The O-Word - Ethnic History Reveals Hurtful Origins

May 6, 2009
Written by Stacy Nguyen in
Stereotypes & Labels
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On July 1, 2002, the word “Oriental” (as it refers to race) was stricken from all government documents in the state of Washington thanks to the efforts of state Senator Paul Shin. Unfortunately, it hasn’t yet disappeared entirely from use.

Though, to most Americans, the O-word doesn’t carry the same historical and emotional baggage as the N-word, however, for Americans of Asian descent it is a racial slur that continues to inflict damage.

Henry Yu, in Thinking Orientals: Migration, Contact, and Exoticism in Modern America observes, “From the time the Chinese arrived in the mid-nineteenth century, migrants from Asia were considered a threat to white labor and society. Categorized as Orientals, these immigrants were demonized as exotic and non-American.”

The term was popularized during European colonization of Asia. Asia’s goods, labor and land, were exploited by Europeans who saw the people as inferior.

“Orient” means everything east of Europe. The term is inherently Euro-centric, establishing Europe as the standard, and the Orient as the “other.

Thus, by definition, “Orientals” are seen as perpetual foreigners. As an Asian-American, this has confused and angered me over the years because I am not a foreigner. I was born in America. My first language, Vietnamese, was sacrificed on the altar of English fluency many years ago. I am constantly faced with well-meaning jabs from my Asian relatives over my obstinate American mannerisms. It doesn’t bother me much because most of the time I celebrate my hybridism — being a second-generation mish-mash called an “Asian-American.”

That is until a person of another race calls me an Oriental — then all the happy talk of multiculturalism falls away.

My first awareness of the word came from my dad. He used to curse at other Asian drivers for being too slow, yelling, “Damn Oriental!” at them, while laughing with me. It was somewhat confusing to hear an Asian man using an Asian slur on other Asians. Other times, I would hear him refer to himself as an Oriental — also in jest. This served as my introduction to the complex nature of the word.

My first negative experience with the word was during school. I was a quiet and shy student, so it was a very jarring experience when a white male classmate randomly shoved me so I pitched forward — apparently I was in his way. In explanation, he muttered, “You stupid Orientals walk the way you drive.” That was when I absolutely knew that the word was ugly and disgusting. It felt wrong. I felt helpless and angry. I wanted to cry. I wanted him to hurt. In the end, I was too quiet and shy to tell on him. Instead, I put a lot of effort into avoiding him, trying to not do anything offensive that would warrant him calling me that again. Later in life, I would tell myself how stupid I had been to accommodate him like that.

Most of the time “Oriental” is used flippantly by a well-meaning person who thinks that it merely describes a person’s geographical origin. Recently, it was used where I work by a wrinkly old customer. She glared at me and spat out how she hated foreigners and lamented why she had to deal with foreigners everywhere she went — as my co-workers laughed. But I couldn’t bring myself to laugh. I just seethed.

I wanted to scream at her in my perfect English. I wanted to somehow make her understand how much it sucks that I can’t be fully Asian by Asian standards, and now I can’t even be American by her standards. So what is left for me?

It all boils down to identity. “Oriental” takes my multicultural identity away and debases me into the role of the intruding outsider, an interloper taking jobs away from “real” Americans. It’s shocking every time it happens because I never wake up in the morning, put on my socks, and expect someone to hate me for no other reason than the fact that I don’t look like them.

Oriental: Of or relating to the countries of the Orient or their peoples or cultures; eastern Usage Note: Asian is now strongly preferred in place of Oriental for persons native to Asia or descended from an Asian people. The usual objection to Oriental — meaning “eastern” — is that it identifies Asian countries and peoples in terms of their location relative to Europe. The real problem with Oriental is more likely its connotations stemming from an earlier era when Europeans viewed the regions east of the Mediterranean as exotic lands full of romance and intrigue, the home of despotic empires and inscrutable customs.

At the least these associations can give Oriental a dated feel, and as a noun in contemporary contexts (as in the first Oriental to be elected from the district) it is now widely taken to be offensive. However, Oriental should not be thought of as an ethnic slur to be avoided in all situations. As with Asiatic, its use other than as an ethnonym, in phrases such as Oriental cuisine or Oriental medicine, is not usually considered objectionable. American Heritage Dictionary.

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Stereotypes & Labels