Angry Asian Gathering

Last Monday night I dropped by the Museum of Chinese in the Americas for a panel discussion on Asian American media activism. The picture above pretty much captures how things looked from where I was sitting: the panelists sat in a tight circle amid the audience in an overflowing room adorned with historical exhibits (including an extensive oral history of the impact of 9/11 on Chinatown, a major story which has simply been ignored by mainstream media). The discussion was moderated by Jeff Yang (near the center, wearing glasses), who is among the most prominent and respected Asian American journalists today. To Jeff's left: Phil Yu (right side of his head visible), better known as Angry Asian Man; Carmen Van Kerckhove (with cool necklace), who told me about the event in the first place; and Def Poetry Jam veteran Beau Sia (upper half of shaved head visible). To Jeff's right: Andy Hsiao (profile with goatee) of WBAI and The Village Voice; and back-of-head views of Albert Lim of Fallout Central and Minya Oh, better known as Miss Info on Hot 97.

Jumping off from the nominal theme "Why So Angry???", it turned out to be an engaging, meandering, mostly light-hearted conversation during which panelists and audience members recounted experiences with race and media activism, and explored some ideas on how to most effectively advance the struggle against the racist stereotyping and dehumanization of Asians in the media. Quite a bit of talk revolved around the familiar flare-ups which have emerged as milestones in Asian American media activism: the Tsunami Song, Rosie O'Donnell, Kenneth Eng. And the panel on hand was uniquely positioned to discuss these matters, most of them having been direct participants: Angry Asian Man broke the bizarre story of Kenneth Eng's "Why I Hate Blacks" column; Beau Sia wrote and performed the YouTube clip which caused O'Donnell to apologize for her "ching chong" joke on The View; and most dramatically, Miss Info confronted Hot 97's Miss Jones on the air about the offensive nature of the Tsunami Song.

The Tsunami Song stands out in my mind because Ms. Oh placed her livelihood on the line when she took her principled stand. I get the feeling that she didn't exactly want to do what she did; she must have known that she was jeopardizing her career; but she felt compelled by her own conscience to state unequivocally that mocking "screaming chinks" and "child slavery" in the wake of the tsunami tragedy was deeply offensive. I believe that such a decision generates a lot of moral force, which is partly what fueled the uproar that followed. Minya Oh furthermore deserves a lot of credit for not backing down when the heat turned up, hiring a lawyer and fighting for her rights; and in the end, being the last one standing more or less unscathed once all the political, economic, social, and legal dominoes had fallen.

Despite apparent victories such as these, Jeff Yang questioned whether or not anything is really changing, and whether the activist model of reactive outrage, shaming sponsors, and calling for heads and apologies is really the best way to advance Asian American representation. There seemed to be near-unanimity in the room that reactive outrage and protest are not enough. Yet when it came to articulating strategic concepts about what could or should be done, I couldn't help feeling that the discussion stalled a bit, quite often sidetracked by valid yet tangential concerns.

As I think it over, I see three general, diverse, overlapping areas of media activism: (1) cultural critique; (2) political/economic pressure; and (3) original cultural production. I think an effective Asian American media movement must vigorously pursue and promote boldly-creative high-quality concepts within all three of these broad areas of activity. Cultural critique engages today's dominant forms of media, deconstructs racialized content, and contextualizes our community's various responses — from enthusiastic approval to vehement outrage — with historical and/or analytical discourse. Sharp dissatisfaction and anger within our community about specific injustices in either content or process can be expressed via organized political and economic pressure which targets offending parties where it hurts. But perhaps most importantly, our community must continually cultivate a vibrant scene of original cultural production asserting our own fresh artistic, journalistic, and humanistic narratives and perspectives via all manner of creative media, in juxtaposition to dominant media.

There's plenty of room in such a media movement for a rich diversity of activities and tactics, from the grassroots to the corporate board room to the corridors of political power. We need not be formally organized under any particular hierarchical model, though organized participation and collaboration will necessarily spring into being around specific areas of galvanization. Some people will write articles and petitions, some will protest, some will write poetry, some will rap. I think that outrage and protest occupy an important place within media activism, especially when your community is more or less shut out from most all other avenues of expression in mainstream culture, marginalized, mocked, disrespected, and misrepresented in the popular imagination. But I think that outrage and protest gain even more power when they occur within an overarching media movement that incorporates the additional elements and dimensions that I've mentioned. For example, it seems to me that a major reason Beau Sia's open letter got through to O'Donnell and elicited an apology is that it was an act of positive cultural production, an act of artistry and humanism, not a narrowly-conceived ideological condemnation.

I also think it's crucial for Asian Americans to reach beyond our own community and build coalitions and communities with other groups who also feel marginalized by dominant society. I do not believe that a principled anti-racist movement can only fight against certain forms of racism. As I see it, Asian American anti-racists must stand in solidarity with all people of color, even when they don't stand in solidarity with us, simply because it's the right thing to do. Personally I don't want to work with any so-called anti-racist who's okay with racism directed at non-Asians, or who blames other communities of color when other forms of racism receive more mainstream attention than anti-Asian racism, or for that matter who's okay with sexism, classism, homophobia, or ablism. Personally I feel that the only positive path forward involves a broad vision of social justice. After all, media activism isn't really about the media; it's about the perceptual prism through which we interpret our reality, and the lens through which we see one another as human beings. It's about how we talk with and think about and treat one another at every level of our global society, and how we live together in this crazy world with a modicum of the dignity and respect and justice that should be, but all too often is not, self-evident.

Comments

[Nezua Limón Xolagrafik-Jonez]

fantastic.

[donna darko]

kai,

HOTT.

[Sylvia]

:) The gathering sounds as remarkable as I thought it would be; I think that people do tend to be apprehensive when it comes to proactive solutions to ending oppression. We either default to the organizational structures that worked before and created the changes that now have unforeseen negative consequences, or we shy away from change altogether and hype the positive consequences as if it's all we can strive for. Patience is important -- it's critical -- for the types of connections we need to foster, and not many people have it. We've reached the point where in almost all communications and endeavors (could be a consumerist thing, an American thing, a technological development thing) we don't have time to wait. Ironically, the only thing our leaders can choose to wait out is a long, damaging, murder effort in various countries around the world -- but only because of the instant profits of the war mongerers.

(If this sounds weird/preachy, please note I just watched that YouTube/CNN debate and it's kinda buzzing around in my head right now.)

[la rebelde]

Thanks for your discussion. I'm totally with you on the anti-racism thing. I often wonder whether POC groups that only focus on their own communities, without an effort toward coalition with other POC, end up inadvertently working *against* anti-racism. Your post also makes me want to get cable.

p.s. I really enjoy your blog! I've been a lurker for a while now.

[LM]

Have said so when you've commented or written at Racialicious --- you're able through your writing to cystallize what's important at a higher level than most. I learn AND find myself thinking, damn, I wish I would have said that!

[nadia]

kai, this is awesome. this discussion is really helpful to me (and i think it has bearing throughout other communities). thanks for taking the time to report on the event.

[Kai]

Thanks for all the positivity, folks! Always good to hear!

[liza]

WAIT!

You were in NYC?!?!