This is also a big problem in the UK where there is big population of Asians. Pre-9/11, the asian comunity was virtually unheard of on the news. After 9/11, all you keep hearing on the news is this perceived threat you talk about in your post.

Great post by the way!
Noel

As for “intent”, while I would not be quick to say that Liepman was trying to dismiss any real Somali experience with discrimination outright, part of the privilege of being a member of the demographic majority is an obliviousness to the experience of discrimination. For one who has never experienced it, it is easy to dismiss as a delusion or hypersensitivity.

I’ve edited the post to go into more detail on this point.

I actually don’t take issue with the “perceived discrimination” that you do. I don’t take it to discount real discrimination. This could be due to the fact that I’ve spent a bit of time thinking of perceived discrimination in my own life. For me, anyhow, cut and dried discrimination makes me angry. But perceived discrimination, i.e. the on going mind fuck of “What did that mean and why did this happen and are you looking at me and what are you thinking and this better not be that”…well, that makes me crazy. And it takes a dash of crazy to do crazy.

So, with the realization that perceived discrimination is just as real a thing as real discrimination, i think the effects of both are worthy of thought, and i hope he wasn’t meaning to select one over the other. Of course, there is the small matter of perception of his intent. Sigh.