Does Racist Vintage Art Get a Pass?
You don't need a poll to gauge racism
Tonight’s newsletter isn’t about Korean culture, per se. However, it deals with racism over the decades and how stereotypes from way back when still affect the East Asian community today.
Earlier this week on the social media app, Threads, a user asked if a poster she loved — which her daughter described as pretty racist — should continue to be displayed in her home.
My answer was no, for a variety of reasons:
Most ethnic Asian respondents said no, don’t display it. It’s racist.
But there were quite a few non Asians who felt that while it may be racist today, it wasn’t back then. So it therefore is A-OK to display it and use it as a discussion piece. Or put it somewhere everyone can’t see it, so you can enjoy it without being accused of being a racist. In other words … just be a closet racist.
Some, like the woman below, pointed out that it was a lovely drawing of a Chinese woman… Except. It’s a drawing of a Chinese man.
Some insisted that the caricature of a Yellow Peril Chinese man was indicative of how real Chinese men actually looked.
And then a supposed art history buff named Claire chimed in, proving that she knows nothing about what Chinese or Japanese people looked like then (or now, most probably).
Claire clearly knows very little about art history, specifically in East Asia. East Asian artists weren’t depicting our people like the above French poster. You know who was? White Westerners.
Then there’s this person, who I hope is a bored, underage child who will grow out of this trolling phase. Because it’s just unfortunate to think that an actual adult would be so proud of being this dense.
What I was able to gather from her subsequent comments is that since I am Korean and not Chinese, I am not allowed to even mention the slur 'ch!nk' in context — even though racists have called me this since I was in kindergarten. In her myopic mind, only those of Chinese ancestry are negatively affected by this slur.
Which brings up the question: Is it only offensive to be called a 'ch!nk' if you are of Chinese ethnicity? Since I'm Korean, should I not feel the sting of being called a 'chi!nk'? Maybe the racist is using it as a term of endearment towards me ... since I'm not Chinese, right? What even?! Make it make sense!
I find it incredulous that my own life experiences as an Asian American aren't enough for some, and not believed by others. Would it help if academics said the same thing? Well here you go. The reality is that while the slur 'ch!nk' was originally used against Chinese men in the U.S., it became the defacto slur of choice to insult Asians in general. Per the Philadelphia Bar Association:
“Chink” originated in the 19th Century as a racial slur against people of Chinese descent after a movement was started to expel Chinese workers from the United States... The word “Chink” is now widely used throughout the United States as a racial slur against people of Asian descent
And the late Dr. Michael M. Ego — a Japanese American professor who had taught at the University of Connecticut — wrote:
One may probably think that the word “chink” is only a targeted slur aimed at persons of Chinese ancestry. Regrettably, the term “they all look alike” rings true with persons of East Asian and Southeast Asian heritage, and thus the person using the ethnic slur is ignorant of the heterogeneity of these groups and calls all of us a “chink.”
For the record, I do not like hearing or using any slurs. They are words of hate that I have a visceral reaction to. But sometimes, in a teaching moment, they can be used to illustrate why something is inappropriate. And racist.
© 2024 JAE-HA KIM | All Rights Reserved
WHAT I’VE WATCHED:
Over the past few months, I haven’t been enthralled with a lot of the K-dramas I’ve started (and then stopped) watching. So I’ve been supplementing my viewing catching up on some non-Korean shows — things I hadn’t watched in the past and/or the latest seasons of the series I’ve been looking forward to:
✔️ “Alice in Borderland” (Bloody, but good.)
✔️ “Bridgerton” (Though none of the seasons have topped “Queen Charlotte,” I am a sucker for this show, dear reader.)
✔️ “Cobra Kai” (Always fun to watch, even though some of the karate skills are lacking and cringe.)
✔️ “Hacks” (I’ll watch anything with Jean Smart.)
❌ “How to Get Away with Murder” (six seasons) — a few words about this series. I adore Viola Davis and had high hopes for this one, but it lost its appeal early on. It is such a makjang soap opera, and I don’t mean that in necessarily a good way. This show was nominated at the Emmy Awards 10 times, with Davis winning the sole award (Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series) in 2015. It made me think about how some people would categorize this as a dramatic series (and it is), but mistakenly describes all K-dramas as soap operas (which they all are not). For me, this is a laundry show—or one that’s entertaining enough to watch while I folding clothes.
✔️ “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” (LOVE this one. Maya Erskine and Donald Glover are perfection together.)
✔️ “Your Honor” (First season was really good. Second was a little more meh.)
I think I would like to rewatch “Designing Women” and “Golden Girls” this winter. Sounds cozy. With a slice of cheesecake, of course!
ICYMI:
° Go Away With … Hymnson Chan (Tribune Publishing): “Being a part of the Asian and Asian American community is such a blessing! The true strength of Asians has been overlooked and oppressed for too long. But in recent years, there's been a real boost in the sense of pride. But when it comes to quality roles, it still is slim pickings for Asian actors. And unless it's an Asian show, then there still is the feeling that there can only be one token Asian on the show. However, some Asian-centric shows like ‘Shogun,’ ‘Brothers Sun,’ ‘Warrior,’ ‘Beef’ and ‘Tokyo Vice’ are some of the top shows in recent years, and the viewership numbers and critical acclaim are proof of that. So, hopefully, that will help continually grow the amount of quality roles for people like me.”
° The real loss in "Past Lives" isn't love (Salon): “For Nora, proximity to Hae-sung reminds her of her younger days living in Korea. But it also reminds her of the 12-year-old girl she left behind to become who she is today. In order to become Nora Moon, she had to leave behind Moon Na-young. While she gained a new identity – one that she’s happy with and accustomed to – the loss of her younger self is profound."
° The best time travel K-dramas — and why there are so many of them (TODAY.com)
° Exploration of unrequited gay love in K.Will’s MV (Substack)
° Korean diaspora’s blended identity [I was quoted in this Huffington Post essay]
Inevitably, this is complicated. I'm Asian (although... not East Asian, which to some means "not Asian", and that's a different discussion altogether, isn't it?) and I can see why it's racist. But also, I can't help but think of how we present pieces of art from the past, clearly informed by past prejudices.
I'm thinking of the classic Tom and Jerry shorts and how they originally had a stereotypical black maid character—and how they were changed, with the character either edited out or reanimated completely. But I suppose if you don't know the original, you'd be none the wiser.
So I saw the poster, thought it was racist, but I don't think the original poster can be faulted for appreciating some of the aesthetics (but not the portrayal of the Chinese man). I subscribe to your point about not displaying it, unless you wanna be like Harlan Crow and his collection of Nazi memorabilia.
Ah, if only everything ended in productive discourse about how we navigate around this, rather than edgelord-type remarks about how we're easily triggered by their historical (and ongoing) oppression of us.
I was in that thread and I’m a white woman, and I immediately cringed at this picture. I mean come on, this is no beautiful woman (how could anyone think that??), or man for that matter. Skin YELLOW yellow, eyes WAY TOO SLANTY, strange exaggerated facial features—an obvious caricature, and in the context that it’s an ad or label, I’m not thinking, Oh! What a respectful representation of an Asian person (person because hard to tell if the image is male or female—another embarrassing stereotype de-sexualizing Asian men.) Later, after you explained very well why it’s offensive and she, or someone, continued being dense, when you asked if she was a white woman I didn’t find it offensive; I thought, Good question! Is she? She sure seems to be (avoiding talking about her own race, plus she just sounds white—as a white woman I can say that lol) and if she is white she’s waaaaayyyy overstepping her bounds. You handled her egregiously ignorant comments well, Jae, and, I think, stopped when you knew you wouldn’t get anywhere. Kudos.