Sam Yoon "having it both ways when it comes to race"

This article from the Boston Globe on the mayoral candidacy of Korean-American Sam Yoon, the first Asian-American candidate for mayor of that city, sort of got my goat. It starts with a potentially problematic claim:

But it is his ethnicity - as the first Asian-American candidate for mayor - that presents some of the most complex issues for Yoon in a city that has historically been steeped in ethnic identity politics. So far, Yoon has signaled an intent to have it both ways when it comes to his race.

Naturally I would want to see how sneaky and inscrutable Sam Yoon is "intent on having it both ways." Fortunately they provide an answer:

At the same time, however, he is putting his ethnicity at the forefront of his campaign as he seeks to energize a natural base of support and tap into Asian campaign fund-raising networks.

He hoisted a giant fortune cookie at the traditional Saint Patrick's breakfast in South Boston on March 15, part of a joke that drew nervous laughter because of its overt ethnic reference. And as he strolled the parade route later that day, he passed out fortune cookies to spectators.

Oh, my G-d! Handing out a novelty food item typically found in Chinese restaurants (and possibly invented by Japanese)?! If that's not pandering to his Korean background, I don't know what is. I guess this is what we should expect in a place so ethnically polarized that the candidate walking around with his Asian-looking wife and kids would also be assumed to be playing to the Asian vote.

Fundamentally, there are still a lot of Americans (and in my heart of hearts, I don't think it's a majority) who don't think of Asian-Americans as "real Americans." Or at least, subconsciously, don't feel them to be "real Americans." Unlike White Americans, an Asian-American can't just be; too many others will see them as their Asianness first and then whatever else second or third.

This is not at all unlike how non-Korean-looking people are viewed in Korea, though the degree that this occurs in Korea is more severe, mostly because Korean national identity has been so heavily tied to minjok, being from a genetically Korean family. Hispanics in the US experience much the same; I would say Blacks today are not questioned as Americans, though maybe as quality Americans.

Here in Hawaii, it's sort of opposite: Haoles (White people) are initially assumed to be from someplace else, not fully belonging here, and they're treated with surprise if they say they grew up here. Blacks and Hispanics often get a bewildering look like, "What the hell are you doing here?" but not necessarily in a malicious or disapproving way.

Okay, this screed went on longer than I thought. In summation: Racial and ethnic politics are b.s., pure and simple. It's too bad we are forced to compensate for and accommodate them in so many ways.