Write and left. August 13, 2008

Posted by thaswassup in Personal, Politics, Seattle, That's Racist!, The Idiot Box, news.
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Once upon a time, I used to be a journalist. It’s been a while since I’ve written anything but I recently wrote an op-ed piece in the NW Asian Weekly. I’m hella open to critiques and opinions.

Turn off the TV: Look no further than home to find your heroes

By Ian Dapiaoen

Northwest Asian Weekly

An Entertainment Weekly article states that television’s biggest networks will only have one person of color in a lead role in this fall season’s primetime schedule. That person? Cleveland Brown, an animated African American cartoon character from Family Guy, in his own spin-off show.

Turn on your television at 8 p.m. on any day of the week, and you’ll be hard-pressed to find an Asian American on any show. A 2002 study from the research group Children Now found that Asians make up 3 percent of primetime characters on television. Six years later, has much changed?

On ABC’s hit show “Lost,” two Korean characters make up an ensemble cast that has a few characters of color. In fact, these characters, portrayed by Daniel Dae Kim and Yunjin Kim, play a large role in the show. However, their characters originally did not speak English and were shown as weak in comparison to their white counterparts. On NBC’s show “Heroes,” two Japanese characters are also part of an ensemble cast, but are given Japanese-speaking roles and play into the “Asians are nerds” stereotype.

Young Asian Americans are watching more television today than ever. With the lack of Asian American actors on the small screen, where can they go to find positive depictions? By watching “Tila Tequila” and the hundreds of other trashy reality shows? I sure hope not.

Hollywood movies still produce boring, old stereotypes for cheap laughs at the expense of Asian Americans. We are still viewed as the immigrant and nerd, quiet and asexual.

The rise of online communities and do-it-yourself Internet media has helped guide the identities and cultural awareness for Asian Americans. Blogging allows us to raise our levels of consciousness, while YouTube continues to be an empowering and accessible tool.

For Asian Americans who are not as privileged as we are, they still struggle in grasping their ethnic, class and gender identities. Seattle’s Asian American community is thriving with resources, programs and people who are working collectively to improve their communities and ways of life.

So look no further than television and movies. Your Asian – including Pacific Islander – American heroes can be found right in your backyard. Recently, we have seen a number of young leaders take executive director roles at the Asian Pacific Islander Community Leader Foundation, Asian and Pacific Islander Women and Family Safety Center, InterIm Community Development Association, Washington Asian Pacific Islander Families Against Substance Abuse, White Center Community Development Association and so on.

There are many activist-led organizations such as Korean-based Sahngnoksoo, Khmer In Action and Pinay Sa Seattle, who make visible change in their communities through education, campaigns and art. These groups, with the help of many other activist organizations, formed API Unified in May to support immigrant rights, human rights, queer issues affecting GLBTQs and more. API Unified even marched in this year’s Seattle Pride Parade.

New and youthful leadership can even be found in our local newspapers. The Northwest Asian Weekly and International Examiner have supported and covered issues raised by these nonprofit and activist organizations in the past. It’s only important that they continue to provide a window into our community and inspire Asian Americans to make change.

Asian American youth and students are the constant that will define our community in the future. Mainstream media shouldn’t define who we are as Asian American, nor should we become entrapped in corporate media’s attacks on our common sense. Our talents may one day find us in higher job placements in Hollywood, where Asian Americans can be hired as lead writers, directors and producers, allowing our (real) American experiences to be shared.

Although I won’t accept it, Cleveland Brown will have to do his best to represent us as people of color on primetime television. The ironic thing is that Cleveland Brown’s character will be played by Mike Henry, a white voice actor.

Let’s leave it up to ourselves as Asian Americans to be our own voice.

Ian Dapiaoen can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.