Individuals Lose When a Group Is Demeaned : Racism: Lance Ito was ridiculed by a senator not as a judge, but as a Japanese.

It would have been one thing to criticize, or even to laugh at, the performance of a judge or witness. It is quite another to demean his heritage by laughing at his name and stereotyping his culture.

That this happened in the so-called trial of the century, in full view of the global media, demonstrates the cognitive dissonance that an Asian American in a position of power in mainstream life creates: You--the individual--are not supposed to achieve success here because you--the race--do not belong. Thus, Asian Americans are not seen as individuals, but as caricatures. As such, we are fair game for derision, discrimination and worse.

Lance Ito was made fun of by a U.S. senator not because he is a judge, but because he is of Japanese ancestry. Dennis Fung was demeaned not for his performance as a prosecution witness, but for being Chinese American.

These racist insults, while the most well-known, are unfortunately not isolated; they are a staple of deejays across the country. Countless Asian Americans, including those born in the U.S., have heard the refrain, “Go back to where you came from,” or the softer but still misguided question, “Where did you learn to speak English so well?”

The belief in Asian American otherness that underlies those statements emboldens perpetrators of hate crimes, violence against individuals based on the color of their skin. It justifies the glass ceiling, that intractable barrier that keeps Asian Americans from top management positions despite demonstrated merit because we just aren’t “assertive enough.” It ensures that not too many of us will enter the hallowed halls of academia because we just “don’t belong.”

Asian Americans should pause and take stock of our fragile position in this country: We are still, in the eyes of too many, distinctly more “Asian” than “American.” Unless we speak up, protest and demand the equal protections and opportunities that America offers, our contributions will continue to be devalued and our status will remain second-class at best.

The national mainstream media must be held accountable for perpetuating stereotypes of Asian Americans and others. When the media have provided insightful coverage of our communities, the positive impact has had ripple effects. When they are superficial, ignoring the poverty and economic polarization in our community and portraying us as stereotypes rather than as real people , they reaffirm our outsider position in American society.

We are living in an America in which offensive language, acrimonious behavior, intolerance and racial divisiveness are the order of the day. Unless we commit to meeting the challenge of diversity with compassion, respect for differences, institutional inclusion and individual responsibility, we will soon drive deep divisions between us that are impossible to heal.