To Gloria: Ching Chong. Love, Amy Sedaris

by Guest Contributor Angry Asian Man, originally Angry Asian Man

A reader named Gloria sends in this juicy little scan… She informs me that actress/author/comedienne Amy Sedaris did a show last week at Haverford College. Gloria’s brother (who happens to be Chinese American) got a copy of Sedaris’ book I Like You: Hospitality Under The Influence signed for her.

The above scan is what she apparently inscribed on the inside of the book. Yes, you’re reading that right. As if “Ching Chong” wasn’t enough, the rudimentary buck-toothed chink-eyed caricature is sort of icing on the racist cake.

What the hell, Amy Sedaris? Is that supposed to be clever? Are we supposed to write that off as “quirky”? I’ve never been a huge fan of hers… but I’ve never disliked her either. That has changed. I have to wonder what Gloria’s brother thought when she handed this back to him. Not cool. That’s racist! (Thanks, Gloria.)

UPDATE: Amy Sedaris apparently has a bit of history with the ching-chongery… Check out her opening remarks in this video posted on BlogHer back in 2007. Doesn’t take very long for her to bust out that “ching chong.” Just rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it? Like it ain’t no thing.

Also, check out this Believer interview from several years ago where she lists her turn-offs as: “The beach, having to pay for things, racist people, Orientals.” Is that supposed to be funny?

A little more Googling reveals that she actually has a habit of referring to people of Asian descent as “ching chong” at appearances and events. She also regularly signs her books with “ching chong” and a sketch of the buck-toothed ching chong thing. Oh, I get it. She’s supposed to funny and off-the-wall, and so we’re supposed to excuse her for playful, asinine racist mockery.

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Comments

F. wrote:

Amy Sedaris is close friends with Stephen Colbert of the Comedy Central show “The Colbert Report.” A running gag on that show is that Colbert has an “alter-ego” named “Ching Chong Ding Dong” who talks with a stereotypical Chinese accent, squints his eyes and “ruvs tea.” It’s supposed to be “funny” BECAUSE it’s so inappropriate.

It’s a lot like Sarah Silverman’s “I love ch*nks” joke on Conan O’Brien. It’s shock humor and white people trying to be “ironically” racist when in fact they are just being racist and getting cheap laughs. Simple as that.

Asian and Asian Americans are supremely easy targets for that sort of humor, because it’s still acceptable in American culture to mock them. Actually, it seems as if it’s gotten even more frequent and severe recently. Most of the times I’ve seen Asians bring up why this sort of thing is offensive, they’ve been told to just shut up and take a joke (a la Rosie O’Donnell). They are NOT taken seriously, it’s as if they don’t “get” to complain about what hurts them. Why?

By the way, the Disney Channel “entertainer” Miley Cyrus and some of her buddies were caught in a photo pulling their eyes back Spanish basketball team-style a couple days ago. Wonder why the media hasn’t pounced on it the way they would have had she been caught mocking the physical features of almost any other race (I’ll give you a hint: because it’s offensive to Asians, so who really cares?).

Posted 05 Feb 2009 at 7:57 am ¶
Rachel wrote:

Sigh. This is so frustrating. I liked Amy Sedaris. And I was mostly a Stephen Colbert fan, but I confess to not watching the show regularly – so I was completely unaware of the Ching Chong Ding Dong bit.

Thanks for pointing it out. I’m slowly becoming aware that I need to be more aware, if that makes any sense.

Posted 05 Feb 2009 at 9:29 am ¶
Jaya wrote:

“The beach, having to pay for things, racist people, Orientals.”

Hey, I found that funny. I also liked Sarah Silveman’s “I love chinks!” joke. I don’t think that that kind of humor is always off limits, because it involves racial stereotypes. Those jokes are amusing because the white comics are poking fun at themselves, or the racial stereotypes. Its the same reason why Tina Fey’s underlying racism on 30 Rock is funny too, because the real butt of the joke is Tina Fey.

Having said that, that signature really scares me. Miley Cyrus’s slit eyed picture really scares me. As does Rosie’s “ching chong” bullshit.

I want to keep on loving Amy Sedaris (Strangers with Candy, people!) but this hurts.

Posted 05 Feb 2009 at 9:35 am ¶
Elizabeth wrote:

To me there’s a huge difference between Amy Sedaris and Rosie O’Donnell, and it’s how seriously they take themselves. I really think it would be near impossible to offend Amy Sedaris–she takes herself just as lightly as she takes everyone else. But Rosie is another story. I don’t like her dishin’ it because she can’t take it.

I agree that it’s “racist”, but comedians make racist comments all the time to make a point. If I was to guess what the point was, I’d guess it would be something like this: “Hey, look how easy it is for people to make fun of Asians! I’m going to try to make this as uncomfortable for you as possible, and see if people still find it funny!” In other words, precisely the point made by this post.

I think it’s funny because of the reactions it is intended to engender from all sides. But then again, I’m white. I’ll have to ask my best friend’s Chinese-American husband what he thinks.

Posted 05 Feb 2009 at 9:42 am ¶
theboxman wrote:

And one wonders why, as a previous post here highlighted, Asians under-report instances of discrimination? If even fairly straightforward (indeed, I’d go so far as to say, blatant) cases such as these can still be dismissed or minimized how does one even deal with the more subtle institutional manifestations?

Posted 05 Feb 2009 at 10:07 am ¶
Lisa J wrote:

Sigh, what gets into these folks? I’m not familiar with Sedaris’ work but I find this offensive and insensitive and I didn’t know about Colbert doing this but I’m disapointed.

Posted 05 Feb 2009 at 10:07 am ¶
Yolanda C. wrote:

Putting aside the notion that Sedaris makes “ironic” racist jokes in her comedy (I personally think that’s bullshit, but let’s pretend to entertain for right now), what the freak does that have to do with signing a disgustingly bigoted autograph for a fan? To call that yellowface absurdity racist does even begin to do it justice.

Now I fully support the “right” of comedians or any other so-called entertainer to make all the bigoted remarks they want within their work, but once they engage in bigoted behavior toward actual people, all bets are off. That’s exactly the shit that got freakin’ Don Imus’ ass fired from NBC, calling real live human beings “nappy-headed h**s” (and costing the network millions of dollars in lost ad revenue, to be precise).

And to top it off, now we’ve got America’s sweetheart Mylie Cyrus getting in on the action. When are these freaking stars gonna get it?

Posted 05 Feb 2009 at 10:33 am ¶
HazelStone wrote:

Sedaris, and her editors, obviously think it is cool to be “funny” racist. The stereotypes and racist cartoons are all over her recent book on entertaining.

And she co-produced that with Colbert, and Justin Theroux.

Effing hipsters. I borrowed the book from a friend and it kind of blew my mind when I read it.

Posted 05 Feb 2009 at 10:58 am ¶
Matt wrote:

Just, Yikes.

Posted 05 Feb 2009 at 11:34 am ¶
AintIAWoman wrote:

Ew. Well that’s distasteful. And not even clever…Too bad cause I sort of liked her.

Posted 05 Feb 2009 at 11:43 am ¶
A.D. Nix wrote:

I’ve never gotten the appeal of the Sedaris clan (or perhaps “klan” is more apt here). Not twee David, not “Look at Me!!” Amy – pass.

There’s nothing “ironic” about any of this – there’s no subtle analysis, there’s no challenge, the racist voice isn’t being pilloried. She’s just getting her jollies by saying inappropriate things over and over. The fuck.

Posted 05 Feb 2009 at 11:54 am ¶
Gori Girl wrote:

Now, I don’t know anything about Sedaris, so I have no idea what her motivation is for these signatures. However, I am an avid of The Colbert Report, and I think there’s some context missing in the accusations against Colbert’s “Ching Chong” bit.

F writes that “A running gag on that show is that Colbert has an “alter-ego” named “Ching Chong Ding Dong” who talks with a stereotypical Chinese accent, squints his eyes and “ruvs tea.” It’s supposed to be “funny” BECAUSE it’s so inappropriate.”\

Actually, Colbert came up with that bit not to just have some gag that’s “‘funny’ because it’s inappropriate”, but to mock the racial slurs that others have been caught making when they thought they were off-air. He also uses it to mock things like Rosie’s “ching chong” bit on the View, some of Reverend Wright’s more subtle racist stereotypes, and the idea that it’s okay for humorists to make racist comments because they’re just “playing a character”. He’s mocking these people, not being one of them.

You can catch some of his “Ching Chong” clips here, with their proper context.

Posted 05 Feb 2009 at 12:14 pm ¶
sejw wrote:

*hijack*

Every time I see the words, “That’s racist!” pop up in various articles, I hear in in the voice of Leonard Hofstadter from The Big Bang Theory (he frequently is the one to call out people on their b.s. on the show)

*end hijack*

Posted 05 Feb 2009 at 12:26 pm ¶
sejw wrote:

Sorry, “hear it in.” Fingers frozen from winter weather.

Posted 05 Feb 2009 at 12:32 pm ¶
Ugly Deaf Muslim Punk Gurl! wrote:

This is frustrating because many people insist that there’s no racism at play for Asian Americans because Asian Americans are supposedly the “model minority group” who are supposedly assimilated into American culture better than any other minority groups.

Yeah well, this is bullshit.

Posted 05 Feb 2009 at 12:41 pm ¶
Ugly Deaf Muslim Punk Gurl! wrote:

also, has anybody contacted Amy Sedaris to have her explain her hostility for East Asians?

Posted 05 Feb 2009 at 12:42 pm ¶
Anonymous wrote:

We keep trying to mention this on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Sedaris in an educated, fair, informed manner, but the “Controversy” section keeps getting deleted. It’s one thing to find something incorrect with the following, it’s another to delete any mention of it.

===Controversy===

On January 30, 2009, it was reported by the blog [http://www.angryasianman.com/2009/01/to-gloria-ching-chong-love-amy-sedaris.html| angry asian man] that Sedaris autographed a copy of her book ”I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence” for a [[Chinese-American]] fan with an apparently “quirky” [[Stereotypes of East and Southeast Asians in the United States|caricature]] and [[Ching chong|racial slur]]. Sedaris has yet to comment on this incident.

Posted 05 Feb 2009 at 12:46 pm ¶
bradski wrote:

Halt! Let’s take a step back and think about this:

Sedaris wrote this crap in a book purchased by an Asian-American! Would anyone think it funny if a white comedian made a similar comment and drew a picture with a bug-eyed, thick-lipped black person?

Come on. Sedaris is an ass. This was a book purchased by an Asian-American! Why would she assume that he would think such thing was cheeky fun instead of an insult?

Also, why are people tossing out this phony line about comedians being racist and it’s okay? No one found Michael Richard’s joke funny. What’s the difference here?

There is a difference between a person making fun of his own group or an oppressor to examine racism versus repackaging racism into this supposed ironic, hip joke. What’s the difference between this and white hipsters greeting themselves with a “what’s up, my niggas?” They’re equally disgusting.

Posted 05 Feb 2009 at 1:11 pm ¶
nonogirl wrote:

Go on Amazon and post reviews of Sedaris’s work! Writing cannot be separated from its creator. I don’t like racists and she certainly is one. So I won’t be buying any of her racism. Spread the word, and lets she if we can hit her where it hurts, in the wallet. There is nothing ironic about her brand of humor. If it were ironic, wouldn’t be just as poignant to target blacks, jews and latinos … and yet these “hipsters” never have the balls to do so.

Posted 05 Feb 2009 at 1:14 pm ¶
F wrote:

Gori Girl writes:

“… to mock the racial slurs that others have been caught making when they thought they were off-air. … the idea that it’s okay for humorists to make racist comments because they’re just “playing a character”. He’s mocking these people, not being one of them.”

Oh, ok. So to mock those who think it’s acceptable to take on a racist “character”, Colbert takes on a “racist character” and yet, he is also “not being one of them.”

I’m sure the average channel surfer who comes across Colbert squinting his eyes and making passes at a “pletty Amellican girl” on his staff will totally understand that.

Honestly, I guess this just proves there are things whites understand better than us colored people.

… I don’t think Colbert is an actual racist (Amy Sedaris is a totally different matter). But I do think the Ching Chong Ding Dong bit needs to be retired and was fundamentally flawed at its conception.

Posted 05 Feb 2009 at 1:32 pm ¶
Winn wrote:

I used to be a fan of Amy Sedaris until I saw that 2007 video clip. I concur with Yolanda C. I might be able to buy the “I’m being deliberately offensive to make a point about how stupid and offensive racism is” if it only occurred with the context of the work. But this incident did not exactly occur during a stage performance or in a comedy show. It’s evident that Sedaris not only thinks this is funny herself, she also feels she can get away with it because of her position, largely cultivated by drafting off her brother’s fame, as an ironic, hip comic with pop culture cred. Why am I not surprised there’s been an attempt to keep this info off of Wikipedia and I’ve heard nothing about this in other media outlets? After all, isn’t the response to this always, “You’re being too sensitive and PC. You don’t get what I was going for here because you minorities always get your nose out of joint, even when we try to help”. This stuff is long past played out.

Can I just also say that I’m calling foul on the whole comics defense of “I’m an equal-opportunity offender and I’m skewering racists by invoking their words and thinking in a very postmodern, ironic way. If you don’t get the joke, get over it”. From Sedaris to Silverman to Lisa Lampanelli, it’s getting increasingly transparent and ridiculous. These people need to take a Racism 101 class and learn even some perfunctory facts about power differentials, structural inequities, skin privilege and institutional discrimination. Although I strongly doubt it, they just might begin to understand that there is no such thing as equal-opportunity offense, as long as the dynamics of power: who wields it, who has access to it, whom does it restrict, who has a voice and who doesn’t, continue to be in play. Post-racial America, my ass.

Posted 05 Feb 2009 at 1:44 pm ¶
Monie wrote:

This is the second thread today that the N word has popped up on as someone is trying to make a point. Isn’t it possible to make a point about racist behavior without comparing every racist incident aimed at a non-Black person to racism aimed at Black people?

Enough with the N word already.

Posted 05 Feb 2009 at 1:56 pm ¶
A.D. Nix wrote:

@ nongirl: If it were ironic, wouldn’t be just as poignant to target blacks, jews and latinos … and yet these “hipsters” never have the balls to do so.

Trust me – they do. It may be more subtle on occasion (though not always – see: Blackface Jesus, everything Vice) but that shit happens with much frequency. Join me in Williamsburg/Greenpoint for a night.

No one is safe.

Posted 05 Feb 2009 at 2:06 pm ¶
Fatemeh wrote:

BOO, Amy Sedaris. I’ve never found her to be incredibly hilarious, and this is just ridiculous. I think nonogirl makes a great point: spread the word.

Posted 05 Feb 2009 at 2:23 pm ¶
Rachel wrote:

@nonogirl: I’m not sure I agree with this:

“Writing cannot be separated from its creator.”

While I understand context and circumstances are important here, and I don’t mean to hijack this thread, I just want to say I think we need to be careful about making blanket statements like this. Certainly Amy Sedaris’ work can be presented as work representing her personal views. But I think it needs to be recognized that there are writers who can convincingly portray a persepctive they don’t share. For example, Frank Bidart’s poems “Ellen West” or “Herbert White.”

Posted 05 Feb 2009 at 2:36 pm ¶
Gori Girl wrote:

F, mocking by exaggerating the characteristics of the things he’s mocking is pretty much the way Colbert does his show. If you have a problem with this, you have a problem with the entire concept of The Colbert Report. Personally, I find it both highly amusing and highly effective in pointing out flaws.

Posted 05 Feb 2009 at 2:49 pm ¶
Trey wrote:

Jerri Blank does the “ching chong” bit after declaring herself “not a racist.”

http://www.hulu.com/watch/55690/strangers-with-candy-let-freedom-ring?c=0

it’s about 6:17 into the episode.

Posted 05 Feb 2009 at 2:51 pm ¶
The Cruel Secretary wrote:

@Monie–

Calling someone’s who Latin@ a “spic” =calling an East Asian person a “gook” or “ching chong” =calling an Arab American a “muck-muck”=calling a gay man a “fag”=calling a woman a “ho”=a person of size a “fatso”=calling a Black person a “nigger.”

Be it verbally or visually, as Miley Cyrus did.

And I wrote what I wrote to get a point across: they are all words to debase a person, and for the person to whom those words are directed, it has the same visceral bite and the attendant hurt. Though we can get into a deep-ass discussion on the particulars of each form of oppression, 1) the oppressions are related and 2) the oppressions serve the purpose of flattening a person’s humanity. Those words are the fastest way to cut a person with some oppression.

That’s the comparison with using these words with anti-Black racism, specifically the N-word.

Posted 05 Feb 2009 at 3:10 pm ¶
A.D. Nix wrote:

@ Winn: Transparent is right. They’re selling “White people! We’re the worst” with a side of “Don’t you just love it? Let’s never change.” Oh, tee hee.

I do think that Stephen Colbert when “on” operates in a context very different from Amy Sedaris as Amy Sedaris. Colbert is meant to be a buffoon– you are not on his side. Sedaris is meant to be endearing.

Posted 05 Feb 2009 at 3:39 pm ¶
jaye wrote:

gori girl:

I get your point, and I like Stephen Colbert in general. But friendship with Sedaris definitely gives me pause, and makes me re-think his whole alter-ego act. I don’t think Colbert is racist, but if he’s such good friends with this woman, and I would assume finds her work funny…I wonder what’s really going inside his head when he does that act?

Posted 05 Feb 2009 at 3:40 pm ¶
theboxman wrote:

Even if considered as “ironic racism,” (whatever the hell that means) I think it warrants attention that the targeted audience for such performances are other white people, or POC desiring to assimilate into a white social order. Hence, we still have white people laughing at other white people being racist at the expense of POC.

Posted 05 Feb 2009 at 3:49 pm ¶
Monie wrote:

@The Cruel Secretary

You confused the heck out of me. lol When I made the comment about the N word you hadn’t made your comment, that you are referring to yet. So I wasn’t really talking about your comment when I wrote comment #22.

Note the times.

I get what you are saying though.

Posted 05 Feb 2009 at 3:51 pm ¶
Lxy wrote:

Amy Sedaris is just latest incarnation of that disease known as White Hipster racism.

These mofos think they are oh so clever and snarky, when in fact, they are just latte-drinking Klan Lite.

In fact, the sheet-wearing Klan is not the real problem. It never was.

It’s the respectable “I don’t see race” White Mainstream. They are the ones with the institutional power to normalize their racist instincts and values.

Posted 05 Feb 2009 at 5:21 pm ¶
b!tchwithoutborders wrote:

Ugh, Gawker is justifying the “irony” slash being totally dismissive about this:

http://gawker.com/5145105/amy-sedaris-into-the-ching-chong-thing-too

Posted 05 Feb 2009 at 7:59 pm ¶
Kaonashi wrote:

Wait a minute. What the HELL is a muck muck?

Posted 05 Feb 2009 at 8:22 pm ¶
Rchoudh wrote:

I never heard of Amy Sedaris but after seeing this I plan to never find out. I don’t know how anyone can justify this blatant show of racism as just an “act” or “ironic”. She’s not even performing here!

I think a major reason why Asian Americans are increasingly targeted for outright racist jokes is that they are perceived by mainstream America to be “docile” and “weak”. That goes for both the men and women (men being considered “weak” and “effiminate” and women being considered “submissive lotus flowers”). It doesn’t help that alot of times the victims try to laugh off these acts of racism as being nothing personal (whether they really believe this way is a whole other story). It is astounding to see all this rise in anti-Asian racism lately. Could it be due to Americans blaming Asians for stealing their jobs during this recession? I see alot of outright racist vitriol aimed at Asians (mainly Chinese and Indians) in comments left over online news articles about the economy and the state of American jobs.

Posted 05 Feb 2009 at 9:00 pm ¶
merq wrote:

I absofuckinglutely ADORE Colbert, so my heart sank to my nuts when I read that he too was part of the “ching chong” douchefest. I watch his show every night, and honestly have tons of respect for him.

So it was with trepidation that I set out to watch the clips provided upthread, for I would basically have to take him off my to-DVR list if I found him objectionable (I’m kinda like that… with me, it’s a hard line).

I was completely relieved to find that it was totally in the vein of many of his prio on-air stunts. Filming some bogus “caught unawares” moment in order to make a point (or just to be stupid) is totally Colbert.

When he broke his wrist, he aired some “before the show” footage of himself running around the studio, among the fans (to Beyonce’s “Ring the Alarm”, for added Bizarro effect) before falling on his hand. He, unlike Jon Stewart, has no qualms about getting a little egg on his face in order to either prove a point, or crack a joke (probably because Stewart effortlessly gets the kudos he has to bust his ass for).

Anyway, this is some of the murky terrain you face when your entire show is based on mimicking right-wing blowhards like O’Reilly and Limbaugh. But on the plus side, out-of-touch White House staffers could think you’re for real and give you the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to skewer George W. to his face for a good half hour.

And I’m gonna stop gushing now.

Posted 05 Feb 2009 at 10:46 pm ¶
jstele wrote:

I have read a review on “I Like You” by Amy Sedaris that says that she slurs Gypsies AND Asians in the book.

Here is the review:

http://www.amazon.com/review/R2MUSR4PJEW18A/ref=cm_cr_pr_cmt?ie=UTF8&ASIN=0446578843&nodeID=#wasThisHelpful

The repliers to her comment all dismiss her claim and some even slander Gypsies as thieves.

Posted 05 Feb 2009 at 11:50 pm ¶
Maus wrote:

“These mofos think they are oh so clever and snarky, when in fact, they are just latte-drinking Klan Lite.

In fact, the sheet-wearing Klan is not the real problem. It never was.”

I agree that majority views and the media complicity/endorsement of racism is a problem.

I also believe that white hipster irony racism is stupid (though not as bad as sleazebag Carlos Mencia-brand “ironic” racism)

Calling it Klan Lite is an astounding exaggeration. Besides that their public standing prior to Stetson Kennedy’s expose was still far too influential.

Incidentally, on the subject of horrible, horrible (but funny) humor- watch “The Aristocrats”.

Posted 06 Feb 2009 at 12:04 am ¶
thescoop wrote:

BLACK AMERICA AND THE N-WORD:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dP2U0jmZjec

Posted 06 Feb 2009 at 4:28 am ¶
Tablesaw wrote:

Every time something like this comes up, I think of the words of Jay Smooth on how easy it is to become a “no homo” addict.

Posted 06 Feb 2009 at 5:50 am ¶
pololly wrote:

*Brief thread hijack*

Monie wrote:

This is the second thread today that the N word has popped up on as someone is trying to make a point. Isn’t it possible to make a point about racist behavior without comparing every racist incident aimed at a non-Black person to racism aimed at Black people?

Enough with the N word already.

This. I know that the N word has a powerful history and it is obviously a shorthand but I wonder if there isn’t some underlying attitude adjustment needed when it is constantly used a) by other minorities and b) when it’s not really necessary. Compare all you want but why the use of the word? Also not sure why non black people don’t say N word or n*gga. I mean I’m black and even with threads where it is in context I try to use alternatives. I’m not saying people can’t use it but just wondering why people feel so happy using it and so comfortable using it when it’s not even necessary.

By the way, if this was a verbal conversation and someone was discussing this incident and then turned to me and said ‘it’s just like calling you a n*gga’, I would probably slap their face.

*ok, resume thread*

Posted 06 Feb 2009 at 8:40 am ¶
nonogirl wrote:

If you are a self-respecting POC, please don’t go to a Lisa Lampanelli show, or any show on whose lineup she appears. She is one of the most angry and vile racists, I have ever come across. Her jokes are just “nasty,” I can’t even explain them. There is nothing in the content that is meant to provoke further thought. They are just meant to degrade people of color, especially blacks and asians. She has issues, and uses a comedic platform to spread the vitriol.

A few years ago, I had the displeasure of seeing her at a club in NYC during a lineup. She smarmily asked a young woman in the audience what her background is and she said oh, I’m Korean American. Then this young woman asks Lisa what her background is in an innocuous way, whether she was Italian. I don’t know what set Lampanelli off, but then she starts to lambast this young woman with all sorts of racial slurs. Hate was emanating from her every pore. I couldn’t believe what was happening. Anyone in the audience could tell that Lisa wasn’t trying to be funny. She just wanted to hurt this woman. Anyways, the young woman started to cry and I felt very uncomfortable. My group of friends and I left the show. We never went back to that club again.

Posted 06 Feb 2009 at 11:56 am ¶
The Cruel Secretary wrote:

@Kaonashi–A “muck-muck” is a racist slur used against people from the Middle East, including Arab Americans. Perhaps it’s a regional slur (I’m from the Midwest), but it’s a racist perjorative nonetheless.

@pololly–first of all, here’s some info on me:

http://www.racialicious.com/2008/07/28/introducing-two-new-special-correspondents/

If you read or listen to what I’ve said here or on my own blog, the N-word very rarely–if ever–trips from my mouth or my keyboard. It doesn’t give me a certain frisson or happiness (as you call it) to say it, pololly, even on my offline life.

Also, Monie and I have interacted on this blog and other sites. We have –and she can correct me if I’m wrong–had amicable interactions with each other. And I know Monie has a very forthright way of writing, which implies, IMO, a forthright way of thinking. I took a chance based on that interaction.

I disagreed with her point about comparing racist behavior to other folks to “every racist incident aimed at a non-Black person to racism aimed at Black people.” I felt I could get my point across through the appeal to her humanity, namely the commonality of getting feelings hurt through slurs and, through that, the reason why folks compare racist behaviors to the racism towards Black folks. I had to get to the viscerality of it. Thus, what I wrote in #28.

I wasn’t happy or really comfortable about using any of those words, pololly, but I felt it was the quickest way for Monie to grasp my point. From her response (#32), she heard me. And no slapping, either.

Posted 06 Feb 2009 at 12:14 pm ¶
F. wrote:

#34: I stopped reading Gawker precisely because of the way Asians and Asian Americans are discussed on that site. I’d honestly rather lurk on Stormfront than subject myself to reading the “I’m being sooo glib, and ironically racist, aren’t I clever!” type of sh*t that fills Gawker. At least the guys on Stormfront are passionate about the racist things they state instead of hiding it behind forced, look-at-me snarkiness.

The sad thing is, the people on Gawker really do think they’re being clever and hip and blase, when its transparent that they’re really-trying-0h-so-hard-to-be-non-PC. I completely agree with #33.

Same goes for Fark.com. They all try to out-do themselves in how “shockingly” racist and offensive they can be. The Internet typically brings out the “best” in people.

Posted 06 Feb 2009 at 12:17 pm ¶
jen* wrote:

I get sarcasm. I use it all the time. This doesn’t seem to be it. At all.

It’s just mean! I can’t understand why someone would write that and then try to claim that old standby: “I was just joking!” [When it's obviously not a joke.]

I never really had strong feelings about Amy Sedaris, until now. I think she’s mean, and mean people suck.

Posted 06 Feb 2009 at 2:17 pm ¶
RJG wrote:

@sedaris stuff: ugh. there’s not much else to say other than ‘ugh’.

@colbert stuff: I don’t know about this one. Is the impression racist? Well, yeah. But because it is done to point out how fucked up something is by _doing it_ inherently racist and insulting? Ehh… that ends up being what has me pause for a moment.

If I remember correctly, the Colbert bit was done in reaction to someone saying something grossly racist while under the impression that they weren’t being taped, and then being outraged that someone called them to task on it.

At least for me, it was more mocking people who make such kinds of excuses (see: this for a more recent enraging case of racism-humor turned “I can’t believe someone fowarded my ‘black people dying in katrina because they’re so slow to leave but they could go so fast to see Obama’ joke to others just to make me look racist!”) than it was mocking Asians.

I’m not intending to sound ultra-defending of what Colbert did — I really am wondering if there’s a difference between making racist jokes and making fun of making racist jokes by showing how foolish they are/the excuses for them are.

Posted 06 Feb 2009 at 2:52 pm ¶
pololly wrote:

@ The Cruel Secretary

Hear and apologise. I actually have no critique of your comparison – I thought it was a valid one. Just the word itself jarred. I just have to clarify – I wasn’t actually threatening to slap you, I was just trying to demonstrate how offensive it can be when people say it out loud when it’s not in context. It hasn’t necessarily been even on this site but even in trying to address feminist concerns with people in real life, they’ve turned back to me and been like ‘yeah, it’s kinda like calling someone a n*gga isn’t it?’. Umm, WTF? I understand it’s usage but hate it to be honest.

@F

Gawker’s ‘asian coverage’ is straight up racist. I was actually in shock at the mean spiritedness of their ‘articles’. Any asian woman is apparently a submissive whore no matter how educated or rich (so says gawker). I mean, they had a post on a well connected rich asian woman who had just married. Headline was something like “why is *husband’s name* hiding asian wife?” Just horrible.

Posted 06 Feb 2009 at 4:25 pm ¶
Lxy wrote:

“Calling it Klan Lite is an astounding exaggeration. Besides that their public standing prior to Stetson Kennedy’s expose was still far too influential.”

Is it really an exaggeration? The point is this: White Supremacy is not merely the Klan, as Mainstream White America would have one believe.

White supremacy is the broader US racial caste system that upholds European Americans as the “superior race” in all but name.

This White Supremacist system has been the foundation of America as a nation since 1776 and continues to this very day.

Historically, the mainstream American establishment has had both overt and covert connections with the actual Klan.

For example, Congressman Robert Byrd–Liberal Democrat from W. Virginia–was a former Klan member.

Harry S. Truman–Democrat President of the USA–was also a Klan member.

Mainstream America in many ways uses the actual Klan as a convenient political patsy to take the fall for its own White supremacist values.

Posted 06 Feb 2009 at 9:04 pm ¶
dirkdiggler wrote:

you guys are right about gawker. they are bigots. they just delude themselves that they aren’t because so long as they don’t mock african americans too much and they support obama, they can’t really be labeled bigots.

why attack african americans, which seems just so wrong, when you can satisfy your urge to denigrate and mock asians, who probably won’t make so much of a stink? and even if they do, who’ll really listen to them? a win-win situation all the way around.

Posted 06 Feb 2009 at 10:54 pm ¶
Dorian wrote:

“I’m not intending to sound ultra-defending of what Colbert did — I really am wondering if there’s a difference between making racist jokes and making fun of making racist jokes by showing how foolish they are/the excuses for them are.”

I think the ambiguity of the latter- which is the level Colbert is operating at- is something he hasn’t taken into consideration. That is, while I know that his whole routine is about acting like an O-Reilly-esque right-wing nutjob, one thing I’m not sure about with him, is whether he understands that his audience could be laughing not at the stupidity of racist caricatures, but the racist caricature itself, in spite of its irony. He never takes that extra step to satirize the satire- never goes that step to suggest that the idea of being above racism enough to reproduce is not that simple.

Not to bash Colbert of course. He’s one of my idols (as a comedian, not his on-stage persona of course!), and AAM has also featured his clips (favorably) numerous times on his blog. I just wish Colbert’d take that one extra step and make SOME satirical comment on the ambiguity surrounding “ironic racism.”

Amy Sedaris is just a pale shadow of Colbert. I never liked her humor. Strangers With Candy (I think that was the title- by the way, in SwC, she also does a similar thing), shows what I mean. There’s absolutely no cleverness or wit to her. She just acts like an idiot and does stupid things for the heck of it, whereas Colbert says/does idiotic and stupid things with an underlying tension or irony that he expects the audience to get. So I doubt she’s really satirizing anything like Colbert would usually do.

Posted 06 Feb 2009 at 11:52 pm ¶
F. wrote:

Latoya and Carmen, I don’t know if such a post has already been done, but could we have a whole post just about the hipster racism of blogs/sites such as Gawker, Fark and some of the slimy celebrity gossip rags (Drunken Stepfather, IDontLikeYouInThatWay)? I’m sure your many of Racialicious readers remember a lot of instances in which they were Internet surfing, came across a site, read a post or comments and just went, “Wow.”‘

While these types of blogs tend to exhibit “ironic” or “non-PC” racism towards a wide spectrum of groups, I have to say, like #50, they and their commentators tend to especially enjoy ganging up on Asians and Asian Americans.

Actually, have either of you two ever been in direct contact with the writers over at Gawker, as fellow bloggers? Could you ask them what the fcuk is wrong with them and their readers’ attitudes?

Posted 07 Feb 2009 at 11:03 am ¶
Nelly wrote:

Lxy, I think you make some excellent points. But, I remember reading that Harry Truman joined the Ku Klux Klan because that was the only way he could participate in – and impact – Missouri politics. They controlled all power structures, much in the same way racists seemed to have a monopoly on certain police departments. He didn’t actually believe in their ideals. I’m open to the fact that the above information is wrong, though.

Posted 07 Feb 2009 at 2:24 pm ¶
amory wrote:

yeah– someone else may have mentioned this already, but if you actually look inside the aforementioned book (at the risk of making your eyes bleed) she has a nice little “fun for kids” section which includes a hilarious game of dressing a cartoon worm in racist stereotypes. I forget the entirety but I’m pretty sure there’s a “sambo” worm and a Native worm and…yeah. It’s really. bad.
I quote Carmen all the time when talking about Amy Sedaris, there was a post way back in the day when I first started reading racialicious which had the line “hipsters like us are so meta- we’re beyond racism”. I feel like [the] Sedaris[es], along with Sarah Silverman et al are like, verbatim illustrations of stupid people with white privilege who think they can get away with that shit and call it satire, or shock value, or something other than racist and ignorant. Just look at the justifications white hipsters were giving for “kill whitey” parties.

Posted 07 Feb 2009 at 9:02 pm ¶
amory wrote:

& I’m with F– please could we have a post dealing w hipster racism’s many facets?

Posted 07 Feb 2009 at 9:06 pm ¶
amory wrote:

@ nonogirl & Anonymous–

that’s weird, because after I saw the part in the book I mentioned before, I tried writing an amazon review. It kept getting deleted. I’m not kidding, like three times. I wrote amazon and never heard back. Maybe it was just a problem with their system (i haven’t tried since)? dunno, but weird coincidence.

Posted 07 Feb 2009 at 9:18 pm ¶
embarcadero13 wrote:

Sedaris has always annoyed me. She is just simply unfunny, and no amount of “irony” gymnastics can make such a stupid stereotype funny… It’s just stupid and dumb, with no insight into anything remotely interesting. I just don’t get it. Like… at all.

SECONDED the hipster-racist blogs. Gawker makes me want to tear my eyes out some days (I refuse to click through most of their political commentary because I know it will just irritate me). Huffington Post recently posted a large article about how “raccoons” are running rampant at the White House.

(On the latter, I was, quite literally, floored at the racist connotations, and the blatant denial about them that was in the comments section).

Perhaps this issue is close to my heart because I am a resident San Franciscan, one of the last surviving Black people to roam the hallowed hills of the whitest, most neo-liberal, NIMBY city in this country. I deal with the hipster racism everyday, in the form of young whites who vacillate between “post-racial” denial (the youth), superiority complexes (”the activists”), insecurity about irrelevance (the white women), and fetishes (white men).

Posted 07 Feb 2009 at 11:26 pm ¶
RJG wrote:

@Dorian I agree that he never actually removes the mask and points out “hey… ya’ll know this _is_ fucked up, right?”, but there are spots in his show that do point that out. In particular I’m thinking of The Word segments, where the prompter on the right of the screen does point out how what he’s saying on the left of the screen.

I’m remembering how far he never breaks character to the point where he gave that speech at a white house dinner (or whatever it was). He pretty much satirically tore into everyone there, and damn if I can tell they knew he was going to do it or not.

I give Colbert credit that it’s hard to tell if he’s being Colbert the character or Colbert the him when he’s giving his speeches, because it does make people question what is said, but obviously there are situations where even the people being targeted in what he says end up having to pause and questioning if it is real or not.

Posted 08 Feb 2009 at 2:42 am ¶
brownstocking wrote:

@ #51, Dorian:
I think the ambiguity of the latter- which is the level Colbert is operating at- is something he hasn’t taken into consideration. That is, while I know that his whole routine is about acting like an O-Reilly-esque right-wing nutjob, one thing I’m not sure about with him, is whether he understands that his audience could be laughing not at the stupidity of racist caricatures, but the racist caricature itself, in spite of its irony. He never takes that extra step to satirize the satire- never goes that step to suggest that the idea of being above racism enough to reproduce is not that simple.
what is that next step?

Posted 08 Feb 2009 at 2:49 am ¶
Man of Leisure wrote:

I’m kind of surprised by just how stupid some of the apologias for this type of asinine and racist behavior has been. Why are there this many Americans this ignorant and stupid?

Posted 08 Feb 2009 at 1:18 pm ¶
mollypoppins wrote:

I would like to third the request for a post on hipster racism. There is so much going on here that would be nice to flesh out in a comment thread. It seems that undergirding this desire to be “bad” by being “ironically” racist is first and foremost an exercising of one’s privilege under the guise that one is being subversive (duh). But there is also an almost latent violence in the assumption that the group of people who are the butt of the jokes/caricatures can not and will not be heard. If they do speak up, their protestations do not matter because well that’s just part of the “joke” anyway–they (insert group here) are just not sophisticated enough to “get” our brand of humor, and well you all ought to lighten up anyway because there’s so much else of importance going on in the world, and some of my best friends are … ad infinitum. There seems to be some sort of implicit and deeply disturbing social contract at work here that co-opts any type of response to the initial offensive behavior. It also occurs to me that that the hipster racism is deeply class coded; it’s an elite, pseudo-intellectual, cosmopolitan form of racism–hence all that “meta” crap (Exhibit A: d-bag taking a 20$ cab ride for a Pabst special at Happy Hour). Which brings me to my next point: there is a lot of cultural anxiety subtending this type of “humor.”

I do not think it is a coincidence that this subculture (though I guess it is mainstream now) began to develop at the same time as huge demographic shifts were taking place in urban centers. White twenty/thirty somethings from the mid/south/north west/eastern seaboard gentrifying predominantly black and brown neighborhoods of color subsumed their anxieties about their newfound “minority” status (at least until the neighborhood flipped) by becoming more insular. Ill equipped and disinterested in dealing with diversity, ignorant about the communities they were joining, deeply invested in their new urban and countercultural identities, and flummoxed by unsettled expectations of privilege, these “youth,” claimed the space of the “hood,” and made a claim for that space, by creating (and maintaining) a vast psychic and cultural difference between themselves and those who lived right next door. I think of it as kind of like tacking up (an invisible) “Whites Only” sign. What I am trying to say, in a long winded fashion, is that “hipster racism” is part and parcel of a broader cultural trend intricately linked to demographic changes and twenty-first century redefinitions of what it means to “live the good life”; it is bound up in spatial proximity (to some “Others”), appropriation of cultural production, and the negotiation of race/class/gender–specifically about the rearticulation of the borders around these categories (by the dominant group) at precisely the moment when they have the potential to be the most fluid.

Posted 08 Feb 2009 at 1:55 pm ¶
embarcadero13 wrote:

I know, I’m very very new here, so no one has to listen to me yet because you don’t know where I’m coming from. I respect that.

But I have to defend Colbert . His social mask may be kitschy, annoying, and “ironic,” and yes, he could stand more diversity in the guests on his show. However, he does a LOT better than most in the mainstream media. In the last couple of months, I’ve personally seen interviews with Gov. David Paterson, Dr. Cornel West, Nate Silver (who was the first to correct the statistics in the post-Prop-8 “Blame the Blacks” era), Wynton Marsalis, Yo-Yo Ma, Kevin Johnson, and Henry Louis Gates Dr., to name a few.

The interviews are good, too. He basically asks the questions that a white privileged blowhard would ask, and in so doing, provides a broad public forum for educated responses. The social mask is a tool for education; it’s like that cheap script device where a character asks an obvious question to another character, as means to explain an issue to the audience.

If the question is whether the blowhards in the audience realize that they are being criticized or educated, then, my question is, will they ever? Direct confrontation makes these type of people retreat into their cocoons of denial. Colbert provides just a spoon full of sugar with it. That’s more than I can say for “The View.”

Posted 08 Feb 2009 at 6:55 pm ¶
jay wrote:

i would like to know the level of Amy’s interaction with Gloria’s brother before presuming and casting judgement.

Posted 09 Feb 2009 at 11:04 pm ¶
Westerly wrote:

@ embarcadero13 and mollypoppins –

Excellent posts. Hope that your suggestion goes through. Thank you especially mollypoppins for pointing out the implicit violence and silencing that occurs when targeted groups are expected to be sanguine and good-natured about their own denigration and must ‘prove’ that they’re not uptight, have a sense of humour, aren’t caught up with the PC brigade etc., etc.

Just hate it.
The onus ultimately placed on the person who is being attacked by the joke to ‘not be offended’, while the person who is being offensive never has to take any responsibility for being an unfeeling, entitled jackass.

It’s the sheer, sickening privilege that comes with actually believing that you are in a position to dictate to other people what they ‘ought’ to feel and how they ought to respond, along with feeling that you and you alone can solely determine the parameters of what is and isn’t acceptable.

(And if the person making the so-called joke gets called out for it or has to face an angry, offended person why then, *sniff* they’re the ‘real’ victims in the scenario, because they haven’t been a blank cheque to do and say what they please…*eyeroll*)

Ugh.

This whole “ching chong” rubbish is reminiscent of the whole ‘golliwog’ scandal involving Carol Thatcher at the BBC. (Thatcher, daughter of the infamous Maggie was recently fired for referring to French tennis player Jo-Wilfried Tsonga as a ‘golliwog’ off camera, which she then refused to apologise for point-blank because it was just an off-the-cuff remark and she was only joking etc.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?sectionName=Cricket&id=4ce4acd0-9eb9-4583-a416-efa5ade1c1e9&MatchID1=4922&TeamID1=4&TeamID2=2&MatchType1=1&SeriesID1=1244&PrimaryID=4922&Headline=BBC+sacks+Thatcher%27s+daughter+for+%27racist%27+remark

And:

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/columnists/matthew-norman-oh-carol-ndash-you-just-dont-get-it-14171546.html

You know – the usual tired excuses. Carol Thatcher hardly fits the hipster demographic in terms of her age or nationality yet her behaviour is eerily similar to that of Miley Cyrus and Amy Sedaris… (Racist ‘humour’ followed by non-repentance.)

Re: Colbert and ambiguity involved at laughing at racism and stupidity vs. being stupid and simply laughing because one *is* racist. Well, didn’t Chappelle have to confront that very ambiguity and come to his own conclusions?

Posted 10 Feb 2009 at 12:20 am ¶
mT wrote:

@ post #63 Jay

Is that really your one salient point to make!? Really!?

Funny, because I would think you would want to know the level of Amy’s interaction with Gloria since Amy signed the book addressed to Gloria, intended for Gloria? Or maybe better still, wouldn’t you want to know the level of interaction between Gloria and her brother? Or maybe if you were trying to make any kind of point, wouldn’t you want to know the ‘level of interaction’ between Gloria and Angry Asian Man (the guy to whom she sent her story to and the guy through which her story is now made public for you to make such thought provoking commentary upon)?

Don’t worry, I don’t think most people here are presuming anything or casting any judgement until they have further irrefutable proof of the level of your intelligence or until you make your next post.

Posted 10 Feb 2009 at 1:27 am ¶
nonogirl wrote:

Just posted a comment on Amazon for Sedaris’s newest book. We shall soon see if Amazon subscribes to “Big Brother monitoring.”

Anyways, should we be surprised. This is coming from a woman who said:

“The soundtrack for ‘Love Jones’ is really good. “Smooth Groves” is really good. I like music that I always call ‘Negro music’ (laughs), like Erykah Badu. I love her. I tend to listen to Negroes.”

An interview in the Tampa Gazette 2004

Posted 10 Feb 2009 at 5:38 pm ¶
PatrickInBeijing wrote:

I have no idea who Amy Sedaris is (I am removed from pop culture, but am grateful to folks here for keeping me informed). I have to agree that her kind of comments, if intended to inform, probably never quite get there. They rarely do. And the drawing is over the top, it sounds like she has internalized her “superiority” and believes it allows her to say and do anything.

I want to second embarcadero13 about San Francisco, I lived there for almost 20 years, and the comments ring absolutely true.

As for Colbert, the few times I have seen him, he makes me uncomfortable. I understand intellectually what he seems to be trying to do, but I get a queasy feeling when I watch him, so I mostly don’t. Maybe I am wrong, I don’t know.

And as to his use of a psuedo-Chinese name, I never saw it, but my comments about Sedaris apply.

One of the reasons it is “okay” to make fun of Asians in America (in my opinion) is that many Americans look at a culture (actually a group of many cultures, but …. anyway..), that seems to be rising in the world at the same time that the US seems to be having problems, and they feel threatened. There is also an industry that encourages that feeling (defense) since fear puts money in their pockets.

Posted 11 Feb 2009 at 6:55 am ¶
LMK wrote:

Wow, I’ve got to say that I’m a disappointed to see that so many here are offended by Amy Sedaris and Stephen Colbert. As it happens, they’re BOTH playing characters in nearly all of their public appearances.

“Stephen Colbert” (i.e. his “host” persona) is constantly making a caricature of himself so that people laugh at/recoil from what that caricature stands for: the ignorant and bigoted right wingers who are such a presence in the media. In real life (and yes, I speak from experience), he’s an incredibly kind, big-hearted person.

Amy Sedaris is equally kind. It’s trickier to describe her as a “character” because she bounces around and doesn’t stick to just one, but she is certainly not racist in real life. And “Strangers with Candy” (the TV show many here have quoted as featuring appallingly “racist” lines) was a PARODY (co-written by Stephen Colbert and Paul Dinello) of the cringeworthy after school specials that always, always ended up being more offensive/harmful than enlightening.

I know that some people just don’t find them funny, and that’s perfectly understandable; they’ve said themselves that their form of humor and satire sit on the very edge of good taste, and it’s not surprising that we don’t all agree as to whether they’ve strayed too far over the line. But truly, they are good, open-hearted and open-minded people; they are NOT racists.

And since I don’t normally post here, I suppose I should mention that I’m Korean-American and have been exposed to plenty of racist taunts (from “Go back to China or whereever the hell you’re from!” to the much more subtle put downs); this isn’t a question of my just being tone deaf to racism.

Posted 11 Feb 2009 at 1:30 pm ¶
F. wrote:

LMK, while it’s nice to hear that both Colbert and Sedaris are “kind, big-hearted” people in real life, I still have trouble understanding why Sedaris (in real life) feels the need to preserve the “character” of the type of person who signs things with “ching chong” caricatures or references black people as “negroes” in interviews, as mentioned by #66.

What’s the point?

Do Amy’s fans get that she’s in character? Or do they get secret, oooh-I-shouldn’t-amused-by-this-but-I-am kicks out of seeing a famous person be all non-PC?

Does Amy understand exactly why people like us would be genuinely offended by her use of her “character”? Maybe she does and still doesn’t care.

How ironic that people who are supposed to be obviously satirical sometimes walk too close to the line of being genuinely plausible.

Posted 11 Feb 2009 at 6:53 pm ¶
theboxman wrote:

LMK: “But truly, they are good, open-hearted and open-minded people; they are NOT racists.”

I don’t think the latter clause necessarily follows from the former clause; one can be a good, open-hearted person and nevertheless still participate in the reproduction of racist tropes and discourses.

Posted 11 Feb 2009 at 8:58 pm ¶
Wren wrote:

I haven’t seen SwC, but I probably would think that the sketches themselves are making fun of racists rather than being racists. However, signing an Asian fan’s book this way, without being specifically asked to, seems to be pretty ignorant or tone deaf. In general, I like Colbert-type parody of racism, but I am white, and it is primarily white humor. “Good” whites making fun of the “bad” whites or just skewering the ignorant parts of us that we have overcome in the process of being “enlightened”. It is meant to be funny in a painful way, but it is painful in a very different way to whites than it might be to a minority sitting in the audience, even if they think it is funny too. While Colbert is very different than Miley, the fact that she took that photo with an Asian-American friend shows how it is easy to think you are being ironic when you have actually crossed a line.

Posted 03 Mar 2009 at 9:29 am ¶
SWG wrote:

Everyone keeps mentioning that they’re not familiar with Colbert which is disappointing as his “racist comments” are from a fake clip of when his character thought he was off-camera. It’s a parody of celebrities being casually racist, being made to answer for it, and back-pedaling as fast as they can. I’ll reiterate this as it’s very important. He purposefully showed the “gaffe” on his show (several times) as it’s completely staged and fake.

As for Amy Sedaris, I know her character Jerri Blanq on Strangers with Comedy was completely racist, and used the “ching chong” phrase, but I have no idea why she’d do it out of character. I can’t think of an excusable reason. Maybe someone should ask her.

Posted 01 May 2009 at 1:45 am ¶