Journalist discusses living with intolerance

Armed with her wealth of knowledge, a lifetime of experience and a healthy humor, Helen Zia inspired and motivated students in a speech last night to challenge those in American society who are suspicious, distrustful or outright hateful toward members of minorities.

Zia, an Asian-American journalist, author and political and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender activist, addressed about 100 students in College Hall. Her lecture was part of Asian Pacific American Heritage Week.

Zia discussed the controversial policy of racial profiling, saying it is ineffective and a constraint on people's liberty. She added that current U.S. government policies unfairly target Middle East and South Asian people in much the same way that former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's government treated Japanese Americans during World War II.

"The general consensus of those experts who deal with national security... is that racial profiling does not improve national security," Zia said. "It's sloppy -- if you're just looking for one type of person, you're going to miss others."

APAHW kicked off last week and featured a performance by comedian Margaret Cho on Saturday.

On Tuesday night, students held a candlelight vigil on College Green. The aim of the vigil, which Zia attended, was to discuss hate crimes, a topic Zia has researched extensively.

"We could really equate hate crimes to terrorism," she said. "That kind of ideology is fundamentalism, an American kind of fundamentalism."

Zia cited several examples of hate crimes committed against members of minorities in the U.S. and the challenge that communities face in fighting intolerance.

"We know bigotry has no real boundaries, which is why we've got to work on continuing to build bridges to cross boundaries," Zia said.

"I hope our homeland security force does something about domestic terrorism," she added.

Zia claimed the United States as a whole has not yet accepted all minorities as American. She claimed that people never immediately accepted that she was just an American from New Jersey.

"They always say, 'Where are your people from?' Then I say China," Zia said.

On the other hand, "When you ask, where are your people from, they say in a kind of huff, my people are from America -- as if you can never be truly American."

Zia explained that every individual has a number of identities, which can lead to friction within a community.

"I know that my race, my gender, my sexual orientation, can be items of demonization," she said. "An entire group of people can be labeled as bad, as less than American."

Zia said even different minorities could be intolerant, citing examples of attacks on Arabs and South Asians after Sept. 11 by African Americans and East Asians.

She also said that being an Asian lesbian leaves her open for two avenues of abuse, sometimes even from fellow Asians.

"I've probably been called every anti-Asian slur there is," Zia said. "I've also been called a dyke, or more accurately, a fucking dyke."

Zia has always emphasized that action is necessary for change, and she encouraged her audience to raise their voices and be more proactive.

"We Asian Americans have to stop being so fucking polite," Zia said. "I hope you all go forward and make a lot of trouble -- nothing happens without shaking things up a little bit."

Students said Zia's speech addressed some of their most important concerns.

"It was really insightful, inspirational," said event co-coordinator Cindy Hwang, a Wharton sophomore. "I think these are issues faced by a lot of Asian Americans."

"She's written books about hate crime and racial profiling that are very relevant to issues we face," said Engineering sophomore Clarence Tong, the other coordinator.

"She's clearly very knowledgeable and motivational," added Asian Pacific Student Coalition Chairwoman Eugena Oh, a College junior. "I was really impressed at the great job she did of tying [the speech] into the theme of APAHW -- 'Beyond Impressions.'"

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