Noah D. Oppenheim's wonderful balancing of both Orientalist stereotypes and the "model minority myth" was a great example of what young white Harvard men can do when they put their minds to it (Column, April 21). Let us relive that wonderful column, reminiscent of the best Orientalist days of Rudyard Kipling and James Clavell: "It looks like the Bushido spirit is alive and well. (Bushido refers to the Japanese warrior ethic.) Based on the recent public debate surrounding the portrayal of minorities in the media, it is not clear whether the use of the word is appropriate…[But] bushido does invoke images of strength and combat, not math or science. Think samurai, not hairless. So, the Asian American Association (AAA) might actually be grateful."

I must congratulate Oppenheim for using both tropes so effectively in the same paragraph. In a wonderfully facetious tone, he says that all Asian men are sexless and hairless math geeks while at the same time irrational and rabid samurai.

Of course, for Oppenheim, racism against Asian Americans does not exist. If any people like him work at bars, I believe we have proved our case.

Jason M. Rabbitt-Tomita

April 27, 2000

The writer is a first year student at Harvard Law School.