Things I've heard since moving to Kentucky:"I always wanted to go to a Chinese restaurant so I could hear people talk Chinese."
- said to me by a friend's cousin when meeting me for the first time.
"Are you two related?"
- said to me at tae kwon do class by someone who saw me talking to the only other Asian person there.
"Even though I'd already told myself that I was going to end up looking fat/ugly/Asian/stoned in the photo, I had a glimmer of hope that maybe, just maybe, I could do something to make myself look better."
- read on a blog by a Louisvillian who was fretting about getting a publicity picture taken.
"Konichiwa!"
- yelled at me at Mall St. Matthews by an employee at the Mobile Solutions kiosk that sits across from the food court and Forever 21.
Things I heard growing up in Texas:
"Chink"
- the standard go-to Asian racist slur.
"Go home you fish faced gook!"
- said to me by a skinhead girl who was threatening to beat me up.
"Get that gook off the screen, my living room smells like fish!"
- said by a caller to an Austin cable access show that a friend of mine used to host in response to a video he played of me.
"You sure are a bitch for an Oriental. My wife is Phillipino and she never talks back."
- said by a guy who was trying to pick me up because I'm Asian.
I find these days when I call people on racist statements, jokes, etc. that I'm told I need to get a sense of humor, that I should stop being so sensitive, or that they have Asian friends who don't care so I should lighten up. That I'm being told this by caucasians who live in a predominately white town baffles me. Worse, the people saying these things are often liberals who really ought to know better.
While I believe that taking offense over crap like this only gives the idiot who's making the slur the power, I also don't understand why such sentiments need to be expressed in the first place. It's a lazy way to communicate. So for writers, comedians and even the average joe, can't you be a little more creative?
I know that a lot of my writing comes from the snark section of my brain (located between the Temporal and Occipital lobes) so maybe it's a bit unfair for me to get my back up about this but last time I checked, there's nothing I can do about being Asian any more than there's anything you can do about being white, black, pink, gay, blue or green. So unless you're Mitch McConnell (the epitome of White Man-ness), if I'm going to call you out or say something stupid, you can be sure it's going to be for some other reason than your race.
Judge me for being bitchy. For wearing jeans that are too short. For watching Dirty Dancing 200 times. But being Korean? It's just not that interesting.
Myuch Sshe Eh yo?
Ms. P
"the people saying these things are often liberals who really ought to know better."
ReplyDeleteDoes that mean conservatives get a pass? What does being liberal or conservative have to do with having manners?
I seem to find that many racial comments are all about context. Have you ever laughed at a racial joke? No? Hmmm... I gonna doubt that. Think Dave Chappelle is funny? He could be a racist under your microscope. Or does he get a pass because he is funny? I am sure that you, being such an enlightened liberal, can understand the difference between hate speech, a misguided joke, and a comment from someone less inclined to understand cultural sensitivities. Or, is every comment, no matter how unintentionally racist it may be, an act of hate speech? Or is it the comments guided towards one specific ethnicity the ones you are willing to call out? If so, isn't that racist in and of itself?
ReplyDelete"I gonna doubt that?" Okay. I do think there's reverse racism. I also don't like Dave Chappelle, since you mentioned him. I'm curious, anonymous, what your experience with racism has been?
ReplyDeleteHonestly, when writing the line about comedy I was thinking of Sarah Silverman whose "I'm cute so I can say horribly offensive things" delivery gets on my nerves.
I do make the distinction between all the things you mentioned, but I get the impression that you, too, are telling me I should just lighten up and get over it or understand that not all people comprehend cultural sensitivities. I do understand those things but I fail to comprehend how that makes any of it right? It saddens me that we're even having this discussion in this day and age.
I don't think I ever said "hate speech" in my post, but whatever. I can only speak from my own experience and relate that. If it bothers you somehow, I'm sorry. I felt it would have been ignorant to write about my encounters with racism and then say that encompasses the feelings of all people who deal with it on a regular basis.
Michelle,
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry you have to deal with that.
I always love when men put women down. Admittedly there are some women who make me ashamed to be female, but still.
Thanks for reading!
And when you're half.... just when you think you've heard everything, along comes a stunner.
ReplyDeleteWow, that's sad but I'm not surprised. My fiance is mixed race...yet everyone thinks he's of Arab descent because they only look at his skin tone. People ask me where he's from all the time and when I say "Alabama" they always go..."Oh". Or people stare at him until he gives them the dirtiest look.
ReplyDeleteMe, I'm African and Brazilian descent (with some Indigenous) and I've heard all kinds of crazy, racist nonsense...like black people can't get any darker (as far as exposure to the sun), black people can't become victims of eating disorders/depression, black people don't have to time to be vegetarians/vegans (what!!)...the list goes on. My fiance and I are planning on leaving Kentucky after we're done with school, the lack of diversity and constant ignorance is too much.