The Asian American web community is up in arms about UCLA student, Alexandra Wallace, and her rant about Asians in the Library. The original video started
making its way around early Sunday afternoon and has been removed, but several mirror copies are floating around YouTube.
Oh yes, you bet, the Asian American community is
rightfully offended and
making it known. There are so many things wrong with this, but mainly how callous it is for her to casually mention the tsunami as if it were some kind of inconvenience. Don't even get me started on "ching chong." Excuse me, you are a polysci major? How much more politically incorrect can you get?
However, she has reportedly had her
FaceBook hacked, phone number and home address posted online, and received death threats all in response to this video. Do we as a community really want to give the hate back? Yes, she sounds like an ignorant racist, but she doesn't deserve to fear for her life. Yes, I had to resist the urge to respond with expletives too, until I realized that calling her names doesn't make me any better than her. No amount of verbal lashing I could give is going to compare to the turmoil that is about to be unleashed on her life from just the few short hours this video was live. Being infamous on the internet is the worst kind of infamy that can exist. It will never disappear. It will never be fully disconnected from her. It is quick to spread in the most unfortunate kind of way. This short video will haunt her for years to come.
UCLA has released a statement
calling the video repugnant and is taking action to investigate the original poster of the video. Offended as we may get, it's not our right to rally for her silence or threaten her safety. If she is, in fact, a UCLA student, I am certain the school will deal with her accordingly. (By the way, I seem to remember my own alma mater setting a
not-so-shiny example not too long ago either.) We should turn the other cheek against ignorance and continue educating the world together about the Asian American culture in a positive, collaborative way.
Just my two cents.
