Asian Americans face a wave of intense racism during the coronavirus pandemic. George Takei reflects on our past and this present moment.
Guest
George Takei, actor and activist. ()
, immigration and Asian American historian. Professor at the University of Minnesota. Author of 鈥�.鈥� ()
, poet and author of 鈥�.鈥� ()
Interview Highlights
On Asian American discrimination
George Takei: 鈥淎sian Americans are Americans. Certain segments of the Asian American community have been here since the 1840s. We are many generations here. We are Americans. And as a matter of fact, Asian Americans are a part of the front line doctors, nurses, researchers looking for a cure. We are a part of America. And still we are seen in the context of our ancestral land. My grandparents came from Japan.
鈥淚n the case of many of my Chinese American friends, it鈥檚 their great-great-grandparents that came from China. We are Americans. And still we are compared in the context of our ancestral land. Yes, there are a lot of first generation and second generation Asian Americans, but it鈥檚 the same as with our German or Italian or Irish friends. They have been here a long time and they are part of America, despite the fact that we still have immigration 鈥� immigrants coming from Germany or Italy or Ireland.鈥�
Have we made enough progress when it comes to racism against Asian Americans in the United States?
Erika Lee: 鈥淭he answer to your question is really yes and no. Certainly there is progress. There is much more visibility of Asian Americans. The fact that people are speaking out today and that governments are acting 鈥� local governments are acting with help lines. And there are shows like this one to highlight acts of discrimination and racism. That鈥檚 new.
鈥淵ou know, when the Chinese were excluded in 1882 and when Japanese Americans were forcibly removed from their homes, there was very little public response and public support for those Asian American and Asian immigrant communities. So what we鈥檙e seeing is new in that way. However, the stereotypes, the ideas that simply because you have an Asian face you must be a carrier of the virus, the hurtful and damaging political rhetoric around the Chinese flu, or this idea that the coronavirus was quote unquote 鈥榤ade in a Chinese lab,鈥� these have all revived much larger racist and anti-immigrant narratives that never go away in the United States.
鈥淚t鈥檚 part of the U.S.鈥檚 long history of xenophobia. And in particular, it highlights the ways in which immigrants have often been tied to disease. As a plague, or as an invasive threat or as carriers of a contagion and disease that will then ruin the United States. We鈥檝e heard this before and unfortunately we鈥檙e hearing it again today.鈥�
On existing stereotypes and racism around immigrants
Erika Lee: 鈥淲hen German immigrants were coming over, they were blamed for bringing yellow fever. The Irish were blamed for spreading cholera in the early 1900s. Jewish immigrants were blamed for a typhoid epidemic at the end of the 19th century, etcetera. And certainly this does absolutely intersect with whatever immigration debate we are having. Mexican immigrants have long been described as being dirty, living in homes with filth and disease, bringing typhus and plague.
鈥淵ou know, the Border Patrol was tasked in the early 20th century up through the middle of the 20th century with delousing Mexicans who came across the border. This would include gasoline bags that required migrants to stand there naked while they were poured with gasoline. And then in later years, being sprayed with DDT. So the public health concerns and the rhetoric around immigrants and disease, what it does is that it helps to 鈥� it feeds and then it justifies existing stereotypes and racism around immigrants. And then leads to discriminatory public health policies that disproportionately impact specific immigrant groups and minority groups.鈥�
On what this moment means for the Asian American community today and in the future
Cathy Park Hong: 鈥淚t鈥檚 a really scary and vulnerable time for Asian Americans, that they are being scapegoated. Anyone who looks East Asian. And what I want to say is I would say, allow yourself to be scared, but also allow yourself to be angry. I think some of us 鈥� I wouldn鈥檛 say all of us 鈥� some of us are activists, but some of us are afraid to even be angry. And be enraged. And I鈥檓 hoping that we speak out about this hate as much as possible and that we could be proactive about this and we could fight the racism in this country.
鈥淵es, we are American. But, you know, for so long, Asian Americans have lived a conditional existence where belonging is always promised, but belonging is never had. And what we need to do is stop following that carrot and just demand racial justice. And also ally ourselves with other African Americans and Latinx and indigenous [communities], other minorities. And really really fight for social justice. And I think we are strong. We are empowered. We鈥檙e going to get through this. But I really hope that we can take our fear and then put it somewhere where it鈥檚 much more proactive, where we could take our rage into something productive.鈥�
From The Reading List
Excerpt from 鈥淢inor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning鈥� by Cathy Park Hong
鈥淧atiently educating a clueless white person about race is draining. It takes all your powers of persuasion. Because it鈥檚 more than a chat about race. It鈥檚 ontological. It鈥檚 like explaining to a person why you exist, or why you feel pain, or why your reality is distinct from their reality. Except it鈥檚 even trickier than that. Because the person has all of Western history, politics, literature, and mass culture on their side, proving that you don鈥檛 exist. In other words, I didn鈥檛 know whether to tell this guy to f*** you or give him a history lesson. 鈥榃e were here since 1587!鈥� I could have said.
鈥溾�楽o what鈥檚 the hold up? Where鈥檚 our white Groupon?鈥� Most Americans know nothing about Asian Americans. They think Chinese is synecdoche for Asians the way Kleenex is for tissues. They don鈥檛 understand that we鈥檙e this tenuous alliance of many nationalities. There are so many qualifications weighing the 鈥榳e鈥� in Asian America. Do I mean Southeast Asian, South Asian, East Asian, and Pacific Islander, queer and straight, Muslim and non- Muslim, rich and poor? Are all Asians self- hating? What if my cannibalizing ego is not a racial phenomenon but my own damn problem? 鈥楰oreans are self- hating,鈥� a Filipino friend corrected me over drinks. 鈥楩ilipinos, not so much.鈥� It鈥檚 a unique condition that鈥檚 distinctly Asian, in that some of us are economically doing better than any other minority group but we barely exist anywhere in the public eye.
鈥淎lthough it鈥檚 now slowly changing, we have been mostly nonexistent in politics, entertainment, and the media, and barely represented in the arts. Hollywood is still so racist against Asians that when there鈥檚 a rare Asian extra in a film I tense up for the chinky joke and relax when there isn鈥檛 one. Asians also have the highest income disparity out of any racial group. Among the working class, Asians are the invisible serfs of the garment and service industries, exposed to third world work conditions and sub minimum wages, but it鈥檚 assumed that the only group beleaguered by the shrinking welfare state is working- class whites. But when we complain, Americans suddenly know everything about us. Why are you pissed! You鈥檙e next in line to be white! As if we鈥檙e iPads queued up in an assembly line.鈥�
Excerpted from 鈥淢inor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning鈥� by Cathy Park Hong 漏 2020 by Penguin Random House. Reprinted with the permission of the publisher, Penguin Random House. All rights reserved.
USA Today: 鈥溾�樷�� 鈥� 鈥淕eorge Takei and other stars are calling out President Donald Trump for his use of the term 鈥淐hinese virus鈥� to refer to the coronavirus.鈥�
Washington Post: 鈥溾�� 鈥� 鈥淩ecently, the FBI warned that hate crimes against Asian Americans are likely to increase as the coronavirus pandemic spreads.鈥�
New York Times: 鈥溾�� 鈥� 鈥淓arly in February, I read unsupported speculations that a virus ravaging a distant city called Wuhan was due to a Chinese taste for a strange scaled mammal called the pangolin, which resembles an anteater but is cuddlier than its lumbering tube-snouted look-alike. Around that time, during a dinner party, I laughed when a friend quipped: 鈥楬ow do you eat a pangolin anyway? Do you dip its scales in butter like an artichoke?鈥欌��
MSNBC: 鈥溾�樷�� 鈥� 鈥淎ctor and activist George Takei says President Trump calling COVID-19 鈥楾he Chinese Virus鈥� sends 鈥榓 cold chill throughout the Asian-American community, because he鈥檚 sending a signal to the haters.'鈥�
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