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I think there’s something important we need to talk about and it’s how normalized racism, cultural appropriation, and insensitive actions are towards the Asian community. I cannot speak for everyone else but I can share what myself and a few friends feel:
Racism towards asian people has always been a thing from making jokes about our eyes to calling us chinks or imitating our languages by saying things like “ching chong”. It has only gotten worse because of the pandemic.
People have started attacking Asians just because of how they look and blaming them for Covid. Why is it that there isn’t outrage over people getting attacked or pushed onto subway tracks? This is just one example of how people have normalized racist behavior against Asians
Let’s jump to cultural appropriation. For example Kacey Musgraves wore an Áo dài (Vietnamese) without pants. Now, I’m not saying people who are not from that culture are not allowed to wear these garments however, not wearing them properly isn’t cool.
Yet I saw 0 people mad about this nor was there an apology issued. Because she “deleted the post” it’s fine? No it isnt! This isn’t a call to cancel anybody but to recognize that this type of behavior and the normalization of it isn’t okay!!
It’s another example that if you’re white and make a culturally insensitive move (or any mistake) then you get off without any consequences. It’s a “lesson to learn from” but when it comes to any non-white person making a mistake (not even race related) they get dragged.
Another question is how did NOBODY stop and ask “hm is this okay?” Not a single person on that team spoke up on how this could possibly be bad?
Just the other day my friend posted a TikTok regarding a white celeb (from a show we both love) that made a mockery of her culture. She felt that as a Filipino it was insensitive what he did. Yet the amount of kids who dragged her for trying to “cancel” him was unreal!
These are just SOME of the comments she received on the TikTok she shared expressing her feelings.
Who are you to say what is or is not the intention of what he did. The bottom line is that he did/said something that was received as insensitive towards Filipinos. And again, it’s somehow okay because he “didn’t know better” or “was trying his best.”
Now my favorite part of this discussion. The way people have, for years, made comments about how “gross” certain Asian foods are because it isn’t something THEY eat regularly. They make jokes about it, use it as comedic material or turn it into a “challenge.”
The second it turns into a new trendy food to eat or is Instagrammable content, it somehow is no longer gross or a joke? But it was fine for you to make racist comment when it wasn’t cool to eat right?
Growing up I wanted to bring “American” food to school so kids wouldn’t make fun of me or bully me for how it looked or smelled or what was in it. I know this is a shared experience among many of my Asian friends.
To see many of the foods we ate and our cultures now “celebrated” while still receiving racism in different ways is disgusting. Watching so many people stand by and do absolutely nothing is disappointing.
If you claim to be an ally to BIPOC communities, make sure you’re standing up for all of them and not just cherry picking. Thanks for reading, these are just a few of the main points but there’s definitely more that happens that I could not fit into this dissertation.
