Racist imagery, courtesy of the Boston Phoenix
Thanks to SEFTRE, who found this. The Boston Phoenix ran an article on Friday about how Yoon and Menino are competing over the Boston Asian vote, and they accompanied the article with the photo on the right, a graphic of Menino in a Chinese takeout box labeled “Yoon for Mayor.”
I don’t know whom the Boston Vietnamese citizens support, but it’s clear whom the Boston racist media supports. How, in this day and age, is it acceptable to represent an entire community with a takeout box and chopsticks? It would be like portraying the Bronx as a group of African American thugs with stolen cars, or Crown Heights as a group of Orthodox Jews carrying Menorahs. Such imagery reduces an entire community to stereotype. It’s the same problem that Asian Americans face everyday–the battle to be seen as more than just food or good grades or hard workers. Instead of using Yoon’s historic run for mayor as a groundbreaking event in the Asian American community, the Phoenix instead chose to use the political situation as a means of dismissing the humanity of the Boston Asian American community.
What’s equally annoying is the pose by Menino with his arms raised, as if he’s somehow triumphed over the Asian American community (as represented by a takeout box, of course). It’s that same ol’ Kiplingesque portrayal where the White guy goes into some ethnic community and demonstrates moral or physical over the po’ colored people. Think of the Power of One, where the scrawny White kid teaches Africa about musical rhythm. Or the Karate Kid, where Daniel-san beats up the evil Japanese guys and sets a moral example for all of Okinawa to follow (never mind the problems that the American military has caused in Okinawa). In this case, it’s a meritless portrayal. Let’s get real–Menino is the incumbent. He’s “entrenched” and “powerful,” as the article itself mentions. There’s nothing for him to conquer, as he’s been in power for sixteen years. He’s not the underdog, and to portray him as such is misleading and wrong.
Perhaps there is reason to be hopeful. Sam’s historic run for mayor is shedding light on Boston’s problems, one of which is a major newspaper which needs to recognize Asian Americans as human beings rather than a commodities. His campaign is already shedding light on entrenched and harmful ideas that some people hold. If Sam makes the transition from mayoral candidate to mayor, he will shake things up even more.
Vote Sam Yoon if you’re in Boston, and encourage your friends to do the same. To hear his podcast on bigWOWO.com, go here.
Related posts:
That picture is inappropiate, rude and disrespectful. And Racist.
*sigh*………
I will definitely send a prayer for Yoons victory to Buddha tonight before i sleep.
Goodluck Yoon, I’m praying for you to dominate.
Do any of you remember a controversial incident during the Presidential debates when John McCain referred to Obama as “that one”?
Guess what the Obama campaign produced the following day?
http://images7.cafepress.com/product/315355187v4_350x350_Front.jpg
The best response to insults is to take it and turn it into an ironic joke pointed at the other side.
Hi folks,
Just wanted to give props to BigWoWo and SEFTRE for bringing this issue to light.
I also wanted to reiterate how important it is that we are able to use this moment not only to fight against racist depictions of Asian-Americans, but also to support Asian-American candidates trying to break through.
I know many of you do not live in Boston, but you can still help Sam’s campaign. You can get more info about Sam’s campaign at http://www.samyoon.com
Most importantly, you can help Sam break through by contributing 5 or 10 dollars (or more) to the campaign. Here is a link to my personal fundraising page: http://samyoon.helpmycampaign.com/sagroo/myfundraising
I cannot stress how important this is. While it might seem trivial, 10 dollars can buy us campaign literature, help us organized in neighborhoods and can help us by the gas needed to drive an elderly supporter to the polls.
A victory by Sam in this race would be historic, not only for Boston but for Asian-Americans everywhere. But we can’t get there on ideas alone. We have to have the resources to spread our message.
If Sam loses, it won’t be because he voters rejected his ideas. It will be because he didn’t have the resources to reach all of them. You can change that. If you can donate to the campaign, please do so. We’re running an efficient, grassroots campaign. But we need your help.
Thank you for your continued support.
Sincerely,
Sagar Sane
Intern, Sam Yoon for Mayor
Twitter: @sagroo
sagroo@gmail.com
Also, while there may be some merit to crying foul over this picture it certainly doesn’t help when Sam Yoon himself pulls stunts like this:
The fortune cookies on Saint Patrick’s Day, Yoon said, were meant as a joke.
It started with the Saint Patrick’s Day breakfast Sunday morning, where he brought along an oversize fortune cookie wrapped in plastic that he kidded contained the name of Boston’s next mayor. To the audience, he mock-explained: “This is a Chinese fortune cookie. Now, I was born in Korea. And that’s the truth. But Chinese and Korean, it’s fine for me. Because I look at Chinese people, and I can’t even tell the difference.”
The crowd at these breakfasts is accustomed to race-based humor, but nervous laughter sprang from the crowd after the lines. Fortune cookies, while common in US Chinese restaurants, are a peculiarly Western stereotype of Asian culture, because restaurants in China do not serve them.
Watanabe said the episode showed Yoon is still trying to “feel his way around the identity issue.”
“To me, the fortune cookie thing is so stereotypical that I personally would have avoided it,” he said.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/03/25/trying_to_walk_fine_line_on_ethnicity/
The key difference, Kobukson, is that one is making jokes with a cultural relic (fortune cookies) while the other is equating a community with an inanimate object (takeout box).
Personally, I think it’s good that Sam is bringing these issues to the forefront. The goal should not be to get people to stop talking about race, but rather to get people to talk about race responsibly.
C’mon, man. You can’t tell me that Yoon’s attempt at ethnic humor didn’t make you groan a bit. Maybe he thought he was being like Dave Chappelle or something, some ironic humor to make a point. Maybe one had to have been there and seen it in context to understand. Thing is Sam Yoon is not a comedian, he’s running for political office. He’s a relative unknown and stuff like that would have gone over most people’s heads. For Sam Yoon to indulge in fortune cookie humor and then for other Asian-Americans to cry racism over a picture of a Chinese take-out box in a newspaper, while Sam Yoon gets a pass, looks awfully like a double standard. Consistency, people!
“You can’t tell me that Yoon’s attempt at ethnic humor didn’t make you groan a bit.”
Not at all. I read the article before the podcast, and I didn’t groan one bit. Some people may have taken another look or two, but I don’t think it was because they were offended. Most likely it was because they simply aren’t used to talking about race–at least not within an Asian context. Yoon is unknown outside of Boston, but in Boston itself, he’s already a councilor. Yes, he’s an underdog, but he’s put his time in, shaken hands, and gotten to know people. Now he’s just trying to get more people to notice and buy in.
When I was a junior in high school, the class president was Korean American. I think he was the first Asian American class president ever. He dressed like Vanilla Ice and called himself “Vanilla Rice” for Halloween. He enlisted a whole bunch of Asian high school women to pretend they were fans and shout when he stepped on stage. The class president was also president of the Asian club, captain of at least one varsity team, and a generally well-liked guy. It shocked the hell out of my predominantly white high school, and people recognized.
Bottom line is that it’s just a joke, intended to garner some attention, in both Yoon’s case and in the case of my high school class president. There’s no double standard when one is making light jokes about cultural relics, especially as it relates to one’s own culture.
You said that you see some merit in crying foul over the cartoon, but not this. Maybe I should ask you, Kobukson–are you offended by the fortune cookie joke?
The Boston Phoenix likes to present itself as some kind of an “alternative” newspaper, a fave of White (cough) progressives and oh-so-trendy hipsters everywhere.
The fact that this “progressive” rag would publish crap like this just shows how White cultural racism operates today. It’s the standard glib racist caricature that America loves so much.
Of course when you call these people out on it, they will instinctively resort to whining about “Political Correctness.”
To me, it would be interesting to see the reaction of these people if they got a taste of their own medicine.
How about a racial caricature starring some Dago Eye-talian or potato-eating Paddy boy? Better yet, Tommy Menino as a Soprano-style goombah.
You can be sure that White apologists would be soiling themselves and crying about “racism against White people” if this ever happened.
But that is the only language that White America truly understands.
What goes around comes around.
These people will have to learn that truth the hard way.
Speaking of my college president friend, the last time I saw him was in…Boston. That could be a vote.
He was pre-med at Harvard, and I bumped into him at a bar and restaurant when visiting a friend at MIT. Unfortunately, his name is “John Lee,” and I don’t know how easy he would be to find–already, I probably have around 3oo “mutual friends” named John Lee on Facebook.
Sorry about the triple posts–thoughts coming slowly. Kobukson, are you offended by the fortune cookie thing? Or are you just not comfortable with it? If so, why?
I’m not really offended by the fortune cookie thing. I just question whether it was really necessary. If Menino or some other rival had made a public remark about fortune cookies to make some kind of joke at Yoon’s expense and there was a controversy buzzing about it and Yoon had done what he did, then it would have been a great ironic joke, people would gave totally “gotten it”, and the perp would have looked stupid. However, nothing like that had happened. Watanabe’s right, he would have been better off just staying clear of the issue if he could help it. In my opinion, I thought it made him look self-conscious about his race. Yoon’s job is not to get people thinking about race in an Asian context. That’s a job for Asian-American equivalents of Dave Chapelle’s and what not. His is to convince the public that he can be a good mayor, regardless of his ethnicity, to all ethnicities. The race issue in politics is a tricky double-edged sword. Americans still haven’t gotten our act together about the race thing and clumsy, ham-fisted attempts at ethnic humor only perpetuates the racial misunderstanding clusterfuck.
And has anyone read the article itself? It’s talking about the fact that the Boston Asian-American community’s endorsement of the candidates seems confused. Stores have posters and stickers of Menino AND Yoon AND Flaherty. What is that? Christ on a drunken rampage, consistency, people!
Maybe I am dense, but I am not sure who that ad supports. It seems to support Yoon and depicts Menino as ‘take out.’ I guess like all bad jokes the delivery is interpreted by that of the reader/viewer and since I can’t make anything of it, oh well.
It is unfortunate that in order to appeal to most voters, politicians rely upon spin and delivery rather than substance.
Yoon will eat him for lunch? self served? revenge best served, like cold noodles?
Kobukson,
“Yoon’s job is not to get people thinking about race in an Asian context. That’s a job for Asian-American equivalents of Dave Chapelle’s and what not.”
So I’m not sure whether or not I agree with you or disagree, but I’m interested in finding out. There are two ways to interpret your statement above. The first interpretation is, “It’s not his job, therefore he shouldn’t do it.” The second is, “It’s not his job, therefore he doesn’t have to do it.”
I disagree with the first interpretation, and I’m guessing you do too.
I agree with the second interpretation on a rudimentary level. I don’t think a mayor or mayoral candidate HAS to address race. It’s not in the constitution, nor is it, I’m sure, in whatever charter Boston uses.
However, I think it’s up to the guy running for office. My view is this: getting people to think about race may not be part of Sam Yoon’s or John Liu’s or Daniel Inouye’s official job description, but if they can do it, why shouldn’t they do it? No one else is doing it, and we need people to do it, so why shouldn’t we be able to rely on our elected officials?
That was one major reason why we elected Obama, right? Obama didn’t have to talk about race, but he did. He gave that big long speech, and everyone applauded him for it.
When Inouye was in Portland, Inouye specifically mentioned the need for Japanese Americans to get involved. It’s not his official job to speak for Japanese Americans, but with his stature and the support he has enjoyed from Asian Americans, he did. He made a statement, and he made it loudly. Sometimes politicians are the only ones who can.
Another example: During the podcast, I spoke about John Liu and how he stood up against a racist prank played by the JV and Elvis show. It’s not within his area, but he did it anyway. Is it correct to say that challenging racism perpetuated by a radio station physically housed outside of John Liu’s area is not a part of his job? Yes. Does that mean he shouldn’t do it? I don’t think so.
The fact is that in a media saturated world, it’s hard to make a statement. If a future mayor of Boston can bring race into the dialogue, I support it. If an Asian American politician is brave enough to put his ethnicity at the forefront despite the media’s obvious biases, I think he could do great things in that office. John Liu has done it, and Senator Inouye has done it. Sam Yoon has thought deeply about race and ethnicity, and my view is that we should give him a chance to do the same.
I was at an art festival in Hyde Park this past weekend when who else would show up in their tinted out, escort driven, black GMC SUV but the Mayor himself, Mumbles Menino. I think I was only a couple of feet away from Menino when I mentioned to my friend, ‘Where is Sam Yoon’. Ha, I think Menino heard me. But seriously, where was Sam Yoon? Lol. Does he have better things to do than spend some of his weekend at a very small scale neighborhood arts festival? I don’t know, but I know Yoon would be more likely to make a showing at an anti-Asian racism rally at a local university than Menino would. http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=73592066262#/video/video.php?v=567374330148&oid=73592066262 Yoon comes up at 4:45.
Anyway, I do feel a little uncomfortable, not offended, but uncomfortable with the fortune cookie thing. It just seemed so trite and therefore not funny and therefore uncomfortable…because you’re suppose to laugh at the joke but it just wasn’t funny…not even in a dumb way. Maybe it was just the delivery. Anyway, it is interesting that candidates like Yoon have to constantly perform this balancing act. For instance, Yoon not too long ago did an interview on this radio show on this radio station that both have endorsements and very good working ties with the Phoenix. The radio program is yes, trendy with the hipsters, as Larry puts it. And that’s where the balancing act comes in. For Yoon to come off as a viable option in Boston, he must play this racial identity game in order to seem “American”, non threatening, and ‘normal’ enough for the majority (which includes some dumbass Asian Americans too) to vote for him. He must also reach the older Asian/ Asian American community who do not necessarily understand politics and who value consistency, familiarity, and the status quo in the current environment; and therefore, cannot envision a different, more beneficial, more equal social and political landscape. Like I said before, it will be a very difficult task to win the mayoral seat. Every battle won will be hard fought for sure.
On that radio show interview, Sam Yoon did mention that if he gets elected mayor, he would buy an iPhone, the G3S model, for every Bostonian. Ha, so everyone has a stake in this election. Yoon is brilliant. LOL.
menino is a shaved ape?