Olympian Uncle Speaks on Slant-Eyed Spanish Pic
August 17, 2008
Bruce Ishimatsu’s niece, Haley Ishimatsu, is on the American women’s diving team representing not only the United States, but also a new era of globalized cross-pollenation and communication. He writes that how images are interpreted in our hometown is no longer the measuring stick for globe-spanning human relations.
Amidst the glory of the Beijing Olympics, the Spanish Federation Basketball Team saw it fit to release a team photo in a Spanish advertisement in which they are all depicted pulling their eyes back in a slant-eyed gesture mimicking their Olympic hosts.
They have tried to sugar coat it by saying it was meant to be cute, funny, endearing, and a gesture of affection by identifying with the Chinese people. Hogwash. Too many of us were subjected to that gesture as kids when it was used to mock us because we looked different than other Americans.
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One Spanish player, Jose Manuel Calderon who plays in the NBA for the Toronto Raptors, remarked in his blog that the ad was done out of respect for the Chinese people and that “Anyone who would like to interpret this differently is absolutely confused.” Really now.
Pau Gasol, another Spaniard in the photo who is a star player for the Los Angeles Lakers, offered an “apology” that rings hollow as do all so-called apologies that begin with “….IF anybody thought or took it the wrong way and thought it was offensive….” That falls far short of any self recognition that it was inherently wrong and offensive and attempts to shift the burden onto the viewer’s ability to understand things correctly.
In the absence of a negative reaction, are we to conclude that the ad was appropriate and not offensive? I submit that our silence would serve to validate the creators and participants of that misguided ad.
By any measure, the ill-conceived ad is simply not endearing or cute or respectful. As an Asian American born and raised in Southern California, I am offended by the ad regardless of where it ran. In this internet age, things like this have no geographic boundaries. Jose Luis Saez, the President of the Spanish Basketball Federation said “The distorted minds that seek controversy should rather worry about racist precedents in their own countries.” In fact, our respective histories are precisely why we must speak up against those who would perpetuate negative racial stereotyping. In the context of the Beijing Olympics dedicated to harmony and world unity, this ad is a disharmonious gesture and an insult to the Chinese hosts as well as to Asians around the world.
In the context of sports where merit and character are supposed to reign, this ad is simply unacceptable and needs to be decried publicly. It is particularly painful to me, as an American citizen of Japanese descent, to have to explain again and again why racism is insidious and seemingly benign but always ignorant and harmful.
Moreover, my niece, Haley Ishimatsu, is a 15 year old American diver representing the U.S.A. in the synchronized and individual 10-meter platform diving events at the Beijing Olympics and, as she represents her country proudly, the last thing we need is to tolerate so-called jokes about Asians or any other ethnic group which only serves to separate us in a negative way based on race and physical features. The silent but deadly impact of tolerated racism cannot be excused and should never be overlooked.
The fact that a 15 year old Japanese American girl is representing the U.S.A. on the world stage in Beijing right now is poignant given that both of her grandmothers, one of whom is my mother, were denied their civil rights as American citizens during WWII when they were incarcerated as teenagers in internment camps for years in Arkansas and Arizona based on how they looked and their surnames, not their loyalty to this country.
60 years later, both grandmothers are alive and cheering their American grand daughter in the Olympics as an American athlete. This is but one example among many of the celebration of the human spirit which the Olympics is supposed to manifest.
That goal of harmonizing cultural differences and applauding achievement regardless of race or gender, compels us to speak out against those who seek to justify racism as a prank, a joke, or even stranger, an act of endearment.
Bruce Ishimatsu is an attorney in Los Angeles who practices commercial litigation and is active with non-profit organizations and ethnic bar associations.
Comments
30 Responses to “Olympian Uncle Speaks on Slant-Eyed Spanish Pic”
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Well said, Mr. Ishimatsu (btw, your niece is adorable). I think most people feel they can get away with insulting Asians because historically we as a group generally have not caused waves or complained much. But as Asians and Asian-Americans become more prominent, we need to have our voices heard.
Imagine the outrage if Spain had pulled these antics at an Olympic Games in Africa (or the U.S.)–the Jesse Jacksons and Al Sharptons of the world would’ve called for blood.
All cultures and historical contexts should be considered then, not only yours, Mr. Ishimatsu.
The world cannot be measured by the experience of Asian Americans or African Americans in the US alone. I’m sorry that the gesture in question was used in the US to insult you. But it was used by Americans, I assume, not by Spaniards. How do you know that the Spanish team intended that gesture to be an insult or a joke? Do you know what that gesture means to Chinese people (Chinese people from and in China, not Chinese Americans)? Do you know what it means in Spain? Do you know that China and Spain have a stress-free historical relationship, free of conflicts, mutual aggressions or domination of one nation/race over the other? It is a very diiferent history of that of Japan and the US, Mr. Ishimatsu.
A global world in harmony should be a place in which ALL cultures and experiences are taken into account, not only one –ours. I’m sorry that the gesture has brought to life bad personal experiences for you. But please take into account that those experiences are not the ones of the people who made the gesture (Spaniards) or the ones of the people to whom the gesture was addressed (Chinese people from China). A global world in harmony should also be one in which we do not throw to each other ghosts from our respective pasts.
Aristontoles, are you an asian? Its interesting that racism, or any -ism for that matter, is not an issue for those who are not on the receiving end of it. A joke at the expense of others is not particularly funny. The Spanish basketball team’s photo seems laughable only because of its juvenile nature.
So you guys are foaming and screaming at the Spaniards and even accusing Latino-Americans of similiar crime. I’m glad that Asians have learned to brook no offense and fight back. No doubt the Spanish athletes’ gestures brought back painful childhood memories for Mr. Ishimatsu, and prompted him to contribute his valued opinion.
But Asians know that the vast bulk of anti-Asian harassment and violence come from blacks, not Latinos or Spaniards:
http://www.taemag.com/issues/articleid.17109/article_detail.asp
Black racism against Asians is so prevalent that even a black leader like Obama casually joked about Asians being short and not competing successfully in basketball.
So where are Mr. Ishmatsu and all ye participants on this website when Asian men, women, and children all over the U.S. are taunted, harassed, assaulted, and raped by blacks? Where is the outrage by Asian groups and activists? Where is the demand for apology from blacks?
Asians cannot condone far more severe racism and harassment from blacks while quibbling with Spaniards or Latinos for milder offenses. Doing so will cost Asians credibility in the eyes of all ethnic groups in the U.S. or elsewhere in the world.
I’m so very glad you mentioned the process of communication and the legitimate participants in the construction of meaning. The Spanish athletes did not paste this photo into a card as a private salutation to the people of China. They posed knowing it would be put into the public domain. So why is it that so many want to silence the public’s negative reaction?
The athlete’s original intention informs only part of the meaning. The interpretive communities (the Chinese, the liberal US media, the Asian immigrant communities in the West, the Hispanics) that ‘read’ the message forms the other part. Just because many Chinese people in China don’t take the photo seriously doesn’t remove the racist overtones from it. Whatever the athlete’s original intent, that gesture is drawn from an extant vocabulary of racial harrassment of Asian peoples. If they say they didn’t know it was racist, I can believe it. Some white people in the 21st century still have no idea when they’re being racist. But even unintentional offenses are still offenses. A drunk driver who kills someone doesn’t have murderous intent, yet he is still charged with homocide.
Individuals can commit racist acts without personal racist intentions simply by participating in practices that demean or harm other races. For example, in the US, anyone who bought a house with a mortage in the 1950’s likely had to agree (as a condition of getting the loan) to not sell their house to a person of a different race from themselves. The practice of redlining was justified by saying that mixed race neighborhoods would destabilize property values, but the outcome was unequal housing opportunities (and ghettoization) for non-whites. People at banks and buyers often didn’t think what they were doing was racist even though non whites ended up segregated into poorer, less desireable areas with a lower tax base that lead to underfunded schools, etc.
I know it is going a bit far to compare the Spanish athlete’s wrong with that of redlining, but my point is that their intentions don’t appear to be relevant to the outcome. Many people on this site and others have discussed their outrage. Their voices matter too.
Human beings are racists by nature.
Just watch any baby. How they react to seeing folks of different race ?
But unprovoked racist remarks, gestures, words, expressions are unnecessary. Just too childish and too narrow-minded.
Pre-conceived notions, ignorance and prejudices often play a major role in racist perceptions.
Folks:
These “games” ain’t over yet, but the fallout already consumes far too many perceptions.
Check today’s online NewsWeek for one of its featured pieces, wherein the issue of “slant-eyes” plays a bit part in the larger “picture” of the total commercialization of what began, unless I am once more mistaken, as a NON-PRO affair, a “personal-best” amongst “amateurs.”
Whatever, Joan, don’t waste your breath, much less your far too qaulified views on the matter, and the rest of “us,” why not just yawn and let these yokels go their way, AFTER our righteous protests, that is; as for that ill-begotten nomer’d of an upper-case President, of what?, of the pre-K class of the KKK?, you are getting funnier and hilariouser, like our own awarthur huever; and whoever Aristontoles may be, “ignorance” of the “law” of politesse is scant excuse. As a longtime and profound admirer of Federico Garcia-Lorca AND any number of world-class Spanish artists and writers and thinkers, and, anti-Fraancisco Franco, and how say you, Aristontoles, defender of the Spanish/PRC axis of “tolerance” and commerce, to the “history” of the Inquisition, the Spanish “civilizing” of the pre-Columbians of this continent, even savager than our Plymouth Rock’ers;
and, oh, what about the “black” Spaniards Garcia=Lorca celebrates in his “Poet in New York”? Are they, to Spain, what “Ethiopian Jews” are today to Israel?
It matters little or nil in respect to that NewsWeek take on the Olympics, which nails the entire spectacle to money, honey, and the Nike/Adidas?Ning axis ot overpriced footgear is the ultimate “villain.”
It’s not time-”honored” aural dubbings, not electronic wizardries, not even exploited “underaged” darlings of the pommel and the mat who are at fault. Maybe not even the “collaborating” spons0rs.
The cookie monster behind the entire internet Colosseum of competitive intolerance is, simply, the lethal, as in wars, whether bruited as “invasion” or response, admixture of greed and lust for power with the propagandized perceptions of race and creed and color, forget “nationalities.”
NewsWeek also claims FOUR, in billions that is, and not the piddling three earlier forecast fot these www close encounters of the contraries online and on the telly.
Bottom line: the corporate model wins gold; the spartan competitor maybe some silver; the audience, with luck, some bronze of entertainment. The rest of us? Not even an acknowledgment of slam, bam, thank-you, ma’am.
But that’s life in these days of gilded-lilies posing as fresh-cut blooms. You pays your entry fees and you gets what you deserve.
Well, at least the opening show was “one for the books,” damn the nitpickers.
Frank Eng
P.S.: And while you were watching Phelps gain Yankee glory, perhaps you should have been reading Mike Whitney’s latest on Info Clearing House. And I will still wager that McCain, unglued, will still allow Obama to tortoise past him come November. That is, unless the neocons do better with a security threat than “Georgia” in the Caucasus.
Oh, and “Spik”:
I think you are confusing the babe-in-arms’ objestion to ANYone but his/her mommy, or nanny, with “race.”
“Science,” what there is 0f it, that is, should support my contention here.
It’s the “stranger” that the infant objects to or is afraid of.
In my own experience, limited as it was/is, children old enough to perceive “others” on their own do NOT, I repeat, NOT react or respond to differences in “race.” They DO, however, respond viscerally and vocally to perceived one-on-one slights and denigrations.
So, whether or no one spika-d’inglish, prejudice and bias are learned, usually willy-nilly by example of their elders, who SHOULD know better but rarely do.
All I could say is these braindead spaniards are so lucky the olympics are not in the Philippines; otherwise they would have blackeyes before they even have a chance to leave the country. Most likely they won’t be able to walk because they’d be paralyzed from all the beating from airport police.
I’m against hate, period. There is far more hate in those who accuse the Spanish of hatred they obviously don’t have. Why in the world would somebody deliberately issue a picture that was intended to be insulting to their chinese hosts? If Asian Americans choose to be insulted and to charge Spain with anti-Asian racism, that is your right. But it’s wrong. All hate is wrong, whether it is against your group, their group, and especially if it is against hatred that DOES NOT EXIST. Go ahead and teach them manners, but don’t promote even more hate by being insulted by a gesture intended to be cute.
The Spaniards argue that the photo has no bad racial intention.
If that is the case, why can’t they just put it straight, and say Sorry and stop publishing the photo as scheduled ?
If everyday I show my mid-finger to Jose Calderon’s mom. And she feels so offended.
Can I just say “Oh, I don’t mean to offend you, but I think it is just funny.”
And, I keep doing it everyday?
Spaniards, you may not have the bad intention in the first place, but since the receiving ends (Chinese & other Asians) were offended, isn’t it time to just say SORRY and stop all kinds of explanation to cover up yourselves ?
And to stop all the publication of these ill-fate photos too.
>propagandized perceptions of race and creed and color, forget “nationalities.”
yea, damn the nitpickers and forget the 56 finest Han specimen all dolled up in minority-face!
Yeah Eng, your anti-western slant
Aristontoles,
“Do you know that China and Spain have a stress-free historical relationship, free of conflicts, mutual aggressions or domination of one nation/race over the other? ”
for a moment, step off your high horse and remember that Spain does have a history of both aggression and domination in Asia, refer to the 377 years of aggression and colonization culminating in the Philippine Revolution of 1896 to jog your memory. Spain’s less than beneficient history in Asia aside, I know of no Asians who would characterize this gesture as anything but a racial/ethnic slur. I have been subjected to this gesture first hand, and explicit in its meaning was anything but a gesture of friendship, honor, or affection, as some of the Spanish basketball players assert. If it was, would there be this type of uproar over something as innocuous as a friendly wave? Why dissemble and pretend it is a symbol of friendship? The record is clear, pulling one’s eyes back is a racial epithet, and Pau Gasol’s indication that some of the team was “uncomfortable” doing it shows that they too, were aware of the possible implications of the gesture. Claiming ignorance is not an adequate defense, when you preface the statement by showing you ARE aware of how the gesture can be interpreted. Frankly, I’m disgusted by the amount of backpedalling and double talk from the Spanish basketball federation, the IOC, and the apologists commenting on this matter.
They are racists or just have no class. This is not the first time so they are not too creative. They are just ugly Spaniards and I hope they’re the minority and does not represent their great country.
The Olympics is all about race…and one nation over the others….does anyone really think that these events don’t bring out the racist in all of us…it is but once every four years that all human put down their guns and come together to make racist remarks….look (or rather, listen) at the gymnastic events, the US commentators can’t be any more racist…for them the US gymists are perfect in every ways-the other gymists, there are flaws in every missteps…This week, its the blacks turn to dominate…I love the Olympics….cant be any more humanly expressive than these….Let’s be more competitive bring back the Soviet Union…
Peace out.
I saw similar picture many times. It shows these Spaniards have no class while the Chinese say no big deal to show good class.
A handful of Spaniards now have a new nick name “ugly Spaniards” for all Spaniards.
Olympics is supposed to help us build bridges among nations. Do you agree?
Thank you for your well-written article informing Asian Americans about the totally brainless act that the clueless Spanish Olympic Basketball team had perpetrated. I agree wholeheartedly with what you wrote. And I especially thank you for urging us to speak out when we see such offensive and racist insults toward Asians and Asian Americans.
As one who has been subjected to such gestures many times, I say to those who say that we should “lighten up” , when are you going to realize that is absolutely wrong to insult anyone just because they look different than you? Or are you as cluess as the Spanish basketball team appears to be? Shame that the internet seems to bring out of the woodwork so many of these folks who are all too eager to present their racism in an Asian news website.
Thanks, Bruce, for informing Asian Americans about the Spanish basketball team’s incredibly offensive and outrageous picture. I wholeheartedly agree with you, especially about how we have to speak out against such racist acts wherever they might originate. Too many of us, myself included, have had to face such ugly gestures, not only in America, but in Europe and other countries as well.
To those who say we should “lighten up”, are you as clueless as the Spanish basketball team? Racist gestures are simply wrong, unacceptable, and used by vile people. Sad that so many of these folks are coming out of the woodwork and using the internet, especially in an Asian news website.
Now is the time for Asians to unite. For far too long we have been quietly toiling along-side other, more vocal, non-Eurpoeans in the U.S. We have had to learn the language and succeed on merits while other cultures have demanded more (e.g., affirmative action, education in their own languages, equal representation, reparations for slavery, etc.). It is time for Asians to stand up and demand that white America stop treating us as equals and start treating us like an inferior race.
These Spaniards can serve as the rallying cry for a new era of Asian culture. No longer will we be relegated to minority status in American prisons. No longer will the homeless population largely exclude Asians. No longer will the American public think of that the only “bad” Asians are the well organized criminal organizations (e.g. Yakuza).
My brothers and sisters, we need to take the lead and seize this opportunity. This is where our Al Sharptons, our Jesse Jacksons, and our Che Guevara’s will emerge. Our new leaders will be full of sound and fury, strutting and fretting upon the world stage. With your help and outrage, we can achieve the same level of significance and take our rightful place amongst other immigrants in the great melting pot.
“Jonathon” is Asian Obama.
Yeah, and YOU, “AsianPresident,” just who the Hell are YOU?
Come out from behind your nom de plume.
Fight like a man, man.
That is, if you ARE one, and not a mediamix of Establishment rogue infiltrator and inciter and informer.
Your posts are not simply obvious, they are more than devious.
And Jonathon, whilst possibly overenthusiastic, is, nonetheless, ON THE MARK.
At least for “Asian Amercans,” with or without hyphen.
This came out in April, for the EURO 2008, much before the photo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5DMc2TfahA
Any of you offended back then? I didn’t see any global outcry for this one.
If you’re on the other side, you do not think it is funny but very offensive.
It shows the Spaniards have no education, no class, and plain stupid. If it happened in US, they would be kicked home long ago and banned from their sports. A racist society will not make it and I hope the future Olympics will not be hosted in their countries.
The primary purpose of Olympics is not counting metals but bridging bridges between nations. If we appreciate others, we’ll have a better world. A dozen or so stupid Spaniards make all Spaniards ugly.
“In the context of the Beijing Olympics dedicated to harmony and world unity, this ad is a disharmonious gesture and an insult to the Chinese hosts as well as to Asians around the world.” Your naivete is astonishing. The fascist claque that rules China, ostensibly in the name of the people, are exploiting the games to present a vast, Potemkin nation to the rest of the world. They want to project a new, modernized nation to their guests, and yet it’s all a sad, papier mache facade for oppression, repression and racism. The poor have been swept from sight, non-Han Chinese minorities have been driven from view and countless Beijing residents have been displaced in order to make way for the ugly structures erected for the olympics. Yes, the Spanish gesture was insensitive at best and racist at worst, but it’s deeply hypocritical for Asians to complain about racism when it’s directed against themselves and yet feel perfectly comfortable doling it out to other peoples of color (just ask African students in China, African-American tourists in Japan, etc., etc. about their experiences).
The sad part is that the games are used to report on what the Western media best understands - its own racist preconceptions, and assumptions. The poor Spaniards, however unfelicitous their actions, are being used as a foil by the Anglo press.
Generally, the strategy for reporting on the Games seems to boil down to this - what can we pick upon and hate next in an underhanded manner that would make our kkk forebearers proud?
Apparently the Spaniards are not the only donkeys.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/olympics/2581173/Beijing-Olympics-Now-Argentinas-footballers-photographed-making-slit-eyed-gesture.html
Haley Ishamatsu is one adorable fragile girl full of potential. Although she failed to make the finals, she has a bright future ahead of her. Her coach is the head coach at my Alma Mater, Purdue. I do hope she sticks with him and shows up at Purdue. I would like to see her win a Olympics medal as a Purdue student.
As far as the slant eyes incident is concerned, it may have cost Spain the Olympic competition, and it may be adversely affecting the Rio bid as well. Chicago is now the front runner for 2016..unintended but positive consequences.
One more thing..Americans behaving differently towards Asians now compared to three decades ago, is due to Asia’s rise in the world and not due to political correctness. Money talks and Asia owns the US debt..and one wrong move will have serious consequences for the US and the global economy.
Thank you, Mr. Ishamatu, for writing this article. I am an American-born Asian American who grew up in the midwest, subject to slant-eyed teasing throughout my childhood. By the way, I went to Europe a vacation with my family, and I remember kids (and even a couple adults) pulling their eyes behind my parents back at a gas station and saying “ching chong, ching chong.” At that moment, I learned that racism exists not just in my local school, not just in my small-town midwestern community, not even just in my country–but racism is world-wide.
Kudos to Mr. Ishamastu for expressing the outrage and pain I continue to carry in my heart. And kudos to Haley–we are proud of you, Olympian!
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