"By contrast, in the U.S. Asian often means
'East Asian'-Chinese, Japanese, Korean--and 'Southeast Asian' -Vietnamese, Laotian, Cambodian, Thai--as well as referring to the Philippines and the Indonesian archipelago. 'Asian' does not refer to Australia, or to the 'eastern' republics of the former Soviet Union. For most people, 'Asian' is simply a nicer term than the derogatory 'Oriental.' -Feng, (In Search of Asian American Cinema
Vincent Chin, a Japanese auto worker was beaten to death by a white man. The killer, Ronald Ebens worked for an american auto company. The murder was racially motivated since Ebens was angry with the Japanese car companies for taking American jobs. Serious problems with the trial. He got off with minimal to no consequences.