Routine, even subtle, racial discrimination places significant mental stress on minorities that may provoke the development of chronic illness, new research suggests.

The finding is based on perceptions of discrimination and health histories elicited from Asian-Americans across the United States.

"Post-civil rights, most people think of discrimination as the commitment of a hate crime. But I think it's important to realize that discrimination occurs on a daily basis," said study lead author Gilbert C. Gee, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. "And what the research is showing is that everyday slights can turn into long-term health effects."

Being Asian and American is often a complex balancing act.

The challenge for millions of people is managing to assimilate into American society while maintaining the principles of cultural heritage.

About 13.5 million U.S. residents say they are Asian or a combination of another race and Asian, according to a 2004 census report. The number represents 4.7 percent of American households.

The 1990 census counted 6.9 million Asians.

The demographic includes dozens of ethnic groups, languages, religions, customs and origins from across the globe, stretching from Japan and China to Pakistan and India. Academic observers and community members say the diversity within the group is so rich and disparate, it seems folly to treat it as a single bloc.

Pastors aren't being prepared to handle congregational conflicts over cultural and generational issues, experts say

Asian American churches are going through a "crisis of leadership" because seminaries are not preparing a new generation of pastors to work in multi-generational and multicultural settings, Asian American Christian leaders say.

The problem, the leaders say, affects churches throughout the country but is particularly pronounced in California.

[Editor's Note: A recent study by five Columbia University researchers led by Professor Derald Wing Sue identified the following eight common themes that arose in Asian Americans' lived experiences of race.]

Theme 1: Alien in Own Land

This theme emerges from both focus groups and can be described as a microaggression which embodies the assumption that all Asian Americans are foreigners or foreign-born. An example of this theme was universally voiced by Asian Americans of all ethnicities and manifested in questions or remarks like “Where are you from?” “Where were you born?” or “You speak good English.”

In his popular 1881 guide to home decorating, Clarence Cook praised “Oriental” furniture and ornaments as the perfect way to garnish the average American home. He admired the “handsome” Eastern rugs, “picturesque” Chinese bamboo chairs and the Japanese art, furniture, scrolls and fans that were “so perfect for decoration.”

The 1800s and early 1900s—despite the mounting anti-Asian sentiment at the time—illustrates an era when everyone in America was screaming for Chinoiserie and Japonisme.

Fast-forward to the new millennium.

Enter chow mein, sushi, herbal medicines, Chinese tattoos, feng shui, Chow Yun Fat, Jackie Chan and, of course, Pikachu.

The fascination for things Asian is just as fervent today as it was a century ago. America’s commercial culture has ensured as much through clever marketing strategies. But when hip-hop artists and NBA players flash Chinese tattoos on their bodies and Madonna takes on a Hindu façade to create a fashion statement and the cast of the “Matrix” embraces kung fu techniques for survival, what does it mean for the Asian-American community?

FARMERS BRANCH -- After a CBS 11 News exclusive, the Farmers Branch Police Chief has been suspended without pay for ten days, and will be required to go into counseling.

The action comes after the chief admitted to making insensitive and inappropriate remarks regarding a Vietnamese police recruit.

In his 32 years with the City of Farmers Branch, 15 as chief, Jimmy Fawcett has had a spotless record. But it now has the stain of an "unpaid suspension" and "mandatory counseling".

Ever since September 11, but especially after the London subway bombings, I have been getting "the look" on public transportation and at airports. To put it mildly, my days of picking up girls on a plane are over. Even getting up to piss on a plane causes at least one lady to piss herself. It's like a chain reaction.

It's strange for me to get these looks since I was born in this country, have lived the American dream, hang out with very few other brown-skinned folk, and often forget that I'm not white (you know, American). I'm proud of my background/culture, but I'm American first and only.

Is it a coincidence that no one else is sitting near us? Is it an accident that he's pushed out his corporate ID card so that it's clearly visible over his jacket, hanging like the open page of a passport?

Public transport can be a world of unspoken signals and gestures - but am I right in thinking that he looks self-conscious, sometimes burying his face in his arms as though asleep?

White racism enforces white supremacy. White supremacy is a system of order and a way of perceiving reality. Its purpose is to keep whites on top and set them free. Colored minorities in white reality are stereotypes. Each racial stereotype comes in two models, the acceptable and the unacceptable. The hostile black stud has his acceptable counterpart in the form of Stepin Fetchit. For the savage, kill-crazy Geronimo, there is Tonto and the Hollywood version of Cochise. For the mad dog General Santa Ana there's the Cisco Kid and Pancho. For Fu Manchu and the Yellow Peril, there is Charlie Chan and his Number One Son. The unacceptable model is unacceptable because he cannot be controlled by whites. The acceptable model is acceptable because he is tractable. There is racist hate and racist love.