It is the year of the Golden Boar, a lucky year for a child born in this year. In a recent article in the newspaper, people consider where are the Asian-American pop stars in US culture? Some folks argue that people in the US are not ready for an Asian-American music celebrity (other than Yo-Yo Ma). Perhaps. Or perhaps we are hiding behind our culture's inability to see Asian-Americans as musically talented. Some will argue, somewhat fallaciously, that Asian-Americans have not come up with their own sound. What sound might that be? After the film version of Dreamgirls released, I was aware that the film reminds us that it was not that long ago that African-Americans suffered considerably from the racist white culture which refused its music. When the public heard music it liked produced by Blacks, they were quick to appropriate it in their own image. It seems we are still faced with the enormous legacy of Orientalism, in which "Americans" insist on seeing Asians as Other, the eternal alien, always from somewhere else. The recent controversy prompted by the racist writings of Kenneth Eng, former writer for AsianWeek, shows us that when Asians show their color, there are consequences. Eng's inflammatory language led to his firing which was rightly merited. But we have not asked a much more difficult question...what rage do Asians/Asian-Americans have about the racism they have encountered too often in this culture? How many young Asian-Americans find themselves increasingly aggrieved at the number of self-hating Asian-Americans who willingly "kiss up" to the dominant culture only to be stung by its hidden sting, just barely hidden by a well meaning, business-like smile? And what do Asian-Americans need to hear from one another and the larger culture to find a common citizenry at a time in which we seem to indulge the public's problematic rhetoric about Asian-American pop singers when there is no dearth of talented people out there, willing to try. Perhaps white America wants to stop feeling guilty. Just the other day, a white student told me how difficult it is for him to feel proud of his culture when there is this constant regurgitation of the wrong doings of his ancestors. While I was sympathetic, for he has inherited the sins of others, and those sins cast very long shadows, I was curious how he would answer my question at the lack of visible Asian-American singers, actors, entertainers out there, often reduced to stereotypical roles, just so folks can have their cake and eat it too? Well folks, that cake is rotten and if you want to eat it, you may find yourself choking eventually. Eng may have been stopped by justice-focused people but his rage does not dissipate quite so easily. Shall one have children in this year of the pig? She might want to sing someday. Better not encourage her for fear of getting her hopes up. Just ask her to major in business or nursing, computers or medicine. Those lucrative fields have a strange way of amassing enormous amounts of economic power. And that's just the beginning.