When you grow up in a household where fried rice and fried chicken share the same kitchen, you start to realize just how different your insight about life really can be. You begin to realize that no matter how hard you try to assimilate into your mostly white high school you will always be “the Asian.” They will call you that lovingly, like a novelty all their own to fill a quirky friendship quota, and they won’t know the bombs going off in the pit of your stomach as the moniker takes away the identity of your ancestors. You are Asian, an all-encompassing word with no regard for the differences between Japanese, Chinese, Pakistani, or Palestinian. When you begin to excuse their ignorance you are slowly shedding the very things that make you who you are.
In 8th grade a girl turned around in class to look at me during the first week of class, and kindly, she asked, “What are you?” When I replied “Korean.” She threw her head back, laughing, “Oh! I thought you were Asian!”
To say I was surprised was an understatement. I wasn’t really sure how to handle myself so I laughed nervously and tried to focus on what was going on in the front of the room.
When the first boy I really liked told me I was “pretty for an Asian,” I tried my best to emulate the girls who were just pretty because they were pretty. When they pointed out that my eyes squinted even more when I smiled with my teeth I found myself keeping tight lipped smiles and barring my eyes open until they watered for pictures. When they turned around in class to ask me for the answers in math while I was struggling just to get the right answer on my own I tried my best to laugh with them when they called me a bad Asian.
Don’t get me wrong; I know most of the time they mean no harm. It’s just what they’ve been taught to think is okay. And up until recently I thought it was okay. This was just something I knew I had to deal with an Asian-American.
Back in February for the 88th Academy Awards, actor Chris Rock hosted the award show for the second time in his career. The thing that made this time so different, however, was his use of comedic relief using three young Asian boys. In his bit he calls the three accountants that count the ballots, but out come the three boys followed by several jokes including one that is thought to be hinting towards child labor laws in Asian countries, “"If anybody's upset about that joke, just tweet about it on your phone that was also made by these kids.”
Several celebrities including Constance Wu (Fresh off the Boat), George Takei (Star Trek), Kat Dennings (Thor), and many more expressed their outrage at the blatant racial slurs aimed towards Asians, even going as far as using this situation to catapult the stereotypes of Asians and its negative affects into conversation.
George Takei, in particular, commented on the event saying: “I am keenly sensitive to stereotypes, as bland, as innocuous as they may seem, because all it takes is one catastrophic event for that stereotype to become a deadly weapon used against us, I have a sense of humor, but those demeaning and dehumanizing stereotypes, I will fight to the end.”Now, before you think in your head, “Yet another thing people are too easily offended by” and roll your eyes. Just think about it in another perspective. We are more than just a stereotype and we are more than just numbers in an equation that you’ve tried to write us into. We have thriving cultures behind us and we don’t ask for a revolution to be the alpha race, we just want to not be boxed into a stereotype to make you laugh. We are not your punch line. Next time, think about how when you group us together recklessly, you’re taking away who we are as individuals.
