Second Opinion : OTHER MEDIA : L.A. INDIA : Homeland and New Home: Honor Them Equally

It was not until 1946 that Indians were officially allowed to emigrate to the U.S. Since then the flow of Indian immigration has continued at a steady pace and now there are an estimated 1 million people in the United States from the Indian subcontinent.

The external struggle goes on. On one hand, America is great, peaceful and productive; on the other, we miss our motherland, our culture and our friends.

One could argue that since Indians in the United States are doing well in every field, that itself is proof enough that Indians assimilate well. They are good at what Americans are good at--making money.

Indians do have an advantage because we know that the grass is not greener on the other side. We have seen life at its lowest point and now we appreciate what we have.

We should count our blessings in the fact that we come from a culture that supports a network of families and friends. Most of us are fortunate enough to have been raised by both parents at home. We also have a number of spiritual avenues available to us.

The challenge for us is to be grateful for what we have and yet keep our identity, faith, and kindness, and also be a part of mainstream American life. Finally, because we are blessed with so much, we must give some back to both our country of birth and also to our country of adoption. As we have received from both, we must give back to both.

From an editorial in L.A. India, a weekly published Fridays in Los Angeles serving Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and Sri Lankans in California.

THE RAFU SHIMPO

‘Joy Luck’ Movie Sends Old Message About Men

OK, I’m ready for all the tomatoes I’m gonna get thrown at me on this one. Many Asian-Americans had high hopes for the movie adaptation of Amy Tan’s best-selling novel, “The Joy Luck Club,” because it talked about the Asian-American experience.

On the plus side, it gives a lot of Asian-American actresses the chance to play--and be seen as--fully developed people who are very American in their experiences and outlook on life. It shows the difficult times all children go through in trying to win approval of their parents--in this case, daughters and their mothers.

Still, it sends the same old messages about Asian men being uncaring, unfeeling and chauvinistic in contrast to their white male counterparts.

A lot of those who read the book told me that it was a bit anti-Asian male in its tone, so they expected the movie to be in the same vein. But they pointed out to me that the film went two steps further than the book in making it worse.

One of the messages I was getting is that Chinese women are burdened with a very oppressive culture. The Chinese men contribute to it and those born here in the United States are not different, despite different acculturation.

But white males are understanding.

It’s the same old Hollywood message repeated in countless films like “The World of Suzie Wong,” “Year of the Dragon” and “Come See the Paradise”--come rescue these poor women from their unfairly cold Asian men.

I realize it’s hard to criticize a Hollywood film that gives us what we’ve long dreamed of--a story written by an Asian-American (Amy Tan, along with Wayne Wang of “Dim Sum” and “Eat a Bowl of Tea”).

But it’s difficult for me to accept this movie as warmly as I’d like. A noted Asian-American female journalist came up to me after the screening and the first thing she expressed to me was her problem with the film’s portrayal of Asian men.

Others tell me it’s merely an Asian-American women’s story and that it should be taken just as that. Asian male-bashing was not the intent. But one has to question the point of view of a writer who reportedly said she never considered dating Asian men because she looked at them as her brothers.

Hopefully, it’ll encourage Hollywood to portray Asian-Americans as Americans first, emphasizing those aspects of our identity instead of the Asian one, which is all we ever get.