Fox News aired an episode of their feature “Watters’ World” this week that was shot in Chinatown in New York City and offended many in the Asian-American community. Here, USA TODAY College contributors Grace Z. Li and Sruthi Palaniappan — both Harvard students and Asian American student journalists — respond to the Watters video.

Grace: I was really shocked when I first saw this video. I was actually writing and doing research for my Asian American Culture class when I first saw it, and I found that a lot of the stereotypes Watters was perpetuating in the video were similar to the stereotypes that existed over a hundred years ago.

Sruthi: I noticed that as well. These stereotypes really should have disappeared many years ago, and it makes me question why people still find it acceptable to use and condone these general statements made about particular racial groups.

Grace: Watters even said in the end that it was “all in good fun,” but I don’t consider humiliating all of interviewees like that “good fun.” It was heartbreaking to see him making fun of the elderly woman when she didn’t respond right away. A conscious decision was made to keep that clip in.

Sruthi: I was very disheartened by the comments Watters made during his segment. He made clearly discriminatory and degrading statements and later tried to shrug it off and say it was all in a joking manner. This reminds me a lot of how Donald Trump makes similarly derogatory remarks about minorities and women and then says that he was just being sarcastic when the general public and media call him out on his offensive comments. They both seem to speak whatever is on their mind without considering what the implications might be.

Grace: It’s as if they don’t realize how damaging these stereotypes can be. Watters makes Asian Americans seem like a commodity in the video. He frames the trip to Chinatown as a special excursion — as if it’s some exotic, foreign place. He makes it seem like all there is to Asian Americans are the stereotypes: that we don’t understand English because we aren’t “assimilated,” that we’re “patient” and “gentle” (which are used as euphemisms for passive and weak), and that we all know karate (which is Japanese) or Taekwondo (which is Korean). And he conflates Asians and Asian Americans too.

Sruthi: These racially discriminatory stereotypes are perpetuated in the way by which Watters phrases questions itself during his segment. It’s as if he is trying to devalue the humanity of Asian-American individuals without actually acknowledging the concerns and views of the community. He also conflates Asians and Asian-Americans and tries to portray them as fitting one singular mold; this is not representative of the various backgrounds and experiences of individuals within the community that have helped shaped their daily lives. As an Asian-American myself, I see race as being only one part of my identity and that my life is by no means the same as any other Asian-American. I find it wrong to objectify a group of people solely based on one characteristic.

Grace: There are so many stomach-churning moments in this video. He very clearly isn’t giving his interviewees the same amount of respect he gives to his co-anchor. He reminds me of all the people who ask me “Where are you from?” and expect me to say China rather than California, which is where I was born and raised. It highlights a lot of the frustrations and confusions of belonging, assimilation and biculturalism found in the Asian-American community.

Sruthi: I think many people in the Asian-American community would express similar sentiments. We have too often been told to pick one culture or the other, but that is not something we should be burdened by. Everyone should be accepted and feel comfortable expressing various aspects of themselves without the fear of being alienated from the dominant culture.