- So I have this white friend who is,
as the title dares to suggest,
kinda racist.
There have been microaggressions...
- Oh my god, I am totally darker than you.
I could be Asian.
Look, I could be Asian.
I could totally be Asian.
Look.
- As well as some macroaggressions...
If you wanna act, you absolutely should act.
- Yeah, but if I decide to go into acting,
I'm just gonna take away so many parts from women of color,
(record scratches)
and I don't wanna do that.
- That's, um.
(splutters)
- And some things that are just, well...
- Oh wow, what's your background?
- I'm a mutt.
I'm just a mix of so many different backgrounds
and cultures and tribes as well.
- What? Dude, no you're not.
You're white.
You are straight up white.
100% whitey here.
You are straight up whi-
- With everything going on in the world
and the rise of Asian hate,
I just feel like I really can't keep quiet
about this anymore.
Look, my friend,
to be clear-
great person.
She is a good person,
but she's kind of racist.
And I think that describes a lot of people:
good, inherently good,
but kind of racist.
And it's especially heartbreaking
because I know she's trying really hard.
She told me...
- I joined a white girl book club.
We're focused on educating ourselves about race issues
so that we don't have to have our BIPOC friends
do the labor for us.
(dings)
- And I believe she genuinely wants to do good,
but in order to do good,
we also have to acknowledge the fact
that there's a specific racism among white people:
Exotification.
White people who are pretending to be people
of color when it's convenient and profitable for them.
Like, white women who want to be seen as more ethnic
because they hold the racist belief
that being ethnic is "exotic" and sexy.
White men who want to be seen as more urban
to make them seem edgy and cool.
White people who want to try on our looks and our culture,
but discard the struggles that come with our identities
and treat our skin color like an accessory
or as an aesthetic.
And what I've come to realize is that racism is evolving.
It's more nuanced.
It's more subtle.
It's always been pretty systemic, but now it's also sneaky.
So, for example,
we know cultural appropriation is bad.
And when we think of "bad cultural appropriation",
we think of what?
White girls wearing Native American costumes for Halloween.
But do you also think of how a non-black person
wearing a black hairstyle is racist?
So, I had some friends who were white
who went to Burning Man and decided to wear cornrows
and got called out by the Black community.
They got very defensive and they were like
"This is to protect my hair.
"I should be able to wear my hairstyle
"in a way that's going to protect it."
But the Black community pointed out the inherent problems
with this decision and this argument.
And I admit, I did not fully understand this evolution
of racism until I saw Amandla Stenberg's 2015 video essay
"Don't Cash Crop On My Cornrows"
in which she examined the parallel rise of Black culture
being appropriated in the music industry
by white artists and being lauded for it
alongside the rise of police brutality against Black people.
- Police brutality against Black people
came to the forefront
in an incredible movement ignited by the murders of
Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown,
Tamir Rice, Eric Garner, and many others.
People began to protest institutionalized racism by marching
and by using social media.
Celebrities spread awareness and shared condolences,
or at least some did.
- And this disparity, how some people take so much
from Black culture, but refuse to stand
up against the racism that comes with it,
is where the issue with cornrows
and other forms of cultural appropriation lies.
So, black and brown bodies are used as props.
Their culture adopted to seem edgy,
and white people profit
off this image without any obligation to deal
with the struggles that that culture faces like, seriously.
Some people are out here wearing a grill
but they can't tweet or donate
or march on behalf of Black Lives Matter.
Stenberg also has a crystal clear, amazing definition
of when what we're witnessing is cultural appropriation.
- That itself is what is so complicated when it comes
to Black culture.
I mean the line between cultural appropriation
and cultural exchange is always going to be blurred
but here's the thing,
appropriation occurs when a style leads
to racist generalizations or stereotypes where it originated
but is deemed as high fashion, cool,
or funny when the privileged take it for themselves.
- So it's not that white women can't dress
up as Native Americans or wear cornrows or dreads.
The problem is two-fold.
The first issue being when the creators of the culture
are seen in a racist light,
but the person doing the adopting is praised for it.
It's like if someone copied my essay word for word
including "written by Anna Akana"
and then I got an 'F' and they got an 'A+'.
And we can't deny that Black women who wear Black hairstyles
are vilified for it.
They are discriminated against in the workplace
and the world.
I witnessed firsthand on a pretty big movie.
This black actor was yelled at because her hair frizzled
when it rained and the white hairstylist demanded
that she come to set with her hair fully straightened.
And she didn't understand
that my co-star did that every single day.
She woke up two hours before her call time
every single day to straighten her hair,
but obviously rain is going to f**k with Black hair.
And even though my white friends who did go
to Burning Man are good people,
they can't wear cornrows without acknowledging
that they're going to be thought of as cool
while the same people who need that hairstyle
as a method of maintenance are being thought
of as unprofessional, ghetto,
trashy, or thugs.
The second issue is if you are taking
from a culture that you're actively silent
about in times of that culture's need,
thereby, only using it when it benefits you.
So for me, it's like if a Weebo who's obsessed
with anime and Kawaii culture decided
to do a photo shoot where she dressed up
as a Japanese geisha, and when I ask her,
"Hey, when you post that photo,
"can you please maybe consider
"using the hashtag #StopAsianHate
"because Asian hate crimes are at an all time high
"and clearly you love Asian culture?
We could use your voice."
And instead of doing that, they decided to block me
and post their photo with #ilovesushi or something.
So, the answer to cultural appropriation
is first respect the culture,
understand the context of what you're adopting,
give appropriate recognition,
and please actively be anti-racist.
And I know it sounds like a lot, but really it's not.
You probably put way more effort into
choosing a filter or thinking of a funny tweet.
This is like the bare minimum we should be doing, bro.
And you know, you can appreciate and immerse yourself
in a culture with compassion for its historical context
without trying to benefit off of it
when the originators are oppressed,
and without pretending to be from it.
Which brings me to another issue.
So, we all know that blackface and yellowface
are bad, right?
We as a society recognize,
oh no, no, no, no.
We don't do that anymore.
But blackface and yellowface have sorta died
and given way to a new sneaky monster: blackfishing.
I remember the first time I found out about blackfishing.
- Wait, are you telling me
that Ariana Grande is not mixed race?
- Oh no, that girl's Italian and talented.
- Alright, her voice is to die for.
But seriously, she looks like she's half Black, half Latina.
- Look at her before picture.
- (gasps) Oh my sweet, spaghetti-loving baby Jesus.
- And blackfishing just blows my mind.
It's like these women were like,
"Oh yeah, no, blackface is bad,
so we're just gonna go full black body."
There's so many blackfishes,
I can't even begin to list them all.
Like, look at this.
Look at this montage.
It keeps going.
It's insane.
Imagine having white privilege
and this is what you do with it.
Of course, the most famous blackfishers
are the Kardashians.
And Kim is going for two-for-one with her cornrows here.
I mean, who says you can't be an efficient racist.
And I think that inherent issues with blackfishing
are pretty obvious, right?
These women, often influencers or celebrities,
are altering their appearance in order to present as black
or brown to capitalize, monetize,
and fetishize an aesthetic which mind you,
dark skinned women and men are already shunned for.
And to make matters worse,
blackfishes effectively take attention away
from already oppressed, actual Black or Brown creators.
Blackfishes are commodifying someone else's skin color.
- Looking Black, but still exotic is profitable.
And I'll be the first person to say, you know,
colorism is real.
It's bad.
And I am someone of lighter skin.
I am someone who benefits from colorism,
and I am well aware that there's people
who are darker than me
who have to work twice as much as I will in certain fields.
- Annie Nova made a video
about the differences between blackface and blackfishes.
Her main point being blackface, you know,
in a historical context, it's usually played
as a caricature with intent to mock
that contemporaries nowadays are apparently doing
as like one-offs and jokes.
Whereas, blackfishing is this more consistent look
that someone's committing to deceive people.
But Nova also acknowledges both
of these things are equally problematic.
One of the main issues being that white people posing
as POC are taking advantage of affirmative action
thereby further oppressing an already marginalized group.
- The example I can think of,
with the damage these girls are causing
to other Black people is Rachel Dolezal.
She went to Brown University,
and that's a predominantly Black university.
She actually ended up getting funding
and scholarships literally aimed for Black people.
That scholarship was meant to help a less
fortunate Black person wanting to study.
Not only did she take up a place
at this university that could have gone
to an actual Black person,
because when she was applying
she was portraying herself as a black person.
And if she needed a scholarship, she could have applied
for one that wasn't aimed and created for Black people.
- So my white friend actually took a role designated
for a woman of color and it was not an easy conversation.
So, on top of pointing out the moral implications
of taking a role designated for an actual WOC,
I pointed out the potential blow-back she would get
if her career blew up and people found out about this.
It was in her best interest not to take a role
where the character is clearly a different race.
And I, as her friend,
didn't want her to get canceled.
And honestly, I don't think it's that hard.
Just don't take on roles that are meant for women of color.
Unfortunately, she did not listen.
And now she's in a film misrepresenting herself.
And unfortunately, sometimes it's not even
like your friends deciding to co-opt a body
but white audacity sometimes will co-opt an entire identity,
like when white poet Michael Derrick Hudson
used Chinese pen name, Yi-Fen Chou,
as an act of yellowface to get published.
Hudson claimed that he submitted his poem "The Bees,
"The Flowers, Jesus, Ancient Tigers,
"Poseidon, Adam and Eve"
to 40 literary magazines under his own name,
and then to other publications
under his pseudonym, Yi-Fen Chou,
who by the way is actually his Chinese American
high school classmate.
So, the poem under Yi-Fen's name was considered
for inclusion in the 2015 edition
of The Best American Poetry Anthology series.
And after learning about its selection,
Hudson wrote to reveal "Hi, I'm not actually
an Asian woman!"
He said, "After a poem of mine has been rejected a multitude
"of times under my real name, I put Yi-Fen's name
"on it and send it out again as a strategy
"for 'placing' poems this has been quite successful for me."
Okay, Michael Derrick Hudson.
So, this is just something that you do.
This is not the first time.
Okay, gotcha.
Continue.
"The poem in question was rejected
"under my real name 40 times before I sent it out
"as Yi-Fen Chou.
"I keep detailed submission records.
"As Yi-Fen, the poem was rejected nine times
"before Prairie Schooner took it.
"If indeed, this is one of the best American poems of 2015,
"it took quite a bit of effort to get it into print,
"but I'm nothing if not persistent."
(exaggerated exhale)
There's so many things wrong with Hudson's statement
and who he is as a person that I don't even know
if I can begin to get into deconstructing it.
And a lot of people have, trust me.
But the things I do want to note are what Alexander Chee,
a Korean American poet and author said,
which is that Hudson not once had been asked to offer proof,
nor apparently is proof available to his claim
that his poem was rejected 40 times under his own name.
And for someone who keeps detailed submission records,
where are the rejection letter receipts?
Second, and more importantly I think,
He did not have Yi-Fen Chou's permission to do this.
So, not only was this pretty racist and audacious
but it's personal.
And I've had friends just like Michael Derrick Hudson
who have told me in earnest,
- You're so lucky you're Asian.
It's so hard for a straight white man to make it
in the entertainment industry.
No one wants us.
- Hell, even my racist friend felt this way about my career.
And there are a lot of white people
in my circle who think that my skin color,
to be clear, something I've cried over.
Something I've hated with my whole being
and wished desperately was white.
Something that I struggle with endlessly
in this patriarchal society is something to envy
because it's trendy right now and Crazy Rich Asians came out
so obviously racism doesn't exist anymore.
And my friends who are so privileged
that any sort of equality to them feels like oppression.
And so they do insane shit like everything I've been talking
about in this video.
Well, not everything.
Hopefully not everything.
So what do you do when you have a friend who is
kind of racist, or let's be real,
several friends who are kind of racist?
Well, in some instances I have let these friends go
after conversing and realizing they're not quite
willing to change or acknowledge this.
Others, I've educated and watched grow and I've held onto.
And you can only determine this on a case by case basis.
all the friends I have in my life right now
are actively working at detangling the racial bias
that society has taught them.
They're open to hearing when they've done something wrong,
and they work to change any behavior that's problematic.
So, if they're a friend worth having,
even if they're a little racist,
there's some hope.
I'm Anna Akana
and thank you to the Patrons who supported today's video.
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