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Man, after reading this, especially the comments about how Asian Americans would never be fully accepted as "actual" Americans, I suddenly had a deep, ardent wish that every "American" would live a few years abroad, specifically in an Asian country. Living in Japan for almost 2 years has taught me this: there's a difference between acceptance and tolerance. The Japanese want to be exposed to the English language and non-Japanese customs/ways of life, but only on their terms.
I'm happy the Asian communities spoke up in the States, but this sort of thing never happens in Japan. Americans seem to be of the opinion that any immigrant wishing to make it in the US should learn English, work hard, then reap the rewards. Over here, most Japanese think of their language and culture as so inscrutable that any foreigner (who is never designated by his country of origin, always as "foreigner"), shouldn't even bother to learn them. I still get complimented on my usage of chopsticks (shit, there're tons of Chinese restaurants in Montreal that I've been going to for years beforehand) and people think it's an act of god that I can string together more than one sentence at a time or read kanji characters.
Again, yay for the Asian community speaking its peace. I only wish such voices were heard in other countries as well...
Sorry to thread jack. It just struck a nerve.
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