Uncle Bob Jindal: Man of No Color
October 26, 2007
The politics of color is changing in America. For people of color, the best path to success may be to become a “person of no color.”
I caution people in evaluating the apparent success of Bobby Jindal.
Jindal, the first Indian American in U.S. history to be elected governor last Saturday — in Louisiana of all places — is what I call a “man without color.”Normally, you’d describe a person “without color” as white, but even white is a color. Jindal’s a guy who seems to aspire to being totally colorless (that’s not to say bloodless, though we are talking about a professional politician here).
In the past, this sort of character might have been labeled a chameleon, but even that’s not quite Jindal.
He doesn’t change skin tone. His skin is still as dark and constant given his immigrant Hindu parents from Punjab.
But the changes are they’re on the inside, which makes the constancy of his skin tone a tool of deception.
When you see a person of color, you expect someone with similar values, views, beliefs — someone in touch with the emerging new majority. With Jindal, you get someone who very deliberately and proudly downplays his race in order to seek his own individual path. That kind of independence under certain circumstances may be commendable. But only if you happen to agree with his ideas that range from free-market health care, intelligent design instead of evolution, anti-choice and a fenced-in America.
When did Newt Gingrich die and reincarnate?
Whites, of course, regard Jindal as their Asian American Republican Catholic with impeccable Ivy League and Rhodes Scholar credentials.
And boy, are they happy to see a little friendly pigment float into their universe.
But for those in the South Asian community, the joy for Jindal has been mixed. Where’s the breakthrough for Asian Americans when the celebrant hardly acknowledges his ethnicity or doesn’t represent us?
Vijay Prashad, a professor of South Asian history at Trinity College in Hartford, described how Jindal has been portrayed in the Indian American ethnic press.
“The fact that he’s of Indian ancestry is a subject of jubilation,” said Prashad in the New York Times. “But there’s a very shallow appreciation of who he really is. Once you scratch the surface, it’s really unpleasant.” In other words, can you praise him and still hold your nose at the same time?
We have seen this before. South Asians have already had Dinesh D’Souza. Filipinos have current Fox darling Michelle Malkin. But they’re mere right-wing commentators, not elected officials.
Jindal may be the political empowerment version of the Pogo line, “We have seen the enemy, and it is us.” It’s negative diversity — where the group is abandoned for individual glory.
When Jindal won, even the New York Times saw it fitting to remark how the first words from his mouth weren’t about his historic ethnic victory. It was about LSU’s defeat of Auburn earlier that day. It’s an old trick, a la “We’re all part of the same team. Just us honky-tonk footballers here!”
Is he bridge-building? Or is it an example of the sickening kind of denial that can easily be attributed to ambitious, Darwinian, “every person for himself,” success stories in our minority communities?
Perhaps it shows that immigration can be the “Great American Makeover.”
Yet we know a number of successful Asian Americans, politicians among them, who don’t forget their origins and are truly in step with the struggles of their mainstream community.
In an almost calculated way, Jindal has positioned himself away from racial politics that we know, and toward something else of his making. But how does someone get elected in Louisiana without a solid plan to address post-Katrina infrastructure and build-up?
I was almost willing to give Jindal a pass during his transition and be mildly impressed by his colorless approach. But then came the negative Los Angeles Times story on the rise of Chinese immigrants who give to Hillary Clinton. Nothing illegal.
But the implication was that this strange idea of immigrants being part of the process was somehow unhealthy if only Democrats benefit. The fact is color still matters in politics.
Maybe not to the new governor of Louisiana, whose real name, by the way, is Piyush Jindal.
He adopted the name Bobby because he liked The Brady Bunch. Now he’s created a unique modern character in Asian American political history: “Uncle Bob.”
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[…] here for full story Der Beitrag wurde am Friday, den 26. October 2007 um 03:02 Uhr […]
[…] Asian Week stooge Emil Guillermo penned a resentful screed today launching a tired, effete attack on Jindal as a “Man of No Color.” He cannot stand that Jindal rejects 1960s-era tribal ideology: The politics of color is changing in America. For people of color, the best path to success may be to become a “person of no color.” […]
Amazing. After reading that nonsense the one who who comes off as a intolerant racist….is you.
Sure sounds like you resent the fact that “Bobby” was successful in making it based on his hard work, intelligence, values and political savvy. The people of Lousianna have spoken, too bad you can’t accept it. You’re what’s termed a “sore loser” because he doesn’t fit the template you created about a minority candidate. Stop your whining - it’s not becoming.
Emil writes: “When you see a person of color, you expect someone with similar values, views, beliefs …” This is the very definition of a racist. Emil, go read a copy of Dr. King’s “Dream” speech, then get back to us.
It’s not often one comes right out and admits their racism. Thanks for sharing, Emil.
You do know that John Kerry’s grandfather was named Kohn and changed it to Kerry. Grow up.
Hooray! Indians have their very own Clarence Thomas/Alberto Gonzales. That’s awesome! About time.
Unbelieveable.
A ‘journalist’ that details the fact that a politician doesn’t subscribe to or PROMOTE stereotypes or pander to his most compatible base.
And then blasts him for it.
Is he bridge-building? Or is it an example of the sickening kind of denial that can easily be attributed to ambitious, Darwinian, “every person for himself,” success stories in our minority communities?
‘Sickening… denial attributed to ambitious, Darwinian… every person for himself…’?
Is that a joke? Is it now ’sickening’ to be ambitious and self-reliant?
Emil, I think you may want to have someone proof your textual-turds before you post them. You come off as a simpleton with a keyboard.
So Mr. Jindal’s crime is that he doesn’t consider the color of his skin?
Hello? Any body home in your editorial staff? Who’s the racist intolerant bigot here? Hint for you liberals, it’s not Mr. Jindal.
As for Ms. Clinton’s fundraisers, wouldn’t be the first time she’s been bought and paid for by foreigners.
We learned nothing about Bobby Jindal in this piece.
We did learn quite a lot about the author.
Emil, you have revealed yourself to be racist. Concerned more about the color of one’s skin than their deeds.
You’re the sort of person that Asian Week and other minority-focused publications were started for - to counter prejudice and level the playing field. Instead, you perpetuate prejudice.
Shame on you. Shame on Asian Week for employing you.
Maybe there’s an opening at the Rainbow Coalition for you? Seems like that’d be a good match…
Apparently the writer believes that only good person “of color” is one that ascriibes to the liberal victomolgy mantra. All “people of color” or victims and cannot survive or proper without the kindly white liberals. The writer also apparently believes that all “people of color” that do not make themselve a part of this victim group are stupid and dangerous.
I say, Emil, keep writing this drivel, because the more sunshine on this kind of bigotry and ignorance will eventually be the liberal mindset undoing.
Wow, you actually get paid to write this kind of racist screed? Did you ever think those who voted for Jindal don’t make every decision in their life based on race, as you apparently do, and instead see someone who actually does share their values and has been very successful in life? Of course not, because you are a racist. Go look in the mirror.
Emil,
Shouldn’t you be writing for Asian Weak?
Bigots can rarely see their own bigotry. The ignorant ones never analyze their beliefs and “intellectuals” always have logical arguments for their bigotry.
Weclome to the Klan, Emil.
“Is he bridge-building? Or is it an example of the sickening kind of denial that can easily be attributed to ambitious, Darwinian, “every person for himself,” success stories in our minority communities?”
Uh, I think its called independence, self-determination, and the “pursuit of happiness”… its an American Dream thing, so how could you possibly have a clue.
Get a life already.
Emil,
You don’t get it, and you never will. Piyush “Bobby” Jindal is an American. That’s right, and “AMERICAN”. You liberals in the mainstream media love to use the term “Melting Pot” to describe the citizenry of our nation, but take offense when someone of “color” doesn’t melt the way you perversely desire. Bobby Jindal is an American first! He was elected by other Americans that will never subscribe to your racial, intolerant, gender identity politics. Sooner or later, you fossils in the mainstream are going to have to accept the reality that you can’t just say or print your biased drivel and think that the rest of us will consume it as fact or truth. Bobby Jindal will make a great governor for the state of Louisiana and all the citizens will be better for it because their governor doesn’t wallow in some ethnicity pity party.
Hmmm . . . so his name is Piyush? So what? You last name is Guillermo, what is that William in Spanish? So what? Idiot!!
I thought “The Dream” was to not be judged by the color of your skin but by the content of your character?
Funny thing is, they call themselves “Progressives”.
It seems the author of this is a racist in the worst way. When will the double standard of race baiting from the left stop? What does it take to convince them that blackface, “race traitor,” “Uncle Tom,” and “Oreo” are racist acts and terms, or that saying someone is “passing” (even without being so blunt) is an attack on that person’s race? It’s inconceivable to me that someone so racist can really be that blind to their own hatred.
Try removing the plank from your own eye before removing the splinter from someone else’s.
So much for the “cultural diversity” and “tolerance” of the Left.
It is said that anyone can have an opinion. What isn’t said enough though is that not all opinions are worth being heard. Emil, you’re opinions are worth about as much as a new Kevin Federline album.
[…] Just found out that some uber-libs can’t stand the fact that not only a conservative, but a conservative minority was elected Governor of Louisiana. Asian Week editorialist (and I use that term quite loosely) Emil Guillermo has written a hateful editorial smear piece calling Jindal a “Man of No Color.” […]
You are an idiot and a racist, geez.
Not your “kind” of person of color, Emil???
A man of not quite enough South Asian ancestry???
You are a sad little pathetic excuse, Emil…..
Not quite sure of WHAT, but you are a sad little pathetic example of it….
WOW. I’m speechless. I am amazed at such a racist attack on a man that has made it on his own merits. When I vote, I vote on what that persons record is. Race has never factored into it. If race is all that factors into a persons choice, they shouldn’t vote, period.
Emil,
I am constantly amazed by people of left leaning tendencies, like yourself, who can preach tolerance and diversity but cannot tolerate a diverse opinion from your own. This logical disconnect seems to be quite common these days on the left.
The guy is not even in office yet Emil and you are passing judgement on him. Apparently the citizens of Louisiana believe in Bobby Jindal since they overwhelmingly elected him Governor. Maybe his policy of being color blind makes Bobby a refreshingly great American. Wake up Emil!! You could learn a great deal from Bobby Jindal about being more concerned with getting the job done than finding the negative in all things.
“When you see a person of color, you expect someone with similar values, views, beliefs — someone in touch with the emerging new majority. ”
How about, “when I see a white person, I expect them to think the way I do? - you are soooo ridiculous!
“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”
Yeah, that colorless thing sounds like a real tragedy doesn’t it?
–Rich Gonzalez on Oct 26, 2007
Sorry Rich, I saw your comment after I posted.
Funny, when I see someone of color I expect to see someone who has his own judgment and his own opinions. I never thought that what I should actually expect to see would be someone who blindly follows the ‘emerging new majority’.
…the changes are” they’re” on the inside,? Learn proper English. “They’re” is the contraction of “they are.” This should be “there.”
And horrors! He doesn’t act Indian, therefore he’s not really Indian. What racist hoo-hah!
“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
- MLK, 8 Aug. 1963
“…Whites, of course, regard Jindal as their Asian American Republican Catholic with impeccable Ivy League and Rhodes Scholar credentials.
And boy, are they happy to see a little friendly pigment float into their universe…..’
- Emil Guillermo, 26 Oct. 2007
So sad…
Me and my wife are from India and settled in US for last 8 years. My two sons are born here and are Americans. They will be raised to love and respect their country of birth. I hope they grow up to be like Bobby Jindal. I also hope they don’t have to face racists like Emil Guillermo who want to judge us not by the content of our character but by the color of our skin.
Liberal racist screed.
Emil - You are the vilest of the vile. Pure racist, through and through. I’m a right-wing zealot married to an Asian and she thinks you are a racist. What do you think of that? V I L E = E V I L
You are evil.
Nothing Illegal about Filtering money into the hands of Chinese Dishwashers and ordering them to donate ? Want a bet? Just wait.
Colorless means a leader who leads everyone. Unlike Ray Nagin and the Chocolate City ..
Emil Guillermo is to journalism what Ashley Simpson is to singing. Journalism consists of reporting facts but facts only get in the way of his San Francisco values and elitist thinking. He is what he is. A race baiter and conservative hater. AsianWeek needs to reconsider their “voices”.
Mr. Williams,
You don’t mind if I call you Mr. Williams. Mr. Williams, Jindal discovered at the age of four - 4! - that embracing the whole “American” thing was a pretty good bet. William, you have less common sense than that four year old. His parents seem genuinely proud of him. I’m somehow doubtful an Emil Williams speaks for most Indian-Americans.
-Joaquin (but you can call me joe)
“When you see a person of color, you expect someone with similar values, views, beliefs — ”
prej·u·dice
–noun 1. an unfavorable opinion or feeling formed beforehand or without knowledge, thought, or reason.
Yep.
The unfortunate thing here is that this vile form of blatant racism will never be called-out by the mainstream media. Emil, plain and simple, is a racist. A bigot. A person who judges other solely on the color of their skin. Racism is alive and well in America. Just don’t go looking for it in Jena, La. Look for it at Asian Week. And The Huffington Post. And Daily Kos. And Democratic Underground.
Hey Captain Thought Process – get a clue! The only racist here is you. According to your brillant logic there should be no whites in your party.
Typical Liberal: when you can’t beat them, call them names. Good grief! You are despicable.
Emil is the new Kenneth Eng. It’s time for Asian Week to stop publishing his racist tirades. I am heartened by the number of responses posted thus far that condemn Emil for his bigotry. Interesting that he constantly makes groundless accusations towards others (as in the case of the Kim family tragedy in Oregon) and yet is seemingly content to dole it out. I think that’s called hypocrisy.
So, Mr. Guillermo. Apparently you believe that it is more important that someone be judged on their skin color, than on their character and beliefs. So much for any support you might have once had for a color-free society.
Thanks for sharing. Now crawl back into your intolerant, racist hole. You are the reason there is no prgress made in race relations - you don’t WANT them.
[…] guess I was wrong…at least according to author and racist throwback Emil Guillermo at Asian Week: Jindal, the first Indian American in U.S. history to be elected governor last […]
One word: racist!
Lately it seems that people have overused the word racist. You’re a racist if you don’t support S-CHIP. You’re a racist if you don’t support affirmative action (which by definition is racism). Finally we have a situation that is deserving of the reference, RACIST. We have a long way to go before bigots like Emil, no longer exist. It will be sometime before I return to read this garbage.
GO RED SOX
“When you see a person of color, you expect someone with similar values, views, beliefs — someone in touch with the emerging new majority.”
So tell us Emil, in your next column, what the “new emerging majority” has as values, views, and beliefs. I would find it quite revealing (as was this column was for exposing your blatant racism) to see just what it is you want Mr. Jindal to adhere to in his ideals and politics.
Liberal America cannot FATHOM why anyone of ‘color’ would choose individual responsibility over victimhood. You and your ilk sit there moaning like a bunch of Santerians at a KFC restaurant when you see such a person. Guillermo, try losing the chip on your shoulder, it’s COLORED your thinking. Ever tried playing a card besides the Race Card?
Okay Auntie Em?
You wrote “When you see a person of color, you expect someone with similar values, views, beliefs —“
Racism is a belief or ideology that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially to distinguish it as being either superior or inferior to another race or races (Oxford English Dictionary quoted by Wikipedia.).
As an American, an emigrant from India, I resent stereotyping as a racist simpleton’s prattle. And Emil you are a classic example of a mindless racist and simpleton.
-AJ
What is with AsianWeek and its hiring of racist authors? First Kenneth Eng and now this Emil guy? What is wrong with the editors of AsianWeek? Look at this sentence:
“When you see a person of color, you expect someone with similar values, views, beliefs — someone in touch with the emerging new majority. ” Are you effing kidding me?
My goodness, I would have commented but this *sshat just leaves one speechless.
Asian times maybe should stick to chasing the always elusive “victim” rather than employing this clown.
Racist, racist, racist. Un-f-ing believable.
This is a voice of Asian America?
What a twerp.
Unbelievably bigoted screed - it never ceases to amaze when the “tolerant” left shows their true beliefs. You should be ashamed.
Are you left-wing journalists determined to corner the market on stupidity? Your essay is replete with idiocy, but the sentence - “When you see a person of color, you expect someone with similar values, views, beliefs — someone in touch with the emerging new majority” - is breathtaking in its racism, bigotry and arrogance. You sir, are a nitwit and have just proven yourself incapable of writing anything worth the public’s time. Please consider a career change (telemarketing, night custodian, pharmaceutical guinea pig, etc).
The upshot of this article seems to be that Mr. Jindal doesn’t know his place. That Mr. Jindal should act like the he is. The interesting thing is, I thought it was the Conservatives who were keeping the coloreds in their place.
Liberals are only tolerant of those who believe like they do.
Smittie
As an Asian-American and an American-born Asian, I always cringe when I hear about how I “should be” instead of acknowledging who I am. It’s shaming and I receive these messages from a whole spectrum of people, including other Asians.
I’m surprised to see it in print from Asian Weekly, whom I assumed was to celebrate the accomplishments of their own and celebrate diversity within its own culture and ethnicities. It is unfortunate that you are sincere about your comments (or are you?). At the very least, I congratulate you for sparking a conversation about group identity and inter-group prejudice.
I suggest that you refrain from attacks of a personal nature if you do disagree with his political stances. This is a widely practiced technique (especially apparent in the Republican camp).
Emil,
So, your message to all of us Immigrants is this… you are a person of color, forget your dreams, visions, ability to think and decide, your color and origin will show you the way. Wow, if this is true, why even bother to come to the US? Do you mean, our concept of right and wrong will be dictated by what again? Oh, people like you, because we are both people of color. Forget the fact that our parents did what they could, LEGALLY, to be here becuase they want us to go to Brown U or the best schools in the America, so we can think for ourselves.
Bobby Jindal should be the role model for all immigrants!!! Work hard, study hard, and give something back to America.
Maybe Emil’s liberal indoctrination gave him the delusion that being an American is a right, Mr. Guererro, we believe it is a privilege, and it comes with significant responsibilities, such as, respect for the American values and culture. Respect does not make us colorless, it makes our character shine brighter. Most of your articles give the future generations of Asian immigrants something to be ashamed of.
Wow, what a racist, anti-Catholic piece of trash from an obviously bitter and jealous man. Does Guillermo think that all Catholics are “men of no color”, or does he save his hate speech for non-white Catholics?
Emil,
You are a sad excuse for an American of any color or heritage. Do you even understand how divisive and hate filled your comments are? Have you no shame??
And Woo, I challenge you to actually look at the overwhelming number of ad hominem attacks from liberals before you start attacking Republicans on this issue.
Sir, you are a racist.
I am a native of Louisiana and and am proud to have voted for Bobby Jindal.
He represents our best chance to break with the politics of the past and jump-start us into the 21st. century.
I know him personally and he is a man of character and conviction.
By the way, I am a 51-year old, beer drinking, college educated, NASCAR watching, LSU supporting, 1/2 cajun, 1/2 irish, pick-up truck driving, bald-headed white guy.
I voted for the best candidate, period.
My granparents immigrated legally from Germany just before WWII broke out. Then they actually turned aroud, joined the Army and Airforce, and fought AGAINST the Nazis.
You denigrate their memory and sacrifice by calling that scenario being a traitor to one’s race. I call it waking up and doing what is RIGHT!
Did it ever occur to you that Jindal might just be RIGHT in his following his beliefs rather than conforming to some liberal-mandated racial caste???
Dude . You Suck!..I guess everyone born Indian must be a Democrat??
Thank you Bobby Jindal for continuing to remind a world obssessed with “what tribe they belong to” that that ideas matter not race!
http://www.hiphoprepublican.com
Dinosaurs like Emil Guillermo can barely hide their contempt for assimilation.
Emil, I knew when I saw your name that you would think like this …
Does that offend you? Read the posts, moron. Looks like it’s unanimous: you are a racist.
It’s okay, though, because you’re the “good” kind of racist. You don’t lynch “people of color”, you just help them, since they’re all worthless, lazy, incompetent, and simpleminded.
Elitist hypocrite.
Dear Mr. Guillermo,
A few weeks ago, I realized that I have been having thoughts that are simply not correct for a person of color to have. For example, I’ve begun to think that I really would not want to have my taxes raised …
But thank goodness, I have come across this here opinion piece of yours on the traitor that is Bobby Jindal.
I know now that YOU, sir, can tell me what thoughts I’m allowed to think, what beliefs I’m supposed to hold, what values to embrace, etc. Thank you. I shall be calling on you regularly so you can guide me … would it that Jindal would do the same and forego his treason.
My first question: My brother just said something nice about a Republican … should I disown him, or should I go right ahead and kill him?
“With Jindal, you get someone who very deliberately and proudly downplays his race in order to seek his own individual path.” You mean he’s trying to be judged by the content of his character rather than the colour of his skin? Is that allowed?
Emil:
I’m almost afraid to post this, after all the above.
You have touched a nerve in the body impolitic.
Man, have you ever!
Were you aware that all those Louisiana “Republicans” not only read AsianWeek but also routinely post letters-to-ye-ed?
Among all the screams of racist! and the calls for your head, Christian has fellow travellers, Ken Perry scored points, and the ladder-climber note the man has yet to perform makes sense.
But not a single one in this chorus addressed the four political hot-button issues you brought up: “free-market” “medicare,: “intelligent” design, abortion rights, and a “fenced-in America.”
More to the point, everyone ignored the reference to Prof. Vijay Prashad.
In the last two? years, the NY Village Voice bounced their basic raison-d’etre, James Ridgeway, the LATimes dittoed Robert Scheer.
I hope your publishers have the guts to ignore this essential rabble. What the Hell do THEY know about “race” in America, today as well as yesterday, and, sadly and likely, tomorrow as well.
AsianWeek publishes “Arthur Hu” and gives free voice to “Christian,” and, in the “comments” column on this website, to this formerly inkstained wretch as well.
In which last regard, may I herewith “post” my personal belief that the Republican, Rovian?, swiftboaters are hard at work, full-court press, attempting to dislodge you from your longtime perch on this forum.
Hey!, they bullied Gore, then Kerry, and even that four-star general Clark into passivity, but have yet to silence McGovern or Carter, who is turning into an authentic senior statesman of whom ALL Americans, raceless and “color”less, may be proud.
With Molly Ivins dead, along with Will Rogers and Mark Twain, among others, the er, ah, “Left” must deal with the slings and arrows of the entrenched and the powerful, whstever their color, and wouldn’t it be irony to equsl the Likud/IDF/Netanyahu relevance to the horrors of the Holocaust, toss in our theoneocons here, IF Putin proves to outbully OUR bullies, and I include all Rovians, Texans or Louisianans , of whateaver “ethnic” persuasion.
Frank Eng
P.S.: Why are so many of the above mere initials? And why are they so vehement? And before they respond here, hey! some of my best friends are “white,” Well, maybe after this, they may be reluctant to admit my claim.
Wow, Emil Guillermo you are the racist here. You’d rather Jindal be judged by his race and not his actions. If you ask me Mr.Jindal is a success. He did what had to be done and did not rely on his race or “color” to get it done. You see, hard work and self-reliance and not being a professional victim is the right path.
Wow, what an execrable piece of writing this is. If somebody is “of color”, then they have to be a left-winger? Otherwise, they’re some kind of traitor…or “Uncle Bob”? Is that basically what you’re saying.
If so, shame on you. Do you realize how creepy it is to tell somebody that they have to *think* a particular way because of their ethnic or racial heritage? If you don’t like Jindal’s politics, fine. But take issue with them on the merits…not on the basis of his ethnicity or his religion.
Wow, I haven’t read something this racist in a long, long time.
Usually you have to wait for a minority to achieve success in a Republican presidential administration for the left to release this kind of bigoted vitriol.
I have only one question: where the heck are the editors and why aren’t they doing their job?
There is something positive that will come of this. Emil has just caused hundreds, if not thousands of people to reevaluate what party they would rather be associated with. One that judges you by your color and whether your behavior is “appropriate” to that color or one that doesn’t care what color you are.
Frang Eng: why would it surprise you or Mr. Guillermo that a fellow Asian would dare to not only be a religious man, but not shy away from talking about it? Or that an Asian would embrace the free-market? That an Asian would have strong beliefs concerning the sanctity of life? Or than Asians whose parents immigrated the correct, legal way would feel that allowing open borders to everyone else is a slap in the face to all the hard work and sacrifice they had to put into doing it the right way? That is the most insulting point of all in all of this.
I am sorry if some of us do not choose to be identified by the color of our skin, but prefer our accomplishments and hard work to identify us.
“With Jindal, you get someone who very deliberately and proudly downplays his race in order to seek his own individual path. ”
WOW. Like that’s supposed to be a bad thing?!?
I’m supposing that Emil suppressed the urge to say that those stupid LA rednecks thought that Mr. Jindal was just really, really tan from working on the farm.
This column is a racist piece of drivel!
Dear Henry Lee:
I don’t know about Emil, but I have absolutely no quarrel with your religious beliefs, or your faith in the “free market” and, very much so, in your belief in the “sanctity of life,” something I wish you would posit to this administration.
But I part company at your plaint about being slapped in the face by “illegal” (native American “Indians,” the pilgrims couldn’t even get their geography or tribes straight back then, might have a thing or two to say on the subject of natives and interlopers, “legal” or otherwise) immigrants.
Check your textbooks about Dennis Kearny and his sandlot imprecations vs. the laborers “imported” to build the transcontinental railroad.
You have yours, so others should not have a chance for theirs?
And I insist, what has “race” to do with this brouhaha?
Only on the surface. Beneath it, lie dog-eat-dog greeds and fears.
Are we dogs?
My belief is that theoneocons are curs, sir. And apologies to the canine species here.
And the sooner we get them out of power, the better humanity’s chances of survival.
Frank Eng
P.S.: Emil, were you aware that you are part of the “mainstream” media, or that you have qualified for a KKK sheet for this Hallowe’en? You don’t even have to go to the nearest Wal-Mart for a “disaster” of a “Chinese” cheapie version. Yeah, talk about “racism.”
P.P.S.: This is getting to be entertaining. Fun, almost.
Hey Emil…..did you and Bobby Calvan go to the school of journalism?
Sorry, I left the word “same” out. It should have read “Emil…did you and Bobby Calvan go to the same school of journalism?”
I meant to say “did you and Bobby Calvan go to the same school of journalism.”
No amount of glibness can conceal the underlying racism in this article. And Mr. Eng, the same goes for your anti-religious bigotry and anti-Semitism. Theoneocons? It won’t work any more.
Frank Eng were you aware that it was now 2007. The transcontinental railroad was what year? I believed the Irish got the luxury of working beside the Chinese, but I harbor no bitterness for that. NOONE that was around during the Pilgrims and the Railroad is ALIVE now.
Let us deal in the here and now and not carry bitterness across generations and centuries.
Emil, it looks like the world is moving on without you.
I bet at one time you were ahead of the curve. Now you have to adjust to being behind the curve.
Your “us vs. them” mentality doesn’t fit anymore.
Your world view only sets back race-relations.
How many more like YOU are out there? You and your ilk need to re-evaluate your perspective and see if you can’t join us in modern society.
PEACE
Observe Mr. Frank Eng, ladies and gentlemen.
Notice that he only dances around touching on other subjects, i.e. “neocons”, “canines”, “Native Americans”, etc. rather than address the issue with this article. And what’s really amusing is that he’s employing the all too common limp-wristed affectation of lazy intellectual superiority in a rather transparent attempt to change the subject. “Check your textbooks … ” {chuckle} Indeed.
Eng (and Guillermo) are in that tired coterie of idiots who have arrogated to themselves the right to proscribe for other people, based simply on the color of their skin, what to think, how to think, what values to hold and most importantly, because everything is about politics to these people, how and who to vote for.
Let’s be clear here; Jindal is the biggest type of threat to them. This is just an opener in what promises to be a long and brutal campaign of character assassination, hatred and harassment - Guillermo just happens to be in the vanguard. Jindal is going to be subject to a lot worse in the years to come.
Boy, you leftists love diversity of skin color….but you cannot abide by diversity of opinion.
Frank, we are to sit around and play victim in the 21st century because of events that occoured centuries ago? And again, I “had mine” because we sacrificed to follow the law of the country to which we immigrated, just as the Jindal family and thousands of others have.
And obviously, you have your political beliefs that do not align with Mr. Jindal’s, but is that an acceptable excuse to marginalize him as someone who isn’t acting like an “Asian?”
Isn’t color blindness what Martin Luther King Jr. was crusading for?
Hey Mr. Eng. . .
Are you ever going to actually address the meat of the argument rather than try to slime the bearers?
How is it in any way acceptable to imply that a person should be required to hold a specific set of beliefs just because of their skin color or ethnicity?
Why is it appropriate to imply that an entire ethnicity, from a country of over a billion people, all think the same way or they aren’t ‘genuine’? Are you implying that India doesn’t have the same broad diversity of opinion that we do here? Or that you just can’t tell all of those pesky Indian people apart? Someone who thinks that race is the most important issue on someone’s platter has one word to describe themselves in my mind: ‘Racist’.
Emil-
If the US could only welcome more immigrants of Bobby Jindal’s calibre! Cheers to him. Who cares that he changed his name or his religion. I have seen blogs by Indian democrats blasting him for both moves. I say shame on them coming from India one of the world’s most religiously secular countries! And shame on you Emil, a racist democrat…….I never thought I would live to see the day! I smell fear in the ranks of the democratic party. As a moderate conservative I say Jindal in 2016. I may not agree with where he stands on all of the issues but if he can get SOMETHING done more power to him.
You are a racist pig and should be fired. Had any Republican or sportscaster made remarks like yours, they would be in the unemployment line. Asian Week needs diversity in it’s staff by recruiting intelligent reporters.
“But how does someone get elected in Louisiana without a solid plan to address post-Katrina infrastructure and build-up?”
Mr. Guillermo, this is an *unbelievable* comment. I must not only conclude that you are a reactionary racist but, just like the good ‘ol boys in the KKK, you are an ignorant one as well. Do you have so little insight into Mr. Jindal that you *really don’t know* all that he did with his own connections and resources to help Katrina victims? Jindal was elected in large measure because, even without the resources of government, he accomplished an enormous amount of good on behalf of the Katrina victims. The fact that you don’t know this is just extraordinarily revealing.
Since you like picking on Asian, how about making fun of Norman Hsu? Oh wait, that will never happen. Liberals only support Asians who donate to the Clinton campaign!
“The fact that he’s of Indian ancestry is a subject of jubilation,” said Prashad in the New York Times. “But there’s a very shallow appreciation of who he really is. Once you scratch the surface, it’s really unpleasant.”
What is with the vague, ominous “really unpleasant” without any details to back it up. The NYT seems to be desperate to find something negative to sayabout Jindal, and that is the best they could do.
I think it’s wonderful he won. A bright day will be when we relate to our shared values instead of our skin color. When we share positive values such as friendliness, understanding, consideration, good citizenship, love of country is what brings us together instead of our skin color.
I went to “Little India” yesterday with my Mexican friend. We had a lovely time. Everyone was friendly and gave good service. I really got a positive vibration. Was it from our skin color? Nope. It was their values we liked that we felt that made the day. It was wonderful and THIS will be the hope of good future, not identity politics. It seems like intelligent people realize this.
Whining from a 40-something crybaby.
How DID you like writing for this publication? I can’t imagine a racist, such as yourself, will be in their employ much longer.
If I was your boss, I’d be looking for a mover, as well.
Well, at least we know the content of your character . . .
Disgusting. You disgust me.
Despite all the reeducation that the Left does to tell us that our friends are different because of their skin color, it doesn’t seem to work. Why? Because racism is fundamentally unnatural.
Guillermo spewed: “But how does someone get elected in Louisiana without a solid plan to address post-Katrina infrastructure and build-up?”
I almost missed this revelation of intense ignorance. Poor Emil’s hatred so got the better of him he actually didn’t bother to do any research before going off half-cocked.
Jindal doesn’t have a solid plan for post-Katrina Louisiana? What planet is this supposed ‘journalist’ on?
>>Asian Week needs diversity in it’s staff by recruiting intelligent reporters.
Good point, Bill El. Leftist rags and institution are extremely intolerant to diversity-the diversity of opinion.
Time will tell if “Bobby” or whatever his “real” name is will be a fair governor for the State of LA.
His right hand person is from Texas? What is really going on?
So, he doesn’t really speak of his parents country? Why should he…he was born in LA.
Bobbydo well by all the Citizens of LA…not just your friends…wink, wink.
one can only imagine if emil wrote
about “uncle” sheriff lee?
sheeesh!
Sigh.
Too much heat and not enough light.
Literal babel.
As in rabble.
Personally, I note a few themes herein, in all the above, that is, to wit:
A knee=jerk response to “Left.”
An incipient, here, that is, hostility to Hillary.
A subtext? reference to “limp” wrists.
As someone who not only survived McCarthyism, Jumpin’ Joe that is, midcentury last, and who, admittedly, is surprised to find himself still breathing, dinosaur or not, in 2007, I am not surprised that apparently 99% of respondents want Emil Guillermo fired. CBS fired Dan Rather over his reports? about a president whose “service” record is questionable,to say the least.
Whether Emil is or is not “racist,” those who insist on his silencing and those who attack a small, NOT remotely “mainstream” minority publication for giving him a single voice, are, to me, racist.
But, then, actually, what I truly believe is that there is only ONE race, the “human” kind, and I further believe that both Democrats and, especially, Republicans are complicit in the genocide(s) ongoing in the Mideast.
ALL religions owe it to themselves and humankind to act as they preach, as do, indeed, governments, especially this one, since we, admittedly, hold most of the arms and the delivery systems.
My insignificant beliefs, like all of yours above, OR Emil’s, or “Christian’s,” or our ambassador from Little Saigon, who, too, appears to be living in his own past, matter little — if we continue our irrational and immoral course worldwide.
If the next presidential election fails to change our course, then, well, it may well be time to resign humanity’s claim to either “intelligence” OR, more to the point here, simple justice and decency.
Bobby Jindal may prove to be an exception in Louisiana. I certainly hope so, but who, in the babble above, called New Orleans “chocolate city” ? There’s racism for you, without even a bow to that city’s claim to blues and jazz and creole cuisine.
And, guys, I could care less, much less, what you “think of me. It is totally unimportant to me. And, possibly, irrelevant to what you claim to be yakking about.
Frank Eng
I hate Indians anyway. They’re rude, arrogant entitlement douchebags who come to the country thinking that everything should be handed to them. Worked with and taught them for over 30+ years now at a college that seems to attract them and there’s not one that wasn’t like that.
Please, don’t fire Emil Guillermo!!! We need more like him out there demonstrating the complete idiocy of the left! Heck let’s give him his own show CNN.
I love the “emerging new majority” line. Better rethink that one.
Emil: This business about “When you see a person of color, you expect someone with similar values, views, beliefs — someone in touch with the emerging new majority.” sujects you to a certain creed. That of a robot perhaps. Oviously you do not align yourself with Jindal’s political beliefs. “But only if you happen to agree with his ideas that range from free-market health care, intelligent design instead of evolution, anti-choice and a fenced-in America.”
Frank: Did you get the last word in yet? The part about the USA and genocide, “…I further believe that both Democrats and, especially, Republicans are complicit in the genocide(s) ongoing in the Mideast” suggest’s that jihad is defensable. People in the mideast kill innocents and it’s ok, fight back and it’s genocide?
Emil is a racist. He’s proud of it. A man like Emil cannot be trusted to represent anyone but his Raza.
He is not a democrat and apparently has no concept of how a republican democracy should work.
It’s totally inappropriate for Asian Week to employ this fool to publish his opinion unless they ascribe to race hatred as well.
RCL
Emil…
How utterly racist of you, Governor Jindal is for all the Citizens of Louisiana, not just indentifying with those of Color.
You disappoint me, that a Journalist would use his own bigoted version of the American “Uncle Tom” slur and pass it off as Newsworthy
The Real Racist wrote: “I hate Indians anyway. They’re rude, arrogant entitlement douchebags who come to the country thinking that everything should be handed to them.”
You know what’s funny. That’s honestly how I feel about East Asians. They come to this country flaunting their alleged academic and intellectual superiority and act like their s___ doesn’t stink. They think they can get anything they want by virtue of their high IQs and Ivy League degrees. They whine about how they can’t get any white women in spite of their money and education.
BTW, I bet that many East and Southeast Asians are jealous of this Bobby guy’s success. East and Southeast Asians are threatened by the rise of South Asians. They don’t consider South Asians to be “Asian” and see them to be rivals and a threat to East Asian’s rise to power in society.
If Bobby were a Korean or a Chinese guy, Asianweek would be celebrating the historic success of an “real” Asian running Louisana. Instead, because Bobby is a South Asian (and not a real Asian according to East and Southeast Asians), then Bobby is a sellout, etc. Whatever.
Emil,
Is your world so small that only Lefties are allowed at the table?
I f Bobby were merely pandering to conservatives, perhaps your views would hold some merit, but Bobby really is a conservative Catholic…he is who he says he is, and the voters like that…unlike liberals who cliam to be for a “big tent” and freedom of speech but in fact they are only in favor of permitting speech they agree with.
So it’s your contention that the problem with the people passing along someone else’s money into a political campaign and claiming it’s theirs so that the actual donor can illegally evade the mcCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Law is NOT that it’s illegal as all hell.
No indeed. According to you, the only reason anyone is raising an eyebrow about millions of dollars of illegal contributions flowing into a candidates’ coffers is because of “racism”.
If it was, say, Polish people, or Italians or Jews or Episcopals, nobody would, apparently, mind them fronting for illegal cash. No indeed.
People like you need serious help.
Anthony aka real racist, your post make me laugh. Seems like you are some college drop-out who can not complete the degree (because of low IQ) and now devotes all the time to badmouthing Indian students. lol
I guess you are the kind who needs reservation to enter college or to get a job. Haha
Hey EMILIO,
You are racist but nobody has told you to your face. Too bad. I would say so to your face if I was standing next to you.
/George (Jorge)
Unless Mr. Guillermo lives in Louisiana, he is correct to assume that Bobby Jindal does not represent him.
Bobby Jindal is well-known; he has worked for many years in public service. To suggest that his “colorless” campaign was “almost calculated” betrays Mr. Guillermo’s complete ignorance of both Jindal and Louisiana. Jindal has a resume to stand behind and doesn’t need to hold aloft his ancestry as some sort of cheap campaign gimmick.
The honorable thing would have been for Mr. Guillermo to give some minor credit to Jindal, despite ideological differences, but that opportunity is behind him. He has instead seen fit to slander Mr. Jindal, Michelle Malkin, Dinesh D’Souza and the entire state of Louisiana in a petty partisan tantrum where race plays no role at all.
I don’t know Mr. Guillermo, but I’m going ahead and do a bit of stereotyping of my own.
I’m guessing that he grew up in the Philippines, in the 60’s or 70’s, right in the height of the anti-Marcos/anti-”US imperialism” movement. I’m guessing he was steeped in all the anti-imperialist rhetoric of those days, but then he found himself emigrating to the US anyway. Probably for economic reasons, or he could have styled himself as a political refugee of sorts against the Marcos regime.
He had to somehow come to terms with the anti-US stand of his youth and his residence in the United States, and probably suffered some guilt complex because of that. Hence his current anti-American position - because there is no mistaking this dreck that he wrote: it is anti-American.
I’ll further guess that he goes back to the home country every couple years or so, bemoaning the fact that the US is not all it’s made out to be, that racism exists, etc, all the while basking in the glory of being a Filipino-American, which many of his countrymen aspire to be.
How am I doing so far?
Should I also describe your loathing of your fellow Asians? How, despite your loud protestations to the contrary, you really are actually “in love” with white America? And that you believe Asians, especially the Chinese, are inferior? That you have to bash the “white imperialists” because you secretly long to be one of them, but will never be because of your skin color?
Feels good to be on the receiving end of stereotypes, isn’t it?
I am proud to have Bobby Jindal as a fellow American, and I wish there are more Americans who are just like him.
[…] hipped me to this article about the new Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal. This story begins by talking about Bobby Jindal as being a “man of no color” and […]
Emil Guillermo is angry at Jindal why??
1) Jindal is an Indian-American
2) He was Hindu
3) He converted to Christianity
4) He is too educated?
5) He is very succesful
6) He is Brown
7) He is a Republican
Emil cant accept that White people will vote for a Brown Catholic Guy from India. Does this fact makes every democrat uncomfortable? Democrats who love to see Rainbow-America are suddenly threatened by Colourless America?
In order to be acceptable to the Republican Party, Bob Jindal had to distance himself from his heritage, and the struggle of those living in a racist country (many who like him are also non-caucasian). He does not have a choice.
Clarence Thomas, Armstrong Williams, and other like them are completely out of touch with most African Americans. But it is the only way that they are acceptable to the GOP. You cannot be sensitive to the needs minority constituents and be a Republican –especially if you are not Caucasian. Jack Kemp tried and has been forever marginalized by the GOP (I know because I am a member).
Until the U.S. becomes fundamentally fair and just for all (without exceptions or loopholes), the ultimate political control, and socio-economic capital will be concentrated in the hands of a few. These people don’t look like Clarence Thomas or Bobby Jindal. Few institutions understand this better than the GOP. And Bobby Jindal realized this long ago.
Why am I not surprised at this amount of criticism coming from Indians camoflaging themselves to appear “western.” It is this sort of mentality that makes the world worry about indians and south asians of any creed. They sneak in quietly and before you know it they are taking over everything and asserting themselves with their demographical advantage. A word of warning to the globe : beware of the coming south asian tsunami.
Indians and south asians are parasites, pure and simple. They have no ethics, no values, no sense of morality whatsoever. They are prepared to shed their skin to achieve their purposes. Like a cancerous growth they come in waves and overtake the host country. America bewarned.
Jindal is an excellent speciment of the Indian oppurtunist. He is prepared to give up his religion, ancestory, even change his name to achieve his goal. The deciet and false sense of identity stems from their sense of inferiority complex. The mere fact that their country is a cesspool of all manner of corruption can attest to their nature. And as is their nature they can and will corrupt any host country they invade. Yes I use the word invade precisely to describe the immigrating hordes of South asian indians. Very soon America will be inundated with them. To the people of Louisiana I say this: you have handed your state over to people who will transplant you after dispossessing you of everything you have. Shame on the Southern Republican Party.
My first post here.
Comments here talk about equality,racism and such, but look around you. As long as the republic has been around, what do the board rooms look like, the majority in the Houses in Congress, even your local governments? white dominated. Jinda’sl victory is the exception, not the rule. Why is that?
If there was so much equality why aren’t there more people of color in the decision making of the country?
The goal is nice to have personal responsibility that supposedly liberals lack according to those posting here, yada yada yada and the other trappings of ‘freedom’ but, the point here is that Jindal may have come across as transparent, but he goes home and respects his traditions no doubt. If he begins a trend of minorities getting elected, then good on us. It says America has finally crossed that schism that spawned legislation to fix it, namely affirmative action.
Don’t blame liberals for the rhetoric of today, when the South was mired in white and black drinking fountains. They didn’t invent it. Should we forget the recent past transgressions because of Jindal’s victory? The scars are deep, however.
If Americans can go forward from Bobby Jindal its great,to share power thats been out of minority hands. Lets see if he starts a trend, and we get a black president, then I’ll believe minorities have arrived, and I too will condemn Emil’s comments.
Joe Marsden, Peter Hawks, Mark Georgeson or should i call you asian loosers, hahaha, Posting with Anglicized name wont change your real identity. Boy, US people are not afraid of competition.
US is not a country like Pakistan who is even afraid of its own shadow. You are trying to create India-Phobia but let me tell you this: “You are not going to succeed”
US is a great country and land of opportunity and as the saying goes: ” If you work hard and play by the rules, you can reach for the stars “.
Bobby did hard work and he has lot of brains too and he earned his success, not by words but by his deeds.
So whoever write those anti-indian rhetoric, crawl back to your cave in asia and dont come out.
Frank Eng: WRONG
“Whether Emil is or is not “racist,” those who insist on his silencing and those who attack a small, NOT remotely “mainstream” minority publication for giving him a single voice, are, to me, racist.”
You are WRONG. No-one here says anything about Emil’s race. They are saying he’s an idiot and a racist no matter WHAT race he happens to be. Check your dictionary for what the word “Racist” means.
“But, then, actually, what I truly believe is that there is only ONE race, the “human” kind, and I further believe that both Democrats and, especially, Republicans are complicit in the genocide(s) ongoing in the Mideast.”
Again WRONG. Our military is not out killing everyone indiscriminantly, as many liberals like to paint the picture. Heck, our military isn’t even killing all the ones who disagree with us and HATE us. They are ONLY intentionally killing the ones who use INDISCRIMINANT killing as a method of furthering their belief system. If one person has the belief that they should stop at nothing to kill everyone who disagrees with them, then that person needs to be dealt with forecully, because that is the only effective resolution. That is what our military does. If a person believes that they have to yell at the top of their lungs how much they hate Americans and Bush and on and on, but they engage in no violence, then that person is NOT a military target. Check your dictionary for what the word “Genocide” means.
“ALL religions owe it to themselves and humankind to act as they preach, as do, indeed, governments, especially this one, since we, admittedly, hold most of the arms and the delivery systems.”
WRONG by false premise. Government has no role in “preaching.” Governments serve as a delivery vehicle for the common interests of their constituents in terms of equitable rights…. the right to do whatever it is that does not interfere with another’s rights to do the same or otherwise. Values and morality do not come from government, they come from parents, and teachers, and friends, and peers, and MEDIA including this one. The government is merely an enforcement apparatus for values that already exist. Check your dictionary for what the word “Theocracy” means.
“My insignificant beliefs, like all of yours above, OR Emil’s, or “Christian’s,” or our ambassador from Little Saigon, who, too, appears to be living in his own past, matter little”
WRONG. Your beliefs matter greatly, for the moral reasons above, and moreso because they are WRONG, and if allowed to become commonly held, they wreak havoc on a civilized society. They need to be combated by reason, debate, and rebuttal… but not by silencing. On the contrary, I encourage you and Emil to speak loudly and often about what your true beliefs are without all the politically-correct sugar coating. The public does have common sense, and can recognize idiots and racists when they see them, as evidenced by the reactions to this article. You are to be made an example of the dangers of believing falsehoods.
“If the next presidential election fails to change our course, then, well, it may well be time to resign humanity’s claim to either “intelligence” OR, more to the point here, simple justice and decency.”
WRONG. Just because your opinion is what is “decent” is totally out of whack with common sense, doesn’t mean you can predict the armageddon of the free world. Ever killed an insect? Was that “decent” of you? Some people happen to believe that use of force is a very appropriate, civilized, and most importantly EFFECTIVE method against those who are NOT INTERESTED in debate and diplomacy. Think about the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania. The passengers did the “diplomatic” thing of pleading with the hijackers to cease and desist. When that failed, it was only by force that decent people were able, through the ultimate self sacrifice, to prevent further wholesale slaughter of even more decent people. The ends don’t always justify the means, but justification is subjective. I think the killing of those highjackers was justified… do you not? It just means you draw the line in a different place. Check your dictionary for what the word “justification” means.
“Bobby Jindal may prove to be an exception in Louisiana. I certainly hope so”
An exception to what? A person of minority descent capable of thinking for themselves? A successful politician creating useful policies that actually benefit his constituents? How awful! Let’s pray that’s an exception! Check your dictionary for what the words “Cognitive Dissonance” mean.
“but who, in the babble above, called New Orleans “chocolate city” ? There’s racism for you, without even a bow to that city’s claim to blues and jazz and creole cuisine.”
You’re right for a change… that quote was racist. It was a quote from the DEMOCRATIC MAYOR OF NEW ORLEANS talking about how he wanted to rebuild N.O. to be a “chocoloate city.” But keep ignoring the fact that liberals commonly employ racism to suppress the success of minorities… Obviously since it was a Democrat who said that quote it’s not racist after all. Check your dictionary for what the word “Sarcasm” means.
“And, guys, I could care less, much less, what you “think of me. It is totally unimportant to me. And, possibly, irrelevant to what you claim to be yakking about.”
WRONG. If you didn’t care, you wouldn’t have posted this many times. Q.E.D. Check your dictionary for what the word “Denial” means.
Next: -heh.
“If there was so much equality why aren’t there more people of color in the decision making of the country?”
Answer: Because of the very racism that people like Emil continue to purvey. It infects minorities as well. How many minorities would you guess are liberals because they have been indoctrinated that conservatism is some kind of treason to themselves and their race? Liberals and Democrats accross the nation are split fairly evenly 50/50 across all races…. but look at blacks for example which vote over 90% Democrat. It’s completely self-defeating! If Democrat policy was so effective at helping minority interests, by that logic, the observation about boardrooms and local government figures should have been fixed a decade ago.
Yet look at the exception to your rule: Bush’s cabinet. Full of minorities. Why? Not because of any of their respective races, but because each of those individuals had the most suitable talents for their respective jobs.
As long as Democrats keep telling minorities “Don’t try, you’ll only fail… you can’t succeed without the government’s help… you can’t have conflicting ideas without being an “Uncle bob..tom…whatever”…” minorities have no incentive to try to succeed.
Conclusion: You’ve got it backwards. Only when people like you condemn the comments from people like Emil will a “trend” start where minorites can truly be treated as equals. Those who want to be treated as equals, like Jindal, ACT like equals. Emil’s brand of racism is a self fulfilling prophecy: “Don’t bother think for yourself… you’re destined to fail anyway… surprise, you failed but at least you weren’t branded as a traitor.” And yet, individuals like Jindal that think for themselves manage to be successful, unlike the gloomy racist predictions.
If more people denounced and disbelieved the racist propoganda, more people would take the risk of doing the hard work that it takes to succeed in America. Sorry heh, you may not be as bad as Emil, but you’re still a part of the problem. A wise man once said, all it takes for evil to succeed is for good to sit and do nothing.
Dear Captain Obvious:
I am surprised, and just a tad flattered that you took all the time and energy and space to respond in a reasoning manner, not bullying, of argumentation.
As with “Christian,” on other “comment” “lines” of recent date, I find myself in agreement, some ot it total, with what you say and advance in “discussion” between reasonable and adult? human beings.
Let me preface my thoughts here by noting that Phil Nash, on another kitetail, about “immigration: issues properly adjured me to :cool it,: as it were, since he was trying to lower the decibels and calm things down.
I stand corrected, inscrutable Asian that I am.
First, I cannot begin to argue that I am NOT “wrong” on each of the points you bring back, but I, respectfully and earnestly beg to disagree — mostly on the basis that each of stands in a different place and both of us read and understand words and definitions and “meanings” and significzations therefrom.
My experience with, personal and observational, the issue of “race” in America is that nothing changes. In 1952, a young black man was, “mistaken identity,” charged and would have been railroaded to a near-lifetime of prison, and, in today’s Jena 6, not to mention that teenager in the consensual sex case, to me, please note I carefully note, or try to, in these screeds, to parenthesize, a single observation, opinion, protest, a step sideways at best in re race in America.
The word “genocide,” in my view, is being redefined today, in Iraq AND Palestine. Does the definition of genocide impute numbers? Six million Jews in Hitler’s Germany? A million gypsies and homosexuals? A million? Iraqi civilians, whoever their murderers?
More to the point: WHY ARE WE THERE?
How did we get there?
Backstory here: I belong among those who believe Gandhi was correct in his address of political oppressions, the tactic of NONVIOLENCE.
Just as I believe that bullets cannot destroy ideas, forget “beliefs,” I further believe that violence begets violence, and MURDER is NEVER justified.
As for “our military,” I grieve for the dead, including the true patriot Tillman
My “dumb,” numb fingers again. Sorry.
But, to continue:
I grieeve for ALL near-four-thousand now dead, in our name and our “honor.” More especially, for th ose who loved and cared about them, unlike SOME of their superiors who dismiss out of hand those who protest “in: and “out” of service.
Again, more to the point, the tens of thousands of wounded and psychologically maimed. How is this nation, this government, responding.
Adequately?
Furthermore, how do you “justify” our private armies in Iraq, forget keeping them on a leash since they appear to be nonanswerable to ANY court, escepting that of public opinion, provided, that is, the public is privy to ALL the facts, if any can be “established.”
By the way, may I say here that NEVER have I, publicly or privately characterized either bin Laden/al Zawahiri or their ragtag but electronics- and public relations wise minions as anything but murderous and deserving of interdiction.
Note I didn’t say “killing.”
Killing one or all of them will avail us nothing but MORE dragon’s teeth.
Your reference to “the” “Free World” I find both tendentiouw AND an arrogation not supported by the America of the two administrations extant.
The word “free,” so freely bandied about, I find quixotic, as in “free” to do what under what circumstances with what collateral in the bank?
As “Christian: noted, and I agreed, we were “free” to engzage in our interchange of disparate ideas, but, again, as I noted, how “free” are the near-50% of urban ghetto youth to strive f9r the American dream you apparently reside in and which I once believed in but find hard to believe now.
And it is NOT becauise of MY “race,” of which I am absolutely proud — my father was a fine and “decent” man –but, rather, because I am “culturally” 99 and 44/100% pure American, as I proclaimed in a want ad for an apartment in Los Angeles in ‘50?
Now, the young may scoff that this is “today ,” but I wonder how many restrictive covenants continue in escrow TODAY.
Just as Vincent Chin was a literal racist victim in Detroit generations ago and poor Matthew Shepard a victim of homophobia all too recently, I cite most of the above for my belief that NOTHING HAS REALLY CHANGED.
I have also had occasion to note that “reverse racism” is also a continuing order of the irrationality and xenophobia of ALL races.
But that does not justify the racism and the xenophobia of ANY majority vis-a-vis ANY minority.
Yes, I know, from experience, that “ideals” exist only in our heads, and that pragmatics dictate the gray betweem the white and the black, speaking here of light-wave variations and not the chaos and babel of trying to live in a madhouse of irrational fears and projected hatreds said fears engender.
I agree, totally, that the Golden Rule is something that must be taught at home first, then in the schools, and into the maelstrom of competitive rather than cooperative endeavors out there, in the putatively “real” world.
It’s real, for sure, so far as jobs and income, wars and genoccides are concerned.
But, here, again, to me personally and privately, in my own experience and gratifications, I believe that internals count more than externals.
Which is to say, I wouldn’t give you a fortune cookie, much less a fig yet, to be either rich, or powerful, or, very especially, “famous.:
I think Andy Warhol’s greatest contribution to American arts is his deathless observation about EVERYone’s quarter-hour onstage, center and down, spotlight overhead and audience screaming adulation.
Yes, “values,” my friend.
And on this final “score,” I find this administration TOTALLY wanting, as in nada.
May I append here that I “worked,” odd jobs etc., my way through college, I have abided by both the rules of the “game,” and the “laws” of “the land, and I have no personal complaints, since I am blessed with family and friends, wbo may or may not subscribe to any of the above, I believe in “free will,” NO coercion, not even proselyting, certainly not evangelicals and/or those who issue fatwahs in the name of THEIR “God.”
Finally, you hope?, My reason for entering this confabulation is selfish for this reason: I dread the possibility, probability? in the scenarios of neocons?, of a replay of the anti-Japanese “relocationn centers
I should be abashed but have not the grace to be so, and insist on completing the above thoughts, to wit:
In the face of growing public, fanned by “media,” hysteria about noxious “Chinese” imports, AND the, to me, ominous implications of “Christian’s” and others’ attacks, they ARE attacks, on Emil, and, in my view, AsianWeek itself, I’m a belated nonreader of my er, ah namesake, Kenneth whatsisname, young enough to be one of my lovely, some of them already “privileged,” great grandnieces and great grandnephews , none of whom seems to hold a single “political” thought in their heads.. . .
Oh, yes, relocation centers for Americans of “Chinese” ethnicity in the “apocalyptic” event of a realization of what I understand the neocon “end-game” to be.
The young, of all races, appear to be impervious to such a likelihood, but, then, the Jews in Central Europe were even more established, entrenched?, before Hitler.
An American Hitler? God forbid, but our recent performance globally would admit of an oligarchy of Hitlers. most of whom have already been outed, and some of whom have been set aside?.
I pray, in my own fashion, that I am WRONG, as you put it, but even if the howlers above have yet to become the villagers pursuing Frankenstein’’s monster, they sound, to me at least, very much like a lynch-mob posse out of a B western.
Where’s Gary Cooper when we need him?
Frank Eng
P.S.: Why are you pseudonymous?
So, in the end Frank Eng proves that he can write long windy posts without actually saying much at all.
Why am I not surprised …?
So it is ok if Barack Obama the democrat leaves his identity behind and leaves Islam to accept Christianity, leaves his kenyan background to ceept america but when Republican accepts Christianity, when an Indian accept American values democrats says he has to distant himself from Indian background?? And they say GOP accepts Bobby because he left all the Indianness??
What about Barack?? Will democrat accept him if he is Muslim??
I believe Democrats are biggest racists.
Look up Emil Guillermo in the dictionary and you shall find a hispanic Bigot (intolerante). What a fine tradition to carry on for your people (racista). You better start paying closer attention to the power balance in the world Emil.
I wonder what Martin Sheen, a Cuban American AKA Ramon Estevez would say about you. You keep referring to to Jindal as a person of color. Why not refer to him as Indian American? A little too non descript for you Emil?
Why don’t you write in spanish, since it IS your mother tongue. We don’t want to offend the rest of America with your immigrant spanglish now do we.
Get a life Emil.
-Active Duty Asian Army Officer.
OMG, a Filipino racist? What is this world coming to?
Hey Emil, did your forefathers come to America on the Mayflower?
Since you are originally from the Filipines, I somehow doubt that.
China and India are the future anchors of Asia and are even now, the major catalysts of global change.
I somehow doubt that if Jindal was a Tagalog name that you would have such a horrible attitude.
By the way, do you think of yourself as white? If you do, take a look in the mirror.
-FE
what ever happened to ole bobby? and am in Louisiana and can’t seem to hear or see him
Bobby Jindal is sworn in as governor!
Hi Emil,
As an American citizen of Chinese descent, I, for one am proud of Bobby Jindal. You see, I don’t have a problem with his value system, unlike you.
Two things (among others ) in your article which bothered me:
1) “When you see a person of color, you expect someone with similar values, views, beliefs — someone in touch with the emerging new majority.”
So then, I’m to assume that you’re saying that you should judge a person based on his color/race, and not the content of his character? Whatever happened to getting to know the person?
2) “But only if you happen to agree with his ideas that range from free-market health care, intelligent design instead of evolution, anti-choice and a fenced-in America.”
So I take it you’re for socialized healthcare? While I firmly believe that everyone should have access to affordable healthcare, I’m not sure socialized healthcare is the way to go. Who’s going to subsidize socialized healthcare? Why the American taxpayers of course, which means MORE taxes!
Concerning intelligent design, I definitely think there should be alot more consideration for this. Evolution should still be considered theory and not fact. Alot of holes in the theory of evolution. And many people across the country would agree with me on this.
Anti-choice…there’s absolutely nothing wrong with being pro-life.
Fenced-in America…hoo boy, I take it then Emil, you’re an open borders kind of guy? Assuming that you are, that’s definitely a slap in the face for all the LEGAL immigrants (my parents included) who came into this country by following the rules!
Emil, you REALLY need to rethink some of the things you’ve written in this article.
Maybe Emil’s real color is … liberal race politics democrat….
I love people who hate to be stereotyped like traditional asians then act exactly like the white liberals they got their culture and worldview from.
Guys:
I thought this zombie had long been lain to rest, but, sigh, the likes of Arthur Who AND “Henry” insist on resurrecting this golem of doubtful decedents.
For Henry: “intelligent” design?
Also, “socialized” “medicine” is the ONLY possible answer today, that is, unless you believe that dollars will “buy” health in a disease-confident culture.
As for those “pro-life” and anti the living thereof, to wit, to the barricades for Petri-dish “life,” fuck the death-in-life of those ordained for the ghettos of our snivellization and would-be paradise of pharisaical pretenders.
Bobby Jindal has yet to make an authentic “appearance” on the national scene, and I, for one, wish him well against all odds, but the Vegas betting would HAVE to be against him.
After all, WHAT “southern” political “strategy” has ever evolved beyond picayune “primitives” and/or Big Daddy/big bro apologists for peckerwoods politicos and “evangelical” saviors? Make that “televangelical.”
And Arthur, whoever you are or may claim to be, golly gee whiz and all that jazz, whathell are you talking about in re stereotypes? You, as preconfigured herein, are the template for same.
Me, I’m just your average, maybe not quite “normal,” “lie” to your “truth” of sociopolitical, forget the sociocultural, realities of the day.
The young and idealistic today, like those of yesterday, tomorrow too?, God!, I, for one, would “hope” not, may well be in the thrall of a “fantasy” fiction, but, then, you and your sponsors are no less, not one whit, mired in your beliefs that the surrealities of today’s global existence, all of us, not just “you,” are any less fantastic OR fictional.
Your fears, like your demonizings, are truer clues to that reality.
I may vote, if I’m still around then, but rest assured that you have failed to convince at the very least, this single, irrelvant?, that too, VOTE.
Frank Eng
P.S.: I find Hu’s, and their, “worldview” less than convincing, and, assuredly, less palatable than that of the young and the hopeful, as in full of “hope,” never mind belief.
P.P.S.: I challenge ALL the ghost writers behind the Hu’s on First “column” to step out from the wings and identify yourselves, sirs, or madams, as the case may prove. And who signs your checks, hmmm?
Frank, that’s the real me. You didn’t see the auto show review they didn’t print, and you haven’t seen the military and aviation stuff I’ve got up on Wikipedia and Flicker I guess either. Wait until I do a column on C# vs open source.
Art:
With egg on my face and no butter on my t0ast, I, herewith, personally, collegially?, apologize.
For mistaking a person for a “front” of sorts.
But, klutz that I remain, I continue confused, confounded, AND not a bit contrite about compounding incomprehension with incredulity.
Still, to each his/her own, and I wish you well on your YouTube? ventures.
How about a fine-tuning of lyrics to rhyme with Geritol? Low blow. Make that sage.
Yeah, to take a cue from good ol’ Roger Miller, that king of the American c&w road, dang me! But ignore the rest of that lyric line, some folk around take things far too literally. Oh, and cheers to your family orch.
Frank
P.S.: What’s “open source”? A fractal? On second thought, never mind, wouldn’t understand it anyway.
You write like a pedant, Frank Eng.
To Frank: Open source is free software. But you get what you pay for, my day job is writing software for money. I grew up with the white people rule, colored people are doomed theory in the 60s, and figured out there’s just no way that works for Asians, and that guides a lot of what I write. The rest of you can be brainwashed into thinking it’s a black and white world, and Asians are black, but that’s just not the way the world really works.
Dear JSWong:
Forgive me, but I love you, dude.
As for my invocations of “Ching Chong,” i invoke the privilege of the insulted and the diss’d.
Actually, I long ago lost my personal response to the insults of the unwashed, and, after literally, truly, hearing the intonations from a surly “white” youth back somewheres in the mid’20s, I could care less. A Hell of a lot less.
The venom in words and imprecations lie in the venom of the intent and the hate, inspired by fear, that underlies. The words and imprecations themselves are relatively meaningless, to wit, all them friggin’ frigs in that wondrous teleseries, “Deadwiiod,” a marvel of a compendium of creative, created historic realities.
Words can only :mean” what they mean to the speakers and the listeners, and this listener long ago tuned them out as losers and lost.
I remember the day the Hollywood Reporter ad man who lost his cut of the six=page full-color spread for Benedict Bogeauses? “Captain Kidd,” walking by my desk and more or less sneering, “You poor man’s George Jean Nathan.”
I had “reviewed” the flick with a nod to star Charles Laughton whilst poohpoohing the vehicle.
Well, as soneome who from birth preferred to be hated than ignored, and ignored rather than patronized, I was bemused.
All the aforesaid only to impinge on mine and your reactions to such as “Chink,” which is merely a “chink” in anyone’s armor with a cap-C.
Why let “them” raise your blood pressure? Unless they are breaking windows or dangling nooses.
“We:” need waste not any energy or time or even recognition of such sticks-and-stones.
One could almost feel sorry for “them,” but for the fact “they” deserve the purgatory of their own fears and phantoms.
Yours fraternally,
Frank
P.S.: Sara, I HOPE I’m a pedant. I KNOW I tend to the pedanctic, but that, to me seems preferable to the unread and unwashed and unredeemed.
P.P.S.: Art, we simply have to stop meeting like this. What will your peers say? Much less “think.” I’m with you about the realities of “race” and “color” and creed and greed in this contemporary neverneverland, but I part company with your er, “sol;utions”?
Pour moi, I don’t “need” their “steenkin’ ” perks and their even more “steenkin’ ” “profits,” my “bluebird” of “happiness” is strictly between me and mine and what I hold “dear,” as in pences and fartbings and pounds and ounces, none of which is “for sale.”
[…] Asian Week stooge Emil Guillermo penned a resentful screed today launching a tired, effete attack on Jindal as a “Man of No Color.” He cannot stand that Jindal rejects 1960s-era tribal ideology: The politics of color is changing in America. For people of color, the best path to success may be to become a “person of no color.” […]
[…] to Emil Guillermo’s column at Asian Week, Bobby Jindal is a Man of No Color. I first learned about the article from a […]
Clarence Thomas, Condi Rice, and now Bobby Jindal. Just because their values happen to be conservative, doesnt erase where they came from. Thomas and Rice grow up in the South. Rice had friends who were blown up in a church fire for goodness sakes.
This commentary really makes one think about what makes an ethnic group: color, neighborhood, values?
If you put 10 black persons in a room and 9 have conservative values, doe that mean there is only one black person in the room?
Bobby should not be acknowledging his roots. Then people will just know that he is nothing more than an animal.
It has been such a long road for African Americans over the centuries to get to this point where an African American could be the next President of the United States. They broke the racial barriers with their blood sweat and tears that first generation born and raised in America Piyush Jindal stands to benefit from. Every person of every color including white in America owes them their thanks for that. As much as I would like to see a fellow Indian become the Vice President or even President of the United States, I really would like to see an African American be the first President of color. Even though it would be a great opportunity for Indians and other Asians, somehow I am not comfortable with us being pitted as the alternative minority against the African American. We’re seen as the model minority while they are not. It is a stereotype that actually had negative affects for both of us.
“Even though it would be a great opportunity for Indians and other Asians, somehow I am not comfortable with us being pitted as the alternative minority against the African American.”
Arjun,
If Jindal is named McCain’s running mate, Obama may see the contest as a deeply personal one, his representing the Luos of Kenya and Jindal representing the Kenyan Indians.
Obama hails from the Luo tribe in Kenya and still maintains personal and political relations to his tribe. Now, the Luos don’t like the Kenyan Indians, a minority group that controls the Kenyan economy. When riots break out around major elections, the Luos target Indian-owned businesses, and burn and loot them.
Thus, in a peculiar sort of way, the Luos and Indians of Kenya may see the Jindal-Obama matchup as a proxy war between their respective groups.
The election as a “war” between a candiate for President and a not-quite-yet candidate for Vice President?
In-Chul, what Guatemala Gold have you been smoking?
Order me a batch, please.
I think many Indians are being racist by supporting Jindal because he is Indian but not looking at his policies. I for one do not care what race he is because he as certain policy ideas that I think are anti-science and unethical.
LA may be the first state to teach Creationism (under the new name ‘Intelligent Design’)
He is against women having choice.
He is against research.
He believes people can be possessed by demons and has done cruel exorcism rituals on innocent girls (look this up -it’s true!). Imagine a return to Salem witch hunts with this nut around.
He is also a COWARD who is standing on the backbone of brave people like Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi who stood against the majority beliefs of the time rather than pandering to it.
He is the Uncle Tom of the Indian community and is a shame for all minorities everywhere.
You are ridiculous. Do you really listen to the stupidity you spew? Ignorant losers like yourself, speak as if your silly positions are correct with no room for debate. Then when someone challenges your loonacy, rather then debating the merits of your postion, you use profanity and name calling to attack the messenger.
Cris:
“Loonacy”?
Well, the language IS “living,” and loons are said to issue strange sounds, but no stranger than subscribing to the lunacies of “creationism.”
I’ll let the ladies respond to the charge of “anti-choice.”
And I DARE you to denigrate the Great Soul of the last Century.
I love you articles Emil but here I have to differ from color coded loyalty.
I think it would be better to see the issue as being those who need the “common rights of man” (the rights & well being of the people) vs those who believe in “the divine right of Kings.” (quotes from Abe Lincoln).
The Republican party is about the elite the Kings, the royal goals & claims. This is the mentality that allows mass immigration. They don’t care about what poor whites want. They just play on race to stay in power.
Personally, I’m not surprised at D’Souza or Jindal going where they go. Many Indians (not just Hindus) hold on to the very conservative caste system culture.
Michelle Malkin shocks me more than they do. But, even liberal cultures can have deviant elements.
I expect many Asian Indians to take a very elitist position. This attitude led them to support British colonialism in Africa and this feds a lot of African resent to their presence & economic dominance.
The elite is messing the whole nation over with this gas price garbage. And, this as with the cheap labor thing is all about their profit.
But, poor whites don’t see that and most probably never will. For them, it is about race. And, for that reason, I have to actually hope the business elite maintains control of the Republican party. Since the poor white Hitler wanna-bees would slaughter me.
The liberal elite is not much better; they are just the lesser evil. All those who feel threatened by the business elite or their voting base poor white racists, tend to vote for the liberals: most Hispanics, most blacks, Jews, radical whites, alienated whites, Japanese smarting from the past, etc.
However, a number of people identify with the conservative business elite & its goals and even try to bond with the white racist (as long as they think it won’t hurt them). Miami Batistans (the exiled Cuban elite) vote heavily Republican. So do many affluent Asians, I believe.
Jews are a major exception. They are probably the only rich, affluent, white group, who “vote like Puerto Ricans.” This gives white liberal Democrats a rich and educated group to draw on for support & even leadership. Many affluent Asians go there too. Asians’ vote as a whole has split the closest to that of white America.
Howie:
Your thoughts here are intriguing, especially insofar as they seem to make SOME sense out of what is, essentially, “senseless.”
I follow you most of the way on “elitisms,” but can’t quite grasp your assay of “Jews” as “a major exception.”
Actually, in their current incarnation as AIPAC, that “golem” of a “political” entity, they are as far “Right” as the neocons and the international oligarachies of shock-and-awe and let-’em-eat-cake.
There is NO way McCain can “win,” short of a new 9-11, and even the domestic variety of governing “elite” would HAVE to be deaf, dumb, AND blind, to allow that to happen AGAIN.
The “people: may indeed be surly and, possibly, murderous, as, indeed, aren’t we all?, but they are not necessarily “stupid,” as in buying more joblessness and more poverty-line sinkages.
I think nine of those nine First School grads would vote for Obama. Hey!, ANY real “change” HAS to be a “change” for the “better.”
Walang hiya. Guillermo’s comments warrant the William Wong Award for Asian racist writings:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/examiner/archive/1999/07/07/EDITORIAL13106.dtl
What a friggin racist you are. Trying to force someone into your version of an “ethnic American” If someone doesn’t fit into your Mold of an Indian American they are self loathing. OMG he dosn’t believe in reincarnation he isn’t a real “Indian American” He dosn’t believe in Vishnu he must be a traitor to his race.
America is not a multicultural society. We are our own culture that assimilates all culture into our unique culture. Meaning that the hosts move over to accomodate you, while you move toward the host to accomodate them. We find and share our common values for the well being of us all.
As an American politician his first loyalty belongs to his constituents not to a particular race or ethnicity.
Jindal applied the tried and true Nixon Southern Strategy in Louisiana. Katrina also helped usher a need for change.
The main problem is the GOP sees him as the “great brown hope” - their anti-Obama candidate for 2012.
So if the GOP is promoting him as a symbol of diversity, their Brown Presidential candidate to the Democrats Black President (which I think is short sighted), then it is fair for minorities to ask what has Jindal done for minorities of any political persuasion?
If he is supposed to be like Palin who was supposed to attract both the conservative and women vote just because she is a conservative and a woman, then I think the GOP will have a problem. Palin was not able to attract many of the women who supported Hillary Clinton. In fact many women were insulted and felt the GOP picked a woman thinking that women would just vote for a female candidate because the candidate is a woman.
In the same token, minorities probably won’t vote for Jindal just because he is a minority, especially if he has done nothing specifically in their interests whatever they may be.
If anything GOP shouldn’t bank on Jindal being able to win minority support just because he is one, any more than Palin was able to do for them with Hillary women.
But if Jindal is not able to draw the minority voters as a minority and create a diverse following like Obama, will that change his usefulness for the GOP on a national level?
I think the main thing the GOP doesn’t realize is that Obama did not win because he was black. So a GOP brown hope is not going to win in 2012 because he is brown.
Plus Obama joined a black church, and that too one that spoke about Africa, and Obama was active in the black community.
So you’ll see one minority Brarack Obama who embraced multiculturalism and embraced his diverse ethnicity and heritage, and one minority Bobby Jindal who does not go by the name his parents gave him, Piyush, converted from the religion of his parents and broke their hearts (Jindal wrote about that himself) to the dominant religion in Louisiana, Catholism, and pretty much down plays his ethnicity, which is probably what he needed to do in Louisiana to get elected.
Here is a question: what chance would Bobby Jindal have had in Louisiana to be governor and in 2012 as the GOP Presidential candidate if he had remained a Hindu and went by his given name Piyush Jindal?
This is NOT a question about the sincerity of his conversion, but more his political chances as a Catholic Bobby Jindal versus Hindu Piyush Jindal.
Perhaps it is not race that is the greatest prejudice in the US, but religious bigotry.
Obama broke through race.
Hillary broke through gender.
Religion is the last barrier.
“When you see a person of color, you expect someone with similar values, views, beliefs — someone in touch with the emerging new majority. With Jindal, you get someone who very deliberately and proudly downplays his race in order to seek his own individual path. That kind of independence under certain circumstances may be commendable. But only if you happen to agree with his ideas that range from free-market health care, intelligent design instead of evolution, anti-choice and a fenced-in America.”
I do think the author is mixing things here. There are minorities throughout the political spectrum and that I think is healthy. The Asian community is diverse in a number of ways so why not also politics? Even within politics depending on the topic individuals are conservative or liberal or something in between - could be a mix. And seeking an individual path is alright.
The question is whether a minority identifies with the dominant culture’s religion, names for people, etc… out of a healthy sense of self and is just sharing the same values, including political values, or whether a minority has an inferiority complex who changes his name and religion and does not do much for his ethnic group because of a lack of self worth in himself and his people?
Or is the minority candidate just playing politics and knows what he has to do and become to win, and is not really a matter of self worth, which he probably has enough of, but just pragmatic politics? (politicians often do sell their souls, so this is not different)
At the end of the day, a colorless minority who doesn’t do much for his community cannot expect the minority community to blindly follow him when it suits him to be the minority candidate.
If the GOP is looking into race as a factor in a candidate for 2012 to go up against Obama, they may want to consider backing a Republican minority candidate full of color and with a record with minority communities and issues in addition to other communities and issues, like Obama balances. I think a colorless minority is not necessarily stronger than a white candidate up against Obama in 2012 if you want to make race one factor among many.
I would like to say Bobby or what ever his name is has a chance but most people will not get pass his asian indian roots sorry just the way it is is.
This writer is a racist.
Bobby Jindahl owes his first allegiance to himself. He is an individual. He does not have to fit some stereotype of what this writer thinks a minority should be, believe, or stand for. Secondly, he is an American. Period. He owes it to all of the people who elected him and those who did not, to govern his state to the best of his ability
What a sickening piece of garbage this article was! Scratch the surface of these grievance industry parasites and you often find closet totalitarians. Bobby Jindhal dares to be his own person and he is derided by this character.
Disgusting!
Anyone who wishes our president would fail is saying they wish our country would fail. I don’t know why people like him [jindal] and limbaugh have to make this all about party lines and if thats the case he needs to start ripping on bush who got our country in this mess to begin with. Now leave the politics out and put our country first because there are democrats and republicans down and out right now. So mr. jindal if you are not happy here pick up your brother limbaugh and leave the country you do not like, maybe you would be better suited in N. Korea I’m sure you and kim jong ill would get along great.