Gov. David Paterson announced Thursday that he signed a law among many,

Gov. David Paterson announced Thursday that he signed a law among many, including one to ban the use of the ethnic term “Oriental” in state documents. New York’s new law forbids the reference in all state documents to any person of Asian or Pacific Islander heritage as an “Oriental.” According to National Public Radio, the state of Washington took similar steps in 2002, when that state’s governor was Gary Locke, a Chinese American.

Apparently some Asian Americans applaud attempts to banish the term, while others are cynical about the motives driving such efforts (no surprise there, given that Asian Americans obviously don’t think with any more of a single, collective mindset than do the members of any other group).

Read on for a compilation of opinions at Stuff White People Do