Recently Alexandra Wallace, a student at UCLA, posted a video ranting about Asian students within her school. The video, Asians in the Library, portrays Wallace venting to her camera about the things that the Asian students do that basically annoy her.
Wallace begins the video by first clarifying that she is not bashing on the Asian people she knows, just the “random people” she doesn’t know.
“The problem is these hordes of Asian people that UCLA accepts into our school every single year, which is fine,” Wallace said in the video. “But if you’re going to come to UCLA, then use American manners.”
Wallace proceeded to complain about the Asian students in the neighboring apartment buildings. Wallace rants about the students’ “moms, brothers and their sisters and their grandmas and their grandpas and their cousins and everybody that they know that they brought along from Asia with them”.
She complains about how the students’ families are all around the apartment complexes and that by being there “they don’t teach their kids to fend for themselves”.
The one thing most people find particularly offensive in Wallace’s anti-Asian rant is her talk of the recent tsunami that struck Japan.
Wallace complains about Asians using their cell phones in the library to call to check on their families overseas. Wallace proceeds to imitate someone speaking an Asian language saying “ching chong, ling long, ting tong”.
“I swear they’re going through their whole family checking on everybody from the tsunami thing, I mean I know okay that sounds horrible,” Wallace said in the video. Her heart goes out to those affected by the tsunami “but if you’re gonna go call your address book, you might as well go outside”.
After the video went viral and Wallace receive much hatred, the video was pulled off of YouTube. But it was too late, the damage had been done and the video had been copied. Video responses to Wallace’s rant were posted, bashing Wallace and saying vulgar things about her. The offenses went so far that Wallace decided to withdraw from UCLA, fearing for her life.
The video was personally offensive. I was angered at the thought of my own race being slandered on the web. Just the thought of that particular video and others like it circulating around the globe is infuriating. But the thing is Alexandra Wallace isn’t a racist despite the things she said in the video. Alexandra Wallace is much like the other people in this society who bash other races, she is ignorant.
Wallace doesn’t know anything about the Asian culture. She doesn’t realize that Asians value family more than anything. The reason why the Asian students always have their families around is because they love to be around them. Family is like their best friend and it’s the one thing they most likely hold dear to their heart.
As for speaking on the phone in the library, I understand where she is coming from. Studying for finals is difficult and it would be irritating to have someone distracting you. However, in the face of a crisis, like a tsunami, I think it would be okay for some to check up on their family. Imagine how many cell phones went off in the library during Sept. 11.
As a generation we shouldn’t be saying profane, hateful things towards her. We shouldn’t be threatening someone’s life. Instead we should educate her on the culture and help her understand why certain things are being done.
