thursday

I am wondering if Asian and/or Asian-American men in the United States feel like people will be suspicious of them now that this murderer has committed the massacre at Virgintia Tech. I just ask because it seems so often the case when a major event happens: the quiet, nerdy, suburban white kid gets called into the school counselor's office after Columbine, Arab-Americans are harassed after 9-11, attractive young female teachers become associate with underage sex, etc.

With my opening statement, I am obviously not suggesting that what this guy did had anything to do with his ethnicity, but in a society in which we are constantly flooded with images, and in
this case, repeatedly of the same individual, I wonder if the association is inevitable.

I also think about international students in general. In my experience, particularly as undergrads, they don't seem to integrate very well into the American student population. Of course there are exceptions. But as a largely isolated group (I understand that on some campuses, there is even an international student dorm which to me kind of defeats the purpose of studying in another country, but anyway) I wonder if suspicion and isolation will increase.

Or maybe, maybe, for once, the people of the United States will for once view this individual at face value, for lack of a better phrase: this guy was clearly mentally ill, clearly disturbed, clearly violent, clearly just really screwed up--and this had nothing to do with where he came from or what he looked like.