Just Another Blog
Friday, May 17, 2002
 
More on Assimilation

Blog newcomer Eric Raymond who unbeknownst to be is some sort of open source hero / crusader writes this very nice piece on assimilation. It fits well with my comments from yesterday I think. He talks about Asians in the United States and contrasts them to the "black urban underclass."
Eugene Volokh comments that many of the leading promoters of racial identity politics in the U.S. have begun to lump Asians in with white people, but declines to attempt an interpretation. Actually this development is very easy to understand. All you need to break the code is to know that "white" = "assimilated".

Asians tend to be perceived as "white" not because they have white skin but because they behave as white people are expected to behave -- they pursue prosperity and value education, and seek to blend into the U.S.'s broad middle class rather than creating a defiant, adversarial ghetto or barrio culture. Compare the epithet "acting white", used among urban blacks to sneer at kids with black skin who work at being good students or holding down regular jobs.
The rest of the post is certainly worth reading as well. Asparagirl turned this guy on to blogging, and I found him through her site. Keep up the good work Mr Raymond.