AAJA - Asian American Journalists Association – 8/6/02

A debate over hate and humor
Some see racism in comics' routines
By Michelle J. Lee Voices Staff Writer

Sticks and stones may break your bones, but do names or images hurt you?

In April, Abercrombie & Fitch pulled a T-shirt line with caricatures of Asians wearing rice paddy hats and such slogans as "Wong Brothers Laundry Service-Two Wongs Can Make It White." Last year, NBC apologized for comedian Sarah Silverman's use of the word "chinks" in a joke on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien."

Asians have long been ridiculed in editorial cartoons, television shows and comedy routines. Such humor reinforces a perception that Asian Americans are inferior foreigners, experts say. But others believe Asian Americans take these jokes too seriously.

Abercrombie & Fitch withdrew this shirt from the market after complaints about the image (Photo courtesy of the Associated Press).

"Many people don't understand that Asian Americans, especially children, face this sort of racial taunting on a daily basis," Frank Wu, law professor at Howard University and author of "Yellow: Race in America Beyond Black and White," wrote in an e-mail.

"If it were a single joke, then it'd be easy enough to laugh it off," he said. "But it forms a pattern that suggests Asian persons are merely the butt of jokes, a pattern that connects to much more serious doubts about our right to be in the country, our equality, and our dignity."

Guy Aoki, former president of the Media Action Network for Asian Americans, a watchdog group, said mass media rarely portray Asian Americans as heroic and often use the group for comic relief.

Aoki, who was a fan of Silverman, said her joke perpetuated hate by condoning the use of slurs.

"You know what this told me? I might have been duped into being fans of these people because they obviously don't regard me as an equal," he said.

Responding by e-mail, Silverman said comedy is subjective." Like any other form of art or expression, it's for you to decide what it means and if it's funny, deep, silly, or offensive," she said.

Some experts believe Asian Americans are easy targets because they are not likely to complain.

"We're one of the few groups people feel comfortable taking their anger out on because they know they can't pick on blacks and other groups, which would speak up more," Aoki said. "We've done ourselves in, in large part because of our culture, which says don't make waves and everything will be fine."

Tak Toyoshima, creator of the "Secret Asian Man" comic strip, also said that the model minority stereotype initially made him feel guilty for speaking up.

"If you look at other races of this country, African Americans, Native Americans, Latinos, what has gone on is far worse," Toyoshima said. "African Americans have slavery and other social injustice. It's still going on. Native Americans had it the worst. We come last in the 'bitching line.'"

But do Asian Americans take themselves too seriously? Heang Ly thought the Abercrombie & Fitch T-shirts were funny and said he takes the stereotypes with a grain of salt.

"I think that stereotypes are somewhat based on truth. I understand how they come to be," she said.

Such a joke would be acceptable among other minorities or "if you are with someone who is aware and shares that experience," Ly said. "It would be different if it was someone who believed the stereotype and had no other knowledge beyond it."

Toyoshima was glad the Abercrombie & Fitch T-shirts brought Asian Americans media attention, but he refused to be upset by the caricatures.

Instead, Toyoshima drew a comic strip about the incident to encourage dialogue.

"The way I see racism is the actual denial of a right," he said. "The T-shirt is just an opinion."

Still others, including Amy Leang, a Detroit Free Press photographer, hope such incidents can be used to educate the public.

Last year, as a student attending the American Society of Newspaper Editors convention in Washington, Leang watched a comedy skit in which white actors pretended to be Chinese and used the words "ching ching, chong chong." The performance was a convention-sponsored event.

Humiliated by the experience, Leang wrote a scathing column in the ASNE Reporter, the convention's student newspaper, that sparked a national debate about racial hypocrisy in the media.

Given a second chance, Leang said she would have used her column to focus more on cultural awareness. "I think cultural understanding just takes time, patience, risk and effort," she said.