Race and Resistance: Literature and Politics in Asian America

Rating:
Summary: racist
Review: Anyone who continues to think of race as a primary characteristic of someone is a racist.

This book is racist.

Culturally, there are so many divides within any given "race," that it is an illusory category that should be abandoned.

It would be much better to look at people in terms of common beliefs. For instance, Japanese Baptists have more in common with American Baptists than either group has with Satanists.

It is religion, or the lack of it, that unites or divides people, or at least what it is that they believe.

As ML King put it, it's the content of one's character that should be judged. This means what they believe, and how it is enacted through time. Skin color and racial characteristics are meaningless.

Rating:
Summary: The first reviewer has completely missed the point
Review: Yes, I would agree that Japanese Baptists have more in common with American Baptists than, say, Japanese Satanists or Buddhists, but that is an irrelevant digression. For one thing, you cannot tell by looking at someone what beliefs he holds, or whatnot--but you can (at least most of the time) tell the person's race. And that is how we lump people together--not based on what they really believe, but on the superficial side. So this book is not racist; it just points out (accurately) the unpleasant truth. Would you rather have the author sugarcoat everything and make it seem as if we all only care about "what's on the inside" a la Barney the big purple dinosaur? If so, you might want to go back to watching Sesame Street, I think the commercials are about over.