believes that when applying to an university as an Asian to avoid discrimination should check 'white' as their ethnicity. Apparently, instead of viewed as an individual they are judged by the stereotypes surrounded by their ethnicity when it comes to getting accepted in top league universities.

Here is the article
http://news.yahoo.com/asians-college-strategy-dont-check-asian-174442977.html

What do you think about this topic? Do you believe this is true? Have you went through this experience? Do you believe that checking 'white' on the application other than your own is a way of avoiding discrimination or is it degrading who you are? Share your views and experiences.

Identity as an Asian American-Proud or Ashamed?

  As an Asian American growing up in the US, there are many obstacles that one faces living here. One of those obstacles is Identity. Identity as an American and as an Asian whether it's Chinese, Korea, Japanese, etc. can be a strenuous topic to discuss about.

 The stereotypes about Asians that exists in the US and even perhaps the world has an impact of how someone who is Asian views themselves and where they came from. Are you ashamed of who you are? Are you ashamed of your difference, of your culture, or even your family? Are you proud of?

This is not a topic where I am judging anybody if they are ashamed of their heritage. This is just a way of seeing how anyone as an Asian American view themselves and what are the things they endure whether it's something that is embarrassing to them or makes them feel proud.

Here is an article about a man, Yang, who has a negative view of himself as a Korean.
http://nymag.com/news/features/asian-americans-2011-5/

This woman, Lelanda Lee, is a blogger who had a say about this article.
http://whatacupoftea.blogspot.com/2011/05/desperately-seeking-asian-american.html




What are your view points on this or stories that you would like to share? What did you think about Yang's interpretation of himself as an Asian? Do you or disagree? What about Lelanda? Did you agree with her? Share your opinions and stories.