The Asian Kid

Terri left this message on the Miley Cyrus thread.  Check it out.  As with all of Terri’s messages, it was thoughtful and intelligent, and I  agree with everything she said.  As a survivor of racial schoolyard violence (along with the “turn the other cheek” attitude of hypocritical teachers), I have all the empathy in the world for young Asian kids.  So after reading Terri’s comment, I wanted to add just a note of clarification, a prescription for the kid, and a note about what I think that people like us should do.

First, a note of clarification regarding the Asian American blogosphere. I speak only for myself, but I think most of us Asian American bloggers are making jokes in a snarky kind of way, since so much of the White blogosphere is using the Asian kid as a justification for Miley Cyrus’s actions.  He’s the elephant in the middle of the room, so we’re addressing the fact of his presence.  None of us are seriously condemning him.   We’re just joking about what we don’t know, i.e. “What were you thinking, son???” I don’t think anyone has outwardly accused him of selling out or questioned his character; it’s more of just a “what were you thinking?” type of theatrics.

When it comes to racism, I find that snarkiness sometimes saves my sanity. Do you all remember Lethal Weapon 4, when Mel Gibson made all those horrible, racist accent imitations on screen?  At the time, of course, Mel was getting away with racist comments because he was making them against Asians–once he crossed the line and displayed his racism against a more empowered minority group, he was toast.  But at the time, we Asians were supposed to “just get over it.”  Anyway, in LW4, there’s this one scene where a little Chinese kid rescues Mel Gibson, and of course, Mel repays him by being a racist prick cracking racist jokes for the rest of the movie.  After the movie, I told my friend that I was going to find that little Chinese kid’s name and boycott the rest of his movies.

Now was I being serious?  No.  The kid was around five years old.  He had no idea what was going on other than he was in a movie with Mel and Danny.  But I said something snarky just because…well…just because.  It was so ridiculous that some white producers make Asian actors play demeaning roles that I had to crack a joke.  Yes, the real racist was Mel Gibson and the producers of Lethal Weapon 4. But I joked about the Asian kid too because, well, he happened to be at the center of a racial situation.

About the kid himself: None of us know his situation.  He could be just an Asian buffoon (I’ve met enough of those in my time), or he could be a real victim.  We won’t know unless he steps forward.  If he contacted any of the Asian American bloggers, I’m sure it would come around to all of us.  But he needs to step forward to set the record straight.  Or his parents need to step forward.

If he’s a buffoon, I’d like to know so that I can really make fun of him (I’m being snarky again.).  If he’s a victim, on the other hand, here’s what I’d recommend: I think he should sue Miley and Billy Ray for pain and suffering.  And after he’s done suing the Cyrus family, he should go after Disney for keeping that unapologetic racist on the payroll.  The mainstream media is covering this story, so he can contact them as well.  If he’s a victim, he needs to take responsibility by setting the record straight.  Yes, I know that it’s hard when you’re young, but if he doesn’t speak up, the rest of the world–including us, including racists, including everyone who reads the story–will go on assuming.  I personally don’t feel comfortable assuming he’s a victim unless he himself says so.

The world is waiting to hear his story.  He can contact the OCA, he can contact the mainstream media, or he can contact AA bloggers.  The ball truly is in his court.  15 or 16 is young, but it’s old enough to take a stand, especially when there’s a rush of people just waiting to hear and distribute your story.

About us: I agree with Terri that we need to do more for our kids.  We need to talk about what we can do in our own communities.  We need to learn to network our efforts so that we can learn from each other as well.   One thing that Frank Chin mentioned when he was in Portland was the Chinese stories.  He has actually advocated hard for multicultural inclusion in school curricula.  This is one way we can help kids develop self-esteem.  We can also raise awareness of kid’s issues through our own discussions.

Anyone care to talk about these issues?  Maybe this can be our next talk.  I’m very interested in coming up with concrete solutions to problems.

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