#comic book industry
Last weekend at Diversity Comic Con, I spoke at the Countering Asian Hate panel with Enrica Jang, Wendy Chin-Tanner, and Dr. Kyunghee Pyun about anti-Asian racism, institutional barriers in comics and publishing, and how Asian American creators can confront it.
Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhkGXmI2CeA
This panel was a great opportunity to have difficult but necessary conversations about issues our community is facing. For me, I shared my experiences of being rejected by Image and getting harassed online for my AsAm comics, and my journey of developing racial awareness in my work.
Even though AsAms are struggling, I find hope in how we’re coming together as a community to tackle these issues, and using art & storytelling as one of our tools to do so.
Thank you Ramon Gil for inviting me and creating a space for AsAm creators to speak about our experiences.
Post link
It’s been two years since Image gave me pushback for pitching AMERICANIZASIAN to them. Yesterday I was informed they’ve tweeted #StopAsianHate and put out a list of AAPI creators to support, so I’d like to talk about what that means in the context of my book AMERICANIZASIAN.
For those who don’t know, here’s a summary: The Image partner I pitched to described my comics as “angry,” with no relatable story, and didn’t talk about AsAm issues in the “right way.” They later shifted to legality as their reason to not publish. https://twitter.com/Joshua_Luna/status/1134522555744866304
I know my comics make people uncomfortable. That’s the point—anti-Asian racism is uncomfortable. It’s violent and hateful. You don’t fix it by hand-holding bigots and coddling their feelings. You do it by holding up a mirror to their behavior to let their bigotry speak for itself.
I haven’t spoken much about this, but it’s important to know who’s happy that Image didn’t publish AMERICANIZASIAN: bigots with white supremacist ideologies. I was already getting harassed prior to speaking publicly about Image, but afterwards it turned into a feeding frenzy.
Thousands of Nazis regularly repost and denigrate my work, calling me anti-Asian slurs & other hateful terms—fl*p, ch*nk, g**k, Filipino/island n*gg*r, ricecel/incel, MRAsian, autist, b*tch, etc. They post photos of me to mock my features, and edit swastikas and Hitler onto my comics.
These are loud white supremacists—the ones so-called progressives will easily denounce. But I’ve also been harassed by “quiet” bigots who push to deplatform me through blacklisting and DMs. They used to do it publicly until they realized it tarnished their image as progressives.
All of these reactions prove what I already knew—I *am* talking about AsAm issues in the “right way.” Because if white supremacists and their enablers aren’t deeply bothered about how you talk about race and doing everything they can to stop you, are you even talking about race?
I know I’m not the “good Asian” Image wants to promote. I know they resent me for publicly calling them out. I’d genuinely like to believe this new push for AAPI voices and content shows remorse and growth, but growth can’t happen without owning up to and acknowledging past harm.
So if Image wants to #StopAsianHate, they have to do more than use the hashtag and quietly include me in their list of AAPI creators. They have to acknowledge and rectify how they treated me. Otherwise, it’s hypocritical at best, and a gross attempt at PR damage control at worst.
And the irony is not lost on me that Image is tweeting these things during #AsianPacificHeritageMonth#AAPIHM#APAHM
