BY Scanews Staff
The issue of racism is more complex than the oversimplification most Americans give it, Prof. Franck Wu said Sunday, March 17, at a lecture at the St. Louis County Library. "When Americans talk about race, the subject is generally about Caucasians and African-Americans, but Asian-Americans also confront the issue of race." Prof. Wu came to St. Louis to present his book, "Yellow: Race in America Beyond Black and White".
"I wrote the book for many audiences. I wrote it for my younger self. I am trying to speak to the Asian American kid who is confused about race and identity and all of these issues, which, for sensitive individuals, play themselves out in daily life.." Wu told a group of about 100 people, who are Caucasians, African-Americans, and Asian Americans at St. Louis County Library.
Prof. Wu said, I'm also talking to my parents. I'd like them to understand why, ironically, the more assimilated I became, the worse some of these problems became. Despite the much ballyhooed comeback of the public intellectual and contrary to our racial stereotype as academically oriented, there is a conspicuous absence of Asian American public intellectuals. There aren't many people trying to address these issues who are Asian American or who speak about or to Asian Americans. Yet I want to reach more than Asian Americans. This is definitely a book by an Asian American, but it is equally emphatically not a book for Asian Americans alone. As I wrote each chapter, I thought about two different groups of people. I found that trying to speak to both groups with the same message is incredibly difficult, verging on the impossible. As with any meaningful writing, every word counts. It must all be considered, and the subtlety of the tone is as crucial as the substance of the message.
Frank H. Wu received his undergraduate degree in writing from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, and his law degree from University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, Michigan. He served as a Teaching Fellow at Stanford University Law School in Palo Alto, California in 1994-95.
He joined the faculty of the Howard University School of Law, in Washington, D.C., in 1995. Now tenured, he served as Clinic Director from 2000 to 2002 and regularly teaches traditional courses such as civil procedure. He will be a visiting professor at University of Michigan in the 2002-03 academic year.
Professor Wu's Yellow: Race in America Beyond Black and White was published by Basic Books in January 2002 and his ongoing book tour includes more than four dozen events around the country.
He is married to Carol L. Izumi, a law professor at George Washington University. They live in Washington, D.C. with two dogs, Buster and Ding Ding; and two birds, Walter and Phoebe. Professor Wu is an avid motorcyclist (riding a 2002 BMW K 1200 RS) and fan of live theatre. |
