Is It Possible to Think in More Than Two Dimensions Racially

Yesterday, I read an editorial in Asian Week lamenting the relative black-and-white nature of race relations discussions in this country (i.e. when people think of race issues in America, the predominant lens by far is the black-white one).  I had this in mind when I picked up this weekend version of the Wall Street Journal this morning and found a second, although different, two-dimensional race-based story.

 

There on the front page was my high school, Lynbrook, as well as our arch-rivals, Monta Vista, singled out as two academically gifted schools that are losing white people.  Not because of what you normally associate with "white flight" (i.e. rich whites leaving schools and neighborhoods because poor blacks are moving in).  Rather, because the growing proportion of smart Asian kids is causing the white kids to become a shrinking minority group, in many cases left to feel inferior and intimidated by the perception that Asian kids are smarter and Asian parents more demanding.  Many of the quotes by white kids and families in the article had a tone, some more blatant than others, of resentment.  Cupertino, where Monta Vista and Lynbrook draw most of its kids, is now almost 50% Asian, and white families are beginning to avoid the town altogether for reasons mentioned above.

 

I could go on and on about the article itself, but my immediate frame of reference (aside from the fact that I was excited that my high school made the front page of the Wall Street Journal, and bummed because our arch-rival got the front page photo and we didn't) was the Asian Week editorial.  I noticed in the Wall Street Journal article that there was no mention of the other racial and ethnic groups that attend these schools.  However small their proportion, it would have been an interesting part of the story, if in fact you are going to tell this story from a racial standpoint, to get a sense of how other racial and ethnic groups are feeling about these issues of "Asian invasion" and "white flight," of "the nerdy Asian kid" and "the stern Asian parent."

 

Instead, the story was exclusively about the Asian-white dynamic.  Just like most race-based stories in our country are about the black-white dynamic.  Is it possible for people to think past two dimensions racially, and have meaningful dialogue about the complexities involved when multiple racial and ethnic groups interact?  Because that is our reality in this country.  But to read mainstream media is to only get two-dimensional slices of that reality.