Month: December 2014

“You might think you’ve peeped the scene/ You haven’t, the real one’s far too mean/ The watered down one, the one you know/ Was made up centuries ago.”   – N. Minaj, K. West

In 2009 Bill Simmons, ESPN columnistand Grantland.com founder, began the popular “30 for 30” documentary series. Simmons wanted feature-filmmakers to recount intimate sports stories, people, and events that were compelling to them, but had not been fully explored by society. Each 30 for 30 show is promoted by asking the question, “What if I told you…” Consider this my “30 for 30″ literary column. [Dramatic pause] “What if I told you 92% of all Biglaw partners are white?” [Intro music, “All of the Lights” by Kanye West]

In 1986, Goldman Sachs needed or at least accepted a $500 million capital injection from Sumitomo Bank. The Japanese Bank was anxious to learn about the world of investment banking and willing to fork over $500 million for a minority stake in Goldman and the right to send two dozen interns to America to learn from America’s finest investment bankers – Goldman Sachs.

Through pure strategery, Goldman was able to persuade the Federal Reserve Board of Governors to set a quota on Japanese interns (that’s why Goldman gets paid the big bucks!) The government limited Sumitomo to two – not two dozen – interns, and Sumitomo’s two interns could stay in New York for only twelve months before rotating home. Agriculture protectionist policies don’t seem so bad now, do they? It may be hard to believe, but in the eighties many feared the Japanese were buying up America. We all arrived here differently. Our present situations are all different as well. Perhaps this is what leads to misunderstandings. But with the proper communication, it can also lead to resolutions. Some Africans were forced here, some Japanese bankers tried to enter through the back door.

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“Born sinner, the opposite of a winner, remember when I used to eat sardines for dinner.” – Notorious B.I.G.

There is a popular questionnaire composed of five questions going around the internet that reveals how many of the 523 people in congress are like you. To no surprise, I didn’t even get to the fifth question before it stated, “There are 0 people in congress like you.” I know a lot of law students who become quite incensed at the thought of affirmative action. They acknowledge slavery was racist, but deny the thought of any present-day systematic issues regarding race.

For me, it is hard to forget about the death of Vincent Chin in 1982, how the Los Angeles Riots impacted Koreatown in 1992, and the imprisonment of innocent Asian Americans during World War II. Even today, we still encounter blatant acts of racism. In fact, I would love to knock out Mark Wahlberg for randomly beating a Vietnamese man unconscious and permanently blinding another – all while calling them “slant-eyed gooks.” Marky Mark claims if he was on the plane he would’ve stopped the 9/11 attacks. This superhero should pray that he never runs into me on the street.

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