Chinese-Americans need not apply ... how to cope with others' racism
December 20, 2009
BY ELIZABETH DILTS, POST-TRIBUNE CORRESPONDENT
Wanted: Young, professional go-getter willing to relocate his/her life to the wild, wild East -- China -- to work for the Chinese media in an office where you need not only fluency in Mandarin, but a foreign complexion. Looking for candidates with a background in journalism, proficiency in spoken, reading and written Mandarin Chinese who value tolerance above the individual. Preference will be shown to blondes. Salary: $700/month, no benefits.
"It's not, how do Americans say, discrimination," my managing editor told me, as she recited the message come down the pipe from my publisher. "It's just that Nancy (the publisher) thinks a blonde would look more foreign."
My publisher held two resumes in her hands, both applications to replace my co-English editor at the bilingual magazine where I work in China.
One was submitted by a well-heeled and ambitious young Chinese-American woman, who recently graduated from UCLA's school of journalism and was looking for her first job. The second resume was submitted by an American blonde from Florida who worked in promotions for a foreign charity in town.
The blonde can't speak Chinese. The Chinese-American can -- fluently. That should have made the decision easy.
But it was discrimination and the decision of how to navigate that sensitive conversation, how to cope with another's racism and how to mediate between my own values and reality was anything but easy.
My editor asked me to tell the Chinese-American girl, when I met her for coffee next week, that she was not offered the job. There was no need for even an informational interview.
She wasn't offered the job because she looked too Chinese and my boss wanted someone who made the office look more international.
And that image was more important that the ability to communicate.
"That's nothing. Wait 'til you hear this one," my friend Gao Yan said. Gao is Chinese but holds citizenship in both China and America -- a rare and controversial duality he was granted in 1989, when he was protected under political asylum. Gao lived in Providence, R.I., for 16 years and returned to China when his American microbrewery opened it's first China plant in his home town, Nanjing.
"The first time I brought my director of marketing, an Italian guy from Providence, to China, those (expletives) thought he was the boss! They greeted us at the plane and led him, my assistant, down the red carpet!"
It's deplorable but understandable. A person of Chinese heritage often looks Chinese and it's likely, on first glance, he or she might be mistaken for being native.
A blonde looks much more foreign.
But in this situation that unsatisfactory logic escalated to an unacceptable level for several reasons.
First, a magazine is a print operation. This isn't CNN and we're not talking Andrea Koppel, Ted Koppel's Irish-looking daughter who reported from China in masterful Mandarin.
The blonde candidate wouldn't be on TV and she's not fluent. Second, the Chinese-American candidate simply wasn't wanted. If I insisted on hiring her, she would likely face inter-office discrimination and be offered a lower salary.
Imagine Connie Chung being un-marketable in China.
After an underwhelming interview, I shuffled the blonde's resume to the bottom of my stack and returned to the classifieds. Then a second Chinese-American's resume came in, and a third, and a fourth. One looked promising: journalism degree from NYU, native English speaker with fluency in Chinese, previous writing experience and a love of China's "often unrefined and instantaneous demands." I took it to my managing editor.
"Oh," she said. She didn't need to say more for the disappointment to register. Another ABC -- American-Born Chinese.
The dilemma I now find myself in is not who to hire, but rather should I even bother considering Chinese-Americans?
If I wanted to hire a Chinese-American, or a Chinese-Canadian, or a Chinese-Australian, I'd feel obligated out of mutual humanity to confess the managements' discrimination. And who would that benefit?
"Nice to meet you. Our office is either rejecting your application because you're not white enough or you can work for us for less money than someone less qualified. Your choice."
Is it better to be given the choice and be forced to face discrimination, or is it better to be protected, but denied? And if I chose the later, does it validate discrimination?
"Nice to meet you. Our office is either rejecting your application because you're not white enough or you can work for us for less money than someone less qualified. Your choice."
Gao Yan was granted a rare and controversial dual citizenship in what year?
