We’re told the play Hamilton is progressive because of its racial diversity. So I wondered

We’re told the play Hamilton is progressive because of its racial diversity. So I wondered, what other white male historical figures will benefit from such revisionist storytelling?

When it comes to race, liberals and conservatives have a good cop/bad cop dynamic. Even though they show it differently, both are racist and use the same tactic of weaponizing POC as tokens. Hamilton is a perfect example of the insidious ways bigotry functions in liberal spaces. Whereas POC tokens on the right espouse obvious bigotry, tokens on the left will mask their self-hate by appearing to push back on racism. Instead, they perpetuate racism through more “acceptable” means, such as colorism, colorblind casting, classism, exceptionalism, etc.

As many in the Black community have pointed out, the so-called progressive casting of Hamilton and its hip-hop infused storytelling turned Black characters into slave owners and villains to the lighter-skinned heroes. But none of that criticism mattered because liberals loved it. Once liberals love something, it feeds an impenetrable ouroboros-esque media ecosystem—from who gets cast, which platforms write about it, who goes viral for praising it, etc. They push white-worshipping narratives into the mainstream to say to POC “this is how you do it.”

A few years ago, most of the complaints about Asian representation is that there wasn’t any. Since then, we’ve made progress in getting more Asian faces on screen. However, many of the narratives for this newfound Asian rep is still white at their core—the same way Hamilton is.

Darren Criss is a good example of what white-worshipping media liberalism looks like in action for AsAms. He once said “I always say one of my favorite things about myself is that I’m half-Filipino, but I don’t look like it. I just look like a Caucasian guy, which is nice.” Criss refused to apologize or acknowledge he (and other white-mixed Asians) benefit from the colorism he blatantly gushed about. Everything he said afterward was clearly damage control and revisionist. But here’s the most frustrating part: he’s still touted as positive Fil-Am rep.

Darren Criss is hardly the only example. Media like To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before or Raya and the Last Dragon have been touted as progress, but they’re just Asian faces on white stories. White people—especially white men—still control the purse strings and decide what gets approved.

Where does that leave creators of color who truly challenge white supremacy? They get left behind, while the ones who mold themselves into tokens—to keep the system in place—get boosted to the top with resources and accolades because they don’t want to “throw away their shot.”

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