Benjamin Alisuag | Finding where APAs belong

When I opened the center spread of last month's Punch Bowl's diversity issue, my world collapsed. For years I thought Asian Americans belonged at parties. The craziest shindigs I'd ever been to were hosted by Asian Americans.

But even more horrifying was the realization that Asians did not belong at Crown Fried Chicken. And I love chicken.

I guess I missed the memo.

I understand the concept of humor and I applaud the Punch Bowl. I admit - I laughed at many of the jokes in the magazine. My favorite was the quiz question about dividing by zero.

But after reading the issue, I was more confused than anything else. Why was there a disproportionate amount of coverage dedicated to the Asian Pacific American (APA) community?

Page after page was devoted to APA jokes, from the Thai Transgendered Barbie doll to the advertisement for Birthright Japan.

I honestly wonder if the Punch Bowl would have felt comfortable creating an entire two-page spread entitled "Where Blacks Don't Belong."

I am in no way advocating for more jokes against blacks and Latinos. That would be preposterous. Rather, I'm more interested in understanding the reason Asians garnered so much publicity in this recent issue.

In the 1980s, Newsweek magazine coined the phrase "model minority" for Asian Americans. After seeing a huge increase in college acceptance, APAs were deemed as becoming the new Whites. Along with this myth came the idea that APAs were diligent and hard-working - docile and complacent. In the 1980s, we became the silenced minority.

It is this status as the invisible minority which complicates the Punch Bowl situation.

In order to reclaim our APA voice, we must denounce all stereotypical images of our community. We can no longer perpetuate the submissive geisha girl mentality by laughing at jokes poking fun at APAs. The "extra" coverage on APAs in the Punch Bowl makes it seem as if the staff is more comfortable making jokes about us because they assume we won't make as much noise as other minority groups.

Comedians blur the line between humor and racism everyday. Just think about Russell Peters and his sometimes controversial interpretation of ethnic accents.

Even popular comic Dave Chappelle reevaluated his material, which often poked fun at black people after realizing that some audiences were in fact laughing at him and not with him.

In 2001, Penn students were upset by the Punch Bowl staff for their offensive portrayal of South Asian Americans in one of their issues. University Chaplain Gipson arranged a meeting with both the staff members of the Punch Bowl as well as with South Asian representatives, ending with an apology delivered by the staff.

When we spoke to alumni about this issue, they brought up the fact that the Punch Bowl has repeatedly offended audiences in the past.

However, since a class of students graduates every year, the Punch Bowl staff seem to offend a new community every four years.

While some believe it would be too restrictive to require sensitivity workshops for SAC- funded publications, the idea is similar to the alcohol training that those in the Greek council must attend. In the end, we need a method for institutionalizing communication between minority groups and the Punch Bowl.

The bottom line is that the images of APAs in the Punch Bowl hit a little too close to home. "Where Asians Don't Belong" is reminiscent of the propaganda that accompanied various exclusions acts prohibiting Asians from entering this country.

It was an unpleasant flashback to 1922 when the United States declared Takao Ozawa ineligible to naturalize but allowed white and African immigrants the same privilege. The Punch Bowl images are an unfriendly reminder that Asians once were not allowed to own land because of their "alien status."

In 1848, lured by the idea of striking it rich on the "Gold Mountain," thousands of Asian immigrants declared the U.S. their new home.

But even in 2008, the journey to find where Asian Americans belong in this country has just begun.

The author is a College junior and chairman of the Asian Pacific Student Coalition.

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