Where are the voices of outrage? The angry letters of protest and condemnation? Why aren’t Asian Americans out on the streets, picketing and boycotting? And where are the searing editorials from the Asian community newspapers, as well as community leaders speaking out against this latest insult and injustice?
No, I’m not referring to the Olympic Torch coming through San Francisco. I’m talking about recent events showing how popular media is once again giving Asian Americans, and especially Asian males, not only a slap in the face, but a kick in the teeth to boot. How long must we endure such pervasive and overt racism?
There is absolutely no acceptable or valid reason why the producers of the movie “21″ had a white guy play the part of Jason Ma, the Chinese American who made millions by counting cards. There are plenty of Asian American actors in Hollywood who could have and would have done a fine job in playing the role. It would have been an excellent and rare opportunity for them and perhaps lead to bigger and better roles - maybe even becoming a genuine star.
I personally know many Asian American actors who would have given anything to have that part, since they are so tired of the limited, stereotypical roles available, such as kung fu artist, bad guys, or comical fools for white audiences to laugh at. But, true to form, Hollywood movie producers have once again denied us Asian males the chance to make any headway into their white dominated halls of Hollywood.
You can bet there won’t be any Asian American males receiving an Oscar for Best Actor in the next few years, maybe not even in our lifetime. Producers and directors have casted white actors and actresses for years to play Asians, depriving Asian actors of many jobs. As a former counselor in higher education, I would always advise Asian American male students who wanted to get into acting to have a second and even third career choice, as well as be prepared to live within a starvation budget.
Asian men have also been cheated out of the opportunity to reach major, nationwide and even worldwide celebrity status - something virtually impossible for Asian males in the media. Now movie audiences will not see that it was actually an Asian guy who was able to bilk Las Vegas out of tons of money. Not that I necessarily condone or promote such actions, but hey, we Asian men are so vastly underrecognized and ignored in mainstream media, thanks to the many years of deliberate, racist exclusion, I’ll take anything at this point.
And look what happened to Rick Quan of San Francisco’s KPIX Channel 5 television news - quietly and unceremoniously “let go” a few weeks ago. Talk about injustice: Rick had loyally and competently worked at Channel 5 news as a sportscaster for almost 20 years. When he started, Asian American television personalities were extremely rare, almost non-existent, except for some Asian American female news anchors.
He was one of a very few Asian males in a field dominated by white males and ex-jocks, and he had done well in not only presenting sports to the viewing audiences, but also seving as a great role model to young Asians boys and girls. He had contributed much to reach out to our community, using his celebrity status in charitable events appearances to inspire others to serve and donate. By firing Rick, Channel 5 news has shown us that it cares nothing about the local Asian American community’s needs and concerns.
Even though we have been seeing more and more persons of color, more “diversity”, in the television news. have you noticed that Asian men still seem to be hired much less often than others? In fact, recently it appears the pendelum has swung once again back to the days of young white females and males, rather than towards the opposite direction.
And in spite of years and years of pleading and demanding, we have yet to see an Asian male as a regular weekly anchorperson, not just weekends, in the evening news. Why is it that Asian females can move up so easily in the world of news broadcasting, gaining special titles and positions, becoming anchorpersons, and moving up from local stations to national broadcasting, while there are so many Asian male reporters still stuck in the same job year after year?
Obviously, the white lords of the media do not want Asian American males to have any prominence and recognition in their white-washed world and have done their best to keep us out. We are devalued in their narrow-minded eyes. At the same time, they freely exploit and promote so many Asian women for their sexuality. Such an outrageous injustice will continue to exist and thrive unless and until we can get more Asian Americans to stand up and speak out. Now is the time to do so.
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Terry Lee is a Chinatown kid, born and raised, and a former academic counselor at City College of San Francisco as well as CSU East Bay. He has volunteered in numerous community activities.