A few years ago, I asked some trusted friends if I should post this graphic and they all agreed no. They worried that it was too easy for readers to misinterpret my intent. But in the wake of recent violence against Asian Americans, I’ve decided to take a chance.
One telltale form of respect or disrespect is linguistic precision – taking the energy to differentiate between related people or concepts in high definition instead of grouping them into ‘those guys’ buckets. This graphic is not about racists or their language. It’s about the common terms most of us accept and use in normal US English through our conversations and news stories.
Who did Hitler lead? Who bombed Pearl Harbor? Do we bother to differentiate between the World War II Axis powers, citizens of those countries, and Americans whose ancestors came from those countries? Please understand that I’m not saying anything against Germans or the words we use to describe them. In fact, this is a good example of the level of respect we should all expect.
But in contrast, the same respect is seldom afforded to Japanese Americans. As George Takei points out, the WWII Japanese internment camps did not intern Japanese, they imprisoned Americans.
(PS – May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.)
The Elements of Simple 