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Excuse My Gangsta Ways Is Both Illuminating And Uplifting

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RiloKilo
10/08/09

In reply to Excuse My Gangsta Ways Is Both Illuminating And Uplifting
Has anyone seen "Gran Torino"? Not about Asian American women in gangs, but kind of along the same lines (Asian American men). I liked it a lot, and it was about a whole subculture of people I barely knew anything about beforehand.
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thesciencegirl promoted this comment RiloKilo was starred RiloKilo was unstarred

thesciencegirl
10/08/09

@RiloKilo: That movie wrecked me. I can't say that I liked it though; I mostly found it really unsettling.
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RiloKilo
10/08/09

@thesciencegirl: Yes. It was very upsetting (and, at times, a little overdramatic), but it really effected me.
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Maulleigh
10/08/09

In reply to Excuse My Gangsta Ways Is Both Illuminating And Uplifting
Does anyone remember Margaret Seltzer?

I know I'm going to get yelled at for bringing her up, but, yeah...
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thesciencegirl
10/08/09

@Maulleigh: Why assume that this story is fake though?
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Ulookinatmyjunk, JOC
10/08/09

@Maulleigh: I sort of was thinking that same thing too until MzJenkins set me straight down below. More than anything, I think the idea is hard to embrace because of the person it's coming from. It's simply not expected that an Asian-American woman will lead such a socially-deviant, dangerous, gangster lifestyle. Still, it doesn't make it any less true. It's more of a re-shifting of our own belief systems. No one would say, "Hey, remember Margaret Seltzer?" if the story had been written by a black woman. But I do understand your initial reaction.
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MizJenkins
10/08/09

In reply to Excuse My Gangsta Ways Is Both Illuminating And Uplifting
It's amazing how much the "mainstream" doesn't know about HUGE and prominent subcultures right here in America. I'm sure there are some people reading this now going, "Asian women? 'Gangsta'? Really?"
You have no idea...
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Ulookinatmyjunk, JOC
10/08/09

@MizJenkins: I may be guilty of this, because I'm still like, man, it's going to come out in a few months that these "memoirs" are as fake as a $3 bill. Damn, that "model minority" stereotype has really affected my thinking, too. And here I was thinking that I was immune because I was black and more sensitive to stereotyping. Still, it's very hard for me to wrap my mind around a gangster Chinese-American.
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Edited by Ulookinatmyjunk, JOC at 10/08/09 7:04 PM

thesciencegirl
10/08/09

@MizJenkins: Yeah, that seriously doesn't surprise me.
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mipsy6
10/08/09

@MizJenkins: I think it probably depends on where you live. It's changed a little, but there are still large chunks of the country with barely any Asian-Americans living there. When I was growing up in South Texas, I knew 2 Vietnamese-American kids and 1 Chinese-American kid. That was it. And I know people who grew up in small Midwestern towns who never met an Asian-American until college. So all those people are relying on media portrayals of Asian-Americans. And we know how well that goes...
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commieginge
10/08/09

@mipsy6: I think you're right about this particular stereotype's influence depending on where one was raised. I grew up in a city where most of the gang violence was between Mexican and Fillipino gangs, and if you traveled a city or two North then you got into the Chinese gangs' territories. It would never have occurred to me to doubt the veracity of this woman's story based on her race.
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LatoyaPeterson promoted this comment commieginge was starred commieginge was unstarred

LatoyaPeterson
10/08/09

@commieginge: Cosign here. Where I grew up, there wasn't much gang activity for black kids. But Asian and Latino kids? They *stayed* involved.
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