CLJ
A lot of existential angst could be ameliorated if immigrant parents knew the consequences of what they were doing before they migrated, instead of just chasing after "a better life," and prepared their children accordingly. I note that the author who is born of Chinese-Thai parents, does not mention the social separation that exists between huaqiao 華僑 (overseas Chinese) and the natives in SE Asian countries and the not-so-small animosity that can exist between the two groups when the Chinese do well economically or occupy the prestige professions. It is a part of human nature to be suspicious of ostensible outsiders and to test them in various ways, or even engage in overt hostility. This is not unique to the United States alone. Part of the joking and teasing can also be understood as male hazing, to test a male and see what he is made of. Unfortunately, Chinese parents tend to avoid confrontation with others and pass this on to their children, when what is needed in such situations is an appropriate response in order to gain some measure of respect. (This assumes that hazing is functioning in a healthy way, within a part of a community that polices its members for stepping over the line. Hazing is not the same as true bullying; but even real bullying requires the right response, which is not cowardice.) Did the author ever seek to integrate with Americans? Or did he do the Chinese thing and stick to Chinese- (or Asian-)American social circles? Following the Chinese plan for success (which is identical to the plan for success for many Americans) in which physical mobility and geographical separation even from family is required for professional opportunity and development entails that a localized identity centered on a real community, the only form of substantive identity, fails to develop or is attenuated. Even being a "Texan" isn't enough, just as being an "American" (in the civic nationalist sense as a dweller in a mass population center) isn't enough. We see this in the author's sort of identity, which is weakly founded upon relationships (primarily familial) and mostly based upon his experiences and personal history. There is little connection with a real, substantive community. (Hence the use of lang. of postmodernism in the essay.) And the author's focus on race as a "social and cultural construct" rather than on ethnicity confuses his own issues and feeds into the narrative advanced by the cultural revolutionaries. Will we see Church Life Journal publish an opposing view from an immigrant who has adjusted well to living in an American society? Civic nationalism still exists among older children of immigrants in areas which have been accustomed to diversity longer (e.g. the San Francisco Bay Area). Being part of the Body of Christ does not do away with our identities as a member of a people or a true political community, and cannot be a solution to what is a problem at the political level, which encompasses the lack of a genuine identity in that substantive way. One can see this essay as another push by Roman Catholics to replace dead civic nationalism with a new religious civic nationalism, even if this is not part of the author's intent. But they are in no such position to bring this about. The best they could do is admit that confusions about identity exist, and that "it's complicated," not admitting of an easy political solution, and certainly not the solution being advanced by the revolutionaries. But if they start advancing measures which are really just more forms of state domination and coercion of different peoples so that they all submit to the state in the name of "social harmony" or "peace" then they must be opposed. Civic nationalism is dead. Roman Catholics need to recognize this and the inability of their own tradition (especially when tradition is reduced to the opinions of a few recent authorities) to adequately understand and address political problems of this severity and scale.
