Welp, so much for the prediction that he and Chris could host within a few years as the ultimate Oscars gimmick.
Two genuine apologies and he resigned from the academy. But it’s just not enough for these people.
All his projects are on hold. Deals are on hold. Now he can’t attend the Oscars for ten years.
I’ve never witnessed anyone in Hollywood actually be punished by Hollywood until now.
Just so we’re clear: Jim Carey forcibly kissed a teenage Alicia Silverstone without her consent at an awards show. Was not punished. Adrien Brody forcibly kissed Halle Berry at an award show without her consent. Also was not punished. John Wayne had to be physically held back from attacking Sacheen Littlefeather at the Oscars. Was not punished. Roman Polanski was given an Oscar in abstention because if he came to collect the award in person, he would have been arrested due to his conviction for statutory rape. Was not removed from the academy until 2018. Casey Affleck was given an Oscar shortly after he was accused to sexual harassment. Woody Allen has been nominated and awarded several times by the academy despite allegations of molestation being public since the 1990s.
In my experience, both Asians and non Asians are pretty unaware of Asian American history. I was too up until college when I took it upon myself to learn as much as possible. I’m STILL learning. The thing is, our history is barely taught. You might hear about Chinese Exclusion or the internment of Japanese citizens, but that’s usually it. In order to combat racism, ignorance, and disrupt the model minority myth, we need to understand our history.
I just got the news that a newlywed couple in our community were the target of hate crime. The guy has a broke nose, among other injuries, and the wife is in the ER and needed to get stitches on all of her face. They were merely were out to walk around the neighborhood and this happened to them within the comfort of their neighborhood.
These sort of hate crimes happen all the time, not too long ago, and old man was selling shoes/other little things in front of his house and was beaten up by 3-4 young men. In front of his house. On his porch.
I want to stress that these both cases (among others) weren’t carried out anyone other than the precious ~PoCs~. This is exactly what I mean when I talk about hierarchies, because in people’s little perfect theoretical worlds, everything is created into simple categories, where the Pakistanis/Asians have privilege and can’t be target of hate crime/racism when carried out by Black or Latin@ people because of the apparent political power we hold.
These hierarchies are created by White supremacist thought, and as long as we don’t move away from them, and go on about false sense of power dynamics (in which everything is depicted as one sided) we will not get to the root of the problem.
When people speak on Asian or Pakistani privilege they are completely removed from the reality we live in, and want a simple cookie-cutter theory when in fact reality is much more complicated than that.
I know this is supposed to be “controversial” because I’m going against whatever is held to be the truth on here, that Pakistanis/Asians hold certain power over Latin@ or Black communities and that whatever crime done against us, the constant spying, living under the security/surveillance apparatus is a mere form of “prejudice” without any sort of power behind it, the anti-islamic and anti-pakistani hate crimes exist in some sort of tight limited space of “privilege” but that’s not the reality many of us live in and I would rather not follow some removed-from-reality theory for others convenience.
Of course, I shouldn’t have to stress this as it’s obvious, that I don’t mean if X doesn’t have power than Y obviously does. But this is to complicate the simplistic approach to race most people have where the hate crimes carried out by people who fall into the PoC category get unchecked and unnoticed. White crimes on PoC exists in various forms, but that’s not the start and end of the conversation and racial dynamic.
Simply put, these hierarchic sand faux “privilege” politics distort reality.
Images of Solidarity- Early Asian American activism:
The Oriental Student Union (OSU) at Seattle Central Community College (SCCC) was founded in 1970. It modeled itself after the campus Black Student Union (BSU), which during the 1968-9 school year had used direct action protests to demand black studies and the hiring of black administrators and faculty. When the OSU— led by Alan Sugiyama and former Black Panther Mike Tagawa— decided that the SCCC administration was not moving quickly enough on the its demands that the school hire five Asian administrators, the OSU staged a sit-in on February 9, 1971, and took over SCCC offices more forcefully on March 2, 1971.
something about stuff like “reading diversity bingo” puts a bad taste in my mouth. i feel like a lot of readers treat the works of marginalized authors as, like, a chore they have to complete to be Morally Good rather than just… art worth enjoying? i highly encourage all readers to branch out beyond cishet white guy authors but like… if you’re doing it because you think you have to rather, than just finding books by a wide range of authors you like, that’s something you need to unpack.
This is what’s known as performative white guilt activism. They thinkthey’re doing the right thing, they thinkthey’re being good white allies, but in the end they’re just trying to make their shelves look good and using writers/characters of color as props to do so.
Guys, buying books by white authors and reading about white characters itself isn’t racist, but using authors of color and characters of color as props without actually caring about them carries a lot of shitty implications.
Welp, so much for the prediction that he and Chris could host within a few years as the ultimate Oscars gimmick.
Two genuine apologies and he resigned from the academy. But it’s just not enough for these people.
All his projects are on hold. Deals are on hold. Now he can’t attend the Oscars for ten years.
I’ve never witnessed anyone in Hollywood actually be punished by Hollywood until now.
Just so we’re clear: Jim Carey forcibly kissed a teenage Alicia Silverstone without her consent at an awards show. Was not punished. Adrien Brody forcibly kissed Halle Berry at an award show without her consent. Also was not punished. John Wayne had to be physically held back from attacking Sacheen Littlefeather at the Oscars. Was not punished. Roman Polanski was given an Oscar in abstention because if he came to collect the award in person, he would have been arrested due to his conviction for statutory rape. Was not removed from the academy until 2018. Casey Affleck was given an Oscar shortly after he was accused to sexual harassment. Woody Allen has been nominated and awarded several times by the academy despite allegations of molestation being public since the 1990s.
Will Smith smacks a comedian for publicly humiliating his wife about her disability - the world comes down on his head. Gee, I wonder what the difference is?
Anyway the Oscars and allllll the racist and ableist (and clearly A-okay with pedophilia) assholes involved with this can kiss my entire ass. The only movies I’ll be watching will be 100% pirated because I won’t be paying a dime into that reeking pile of shit.
good morning cnovel readers you are not immune to anti northern/central asian racism
I’m a xinjiang chinese-kyrgyz that’s very active in both the en and cn speaking cnovel fandom and yall need to understand that as much as that was phrased as a meme, you are truly not immune to it. racism, colourism, and xenophobia against ethnic groups in/from central and northern asia are entrenched in every single aspect of the han media that has been popularised in western fandom. the books and adaptations of them use racism that can be as subtle as the eye colours of villains to making the xiongnu an alien species of violent beasts. cnovels, regardless of their morality or status as problematic/unproblematic, such as mdzs, fgep, cql, tgcf, 2ha, woh/shl and spl, all of them engage in and encourage the racism, xenophobia, colourism, classism, and sexism that form anti-central/northern asian stereotypes
this isn’t me saying don’t read cnovels or to completely disengage with fandom. rather, I’m asking you to think critically about the media you consume and what prejudices it might encourage. think about how this impacts your views of these ethnic groups; even if we don’t actively realise it, we are conditioned by media to view these groups as barbaric, savage, and uncivilized. think about how your ingrained prejudices might impact those around you. if you see a character coded as mongolian, then maybe consider how they’ve been coded. why do you interpret them as mongolian? how does this represent your view of real, living mongolian people?
many people honestly don’t know about us either! the struggles we face are unrepresented and heavily suppressed by eastern media, making western understanding of northern nomads and similar groups very stunted. the number of people I’ve met who have never even heard of my people is innumerable. however, being uninformed does not negate the harm you do by engaging in racist habits, no matter how good your intentions
frankly, I do not want to be responsible for educating an online space that has firmly entrenched racism, it makes me upset to have these conversations in the first place. I would much rather you educate yourself and think critically, but I also know that topics like these can be difficult for western audiences to understand and I know a lot of people truly mean the best and want to support minorities. so, just as a general guide, here are some things that are the most prevalent in anti central/northern asian racism:
eye/hair colour: lighter hair and eye colours, especially when paired with darker skin, are common in our genetic clines, while han culture views those combinations as unsightly, creepy, dangerous, sinister, etc. often you will see villains given bright blue or green eyes, such as xue yang in many mdzs adaptations, to signify that they are murderous and untrustworthy. this directly stems from interactions between central asians(casians) and central plains people. our features are labelled as demonic, freakish, and evil
broad features and large stature: often you see the quote “back of a tiger, waist of a bear”. the ban yue desert people in tgcf are a good example of this, described as being many feet taller than the average person, broader, and in general much more physically strong
powerful voice and coarse language: describing our languages as guttural, barbaric, harsh, rough, simplistic, or lacking nuance is an attempt to paint us as uncivilized, uncultured, and intellectually inferior to other peoples. similarly, giving us voices that are booming, loud, coarse, and rough attempts to do the same
sparse clothing and animal furs: think of “caveman attire”. having characters wear strips of fur, have bare chests, clothing considered barbaric or caveman-like, etc. this is a pretty self-explanatory one
exotic customs/dance/looks: while central/northern asian people often do have different appearances and customs than han people, the portrayal of evidently fabricated, uneducated, exaggerated versions of our culture is offensive, othering, and often fetishistic. our hair styles are also incredibly important, and many times are religiously significant. using them as “exotic braids” or similar intricate styles is offensive and rips away all their cultural significance. these cultures and customs are an important part of life to millions of people, they are not a costume or flashy dance that is there to make a character seem exotic and enticing
geographical racism and fantasization: to many casian groups, our lands are extremely important to us, such as the northern steppes. if this is portrayed respectfully, then great! but most media shows our lands as the mystical, faraway, dangerous grass plains filled with roaming wolves and venomous snakes. for the love of everything holy, you can have a fantasy world WITHOUT fantasizing a certain region in an offensive manner. this is an ecological region, similar to every region in the world. if you want to write mystic lands filled with dangers, then have all the regions included in that. do not single out the northern steppes to be some fantastical mountainscape. while this might seem odd to western viewers, this kind of prejudice is linked to thousands of years of casian lands being portrayed as demonic and dangerous in han culture
religious racism: again, othering and fantasizing a strong cultural component. having characters practice blood sacrifices, use corpses for “evil religious rituals”, cast curses with bones, etc. this is really any uneducated and exaggerated portrayal of casian religion (especially tengriism or any paganistic variant), making it look exotic or dangerous
medical racism: this is closely tied with religious racism, but normally manifests through offensive portrayals of shamans or priests. having shamans be anything outside of their traditional roles of religious leaders and healers in most communities is offensive! having shamans or priests be demonic practitioners that make blood curses, raise poisonous beasts, and breed venomous beetles is offensive!
innate connection with beasts/animals: making this a trait associated with specific groups of people, especially tribal societies, is just racist and dehumanizing. this one is self-explanatory
Brutal Strong Girlboss Female General: large, strong, domineering, women are considered unattractive and disgraceful in han culture. the strong female warrior stereotype is 99% of the time not some feminist girlboss statement, its a racist stereotype to make our people look brutish and unattractive, especially considering that another strong stereotype against us is that casian men are all brutal, womanizing, harem-masters
sinicizing/civilizing us: the western equivalent of this is christianizing various ethnic minorities. having casian characters be “civilized” through introduction to han culture is just blatantly racist. similarly, describing mixed han-casian people as “more delicate” than their casian family, being finer-featured, etc is also just plain racism
a lot of these overlap with anti-indigenous and anti-black racism too! while the struggles our groups face are not the same, we have many mutual experiences that mean this conversation also extends to these groups. with that being said, if you are not central/northern asian, indigenous, or black, if you clown on or derail this post I’m going to start swinging
this also goes for people watching cdramas, donghua, reading manhua, etc. you are not immune just because the racism has been repackaged
Saying black people are too poor to afford dolls really ain’t power the argument you think it is. Saying that Afrocentric doll sculpts are made expensive so that black people can’t buy them ain’t the power argument you think it is. Saying only non-black people can buy black sculpts, or dark resins ain’t the power argument you think it is. Saying or implying that black people are somehow “lower value” as collectors and are the “poor”-class of the hobby AIN’T THE POWER ARGUMENT YOU THINK IT IS.
Today I woke up and my mind rested on Jordan Davis. My body shook with anger and my blood boiled with discontent towards a prison-industrial-complex that continues to make excuses for the execution of Black and Brown youth by law enforcement and racist vigilantes.
Oh, mama don’t you see the empty field of flowers that now cover all your children’s graves?
I woke up and my tears watered the graves of the 26 children (we know there are many more), whose deaths were justified in Stand Your Ground cases.
I woke up and I realized my tears could not bring back the sense of self worth and self esteem stolen from my brothers and sisters who were pushed through a pipeline directly into an unwelcoming jail cell.
Black children make up only 20 percent of Florida youth, but 46 percent of school arrests. The principals and security guards told our brothers and sisters they were criminals when they were just good kids in mad cities. In Florida, 67 percent of these kids were arrested for minor violations and fights. We are carrying the weight of the world because our fathers cannot get jobs when Black unemployment in Florida is 16.8 percent. We are carrying the weight of the world with no food in our stomachs and with holes in our too-small shoes.
My cries would not console the mothers of Trayvon Martin, Israel Reefa and Renisha McBride.
So My Soul marched that morning side by side with Dreamers, Queer Folks and the multinational Working Class bound together in the struggle to force the hand of Merciless Lady Justice to correct the scales that weighed heavily on the side of the 12,000 children arrested that year.
We will not rest until the neglect of Black men, Brown mothers, sons is as important as the justice of white men, white mother, son.
We who believe in freedom, knew we can not rest until the justice of brothers and sisters are won.
Yet Lady Justice turned her cheek as Youth Services International lined her pockets with 183 million dollars. James Slattery, the CEO of YSI and his wife donated over 400,000 dollars to politicians to be plantation overseers of Black and Brown children.
But the power of the people will never stop. The collective will continue to fight the nightmare that is the Florida prison state.
We March because we want our children to have dreams that hoodies are not a tenant of character, loud music is not an excuse to spray bullets, and skittles are not a weapon.
Our children will awake from their dreams and ask if little bloodied girls really laid in the street when the church bomb went off in Alabama.
The children will continue and they will ask “how did we save the children?”
And we’ll respond proudly: That we woke up many mornings ago with small Brown faces in our memories And we decided enough was enough and children caskets would no longer be walked down in the funeral procession of dreams deferred.
We marched on Tuesday March 4th, 2014 to demand that are dreams were no longer deferred.
We demanded enough was enough , and birthdays would not be celebrated in cemetery.
We screamed enough is enough And that proms would not not spent in jails. And when we marched, we sowed the seeds of revolution so we could water a field of flowers so strong and beautiful that it will uproot the oppressive systems that be. The dream would longer be deferred but defended and we will achieve liberation in our lifetimes.
Dream Defenders calls for a massive action of Black and Brown peoples, allies, men, women, non-gender conforming people, citizens and non-citizens to gather at Florida Capitol where we Dream Defenders will give the real State of the State of the Address to tell Rick Scott to listen to the beckoning rumbles of the people.
