Asian Stereotypes

I constantly hear snarky comments that concern the Asian community. “Stop doing that, you’re Asian,” “Why can’t you do this?” or “Say something in Chinese for me,” even though I’m not Chinese.

Have you heard of this before? Well, I have. Last year, I was walking through a neighborhood when I passed a group of people. Suddenly, I heard someone say to another about not being able to do something because they are Asian.

I didn’t understand why they were confined to a standard, just because of their Asian ethnicity.
I was only eight at the time, yet it was the first of many times I would experience others establishing labels just because of ethnicity.

Another time, a family friend from Korea asked me about my new math tutor. The first question they asked was if any of the other students were Asian. When I said that most of the students had different ethnicities, her reaction was unexpected.

“Oh? Nae sangag aeh nun asian sarame deo maneur jul aranunde,” she said.

This meant that she thought there would be more Asians in the class. Though I know she was not trying to be rude, but it was wrong to discriminate against her own race, right?

Other people have experienced comments like this but much worse, impacting their career. Anna May Wong, a brave Chinese woman who made history, was one of many unlucky people. According to europeana.eu, directors kept casting her as stereotypical Asian villain roles.

“Why is it that on the screen Chinese is always the villain? And so crude a villain – murderous, treacherous, a snake in the grass! We are not like that. How could we be, with a civilization that is so many times older than the West?” she would say. She would fight for her rights, but directors kept casting her as side stereotypical roles.

One might believe that there are good stereotypes about Asians, such as that they are smart. Jennifer Lee, sociology professor, shared her thoughts through npr.org. She said positive stereotypes can make people feel like failures if they don’t fulfill them. And even if they do, they won’t get credit for their hard work, because they’re expected to be good at that.

The issue has gotten so bad that people think racism comedy is funny. In fact, Asian comedians are now racist towards themselves and their audience thinks it’s funny too.

In the South China Post, comedian Huang He came on America’s Got Talent, preparing for the jokes she was about to tell. Comments that stood out to me were when she said,“I’m really sorry for the Covid, but I didn’t do it,” and others like, “As you can see from my outfit, I was made in China,” and other racist things like comparing herself to Chinese leftovers.

Stereotypes can lead to racism, even though it can be unconscious. People are discriminating against their own race, and will constantly be excluded from activities because of their ethnicity, even laughing at them. So the next time you see someone getting bullied because of their race, act.