Are Asians Next in Line to be White? | A People's History of Asian America

Adrian and Dolly take inspiration from “Minor Feelings”, a novel by Cathy Park Hong, to unpack the stereotype that Asians are next in line to be white.

By taking a look at the movies Get Out and Do The Right Thing, Adrian and Dolly examine pop culture references about Asian proximity to whiteness. They connect these moments to 3 historic Supreme Court cases where Asian Americans sued for white privilege and their discussion builds upon the theory’s of Cheryl Harris, a law professor who examines whiteness as a form of ownership.

Further Reading:

Why The Asian Character In 'Get Out' Matters, Bustle:

Takao Ozawa vs. United States, Cornell Law School:

United States vs. Bhagat Singh Thind, Cornell Law School:

Gong Lum vs. Rice, Britannica

Further Viewing:
PBS Asian Americans Documentary:

#AAPI #GetOut #Whiteness

[idkanymorehonestly]

People are really really using the term “Asians” as if it’s just Chinese, Korean, or Japanese 💀

[skylerboland]

Imagine how long it took to go through and delete all the comments they disagreed with

[AMMbeatz]

I think we need to understand and acknowledge that Asia is very diverse. Not every group of Asians has the same experience.

[pharmd]

It is WRONG to contain movies in this conversation. They looked at history did not talk about present condition.

[nobility]

The story in the movie " Do The Right Thing", about the asian store, owner, was a true story. In the book "The Autobiography of Malcom X" , he told the story about an asian store owner claiming to be colored during a riot. Spike lee used that story from the book.

[pusheenbuttercup]

I don't understand the title of this video. Why would Asians want to be "next in line to be white?" What is wrong with being Asian and happy that's who you are? As a child, I wished my eyes were less slanted, that I was blonde and blue eyed. I only achieved happiness when I saw myself as beautiful, just as I was. My features were not wrong, nor subpar, they were different. Isn't it alright to not want to be white, and be happy as who you are instead?

[Slushy_maker]

I actually got bullied for being Asian since I was “white”

[laughter]

It's so strange to center everything on this spectrum of "whiteness" and "blackness", as well as how "whiteness" is about oppression of non-whites. This does not represent the ethnically diverse America I grew up in, nor does it represent the celebration of cultural and ethnic diversity seen in many major US metropolitan areas I've lived in. I'm Asian, if that matters. The only area I can think of where racism is institutionalized today is higher education.

[blue_champignon]

This needs way more than 7 minutes to discuss

[trin]

I loved your quote from Cathy cuz I loved her book

[eeomwyu]

What does "white" mean? What does "Asian" mean?
If Asian is a continent, and white is just a skin color, then Asians are the people of colors that go from white to black! It's never one color - it's a bunch of different colors. Also, people from all over the Asia can have a look that does NOT necessarily include a special skin-rich "Asian" eye-lid. For example, Indians are from an Asian continent and they don't have a stereotypical "asian" eye-lid. Many Russians are from an Asian continent too, and some of them are partially "mixed" with populations like Kazakh, Chinese, and Native Koryak, Buryat, or Bashkir people. And none of those Russians have the "Asian" eye-lid, but some actually even they (Russians alone - people from one single country) cannot be defined by only one look! If you can't define particular one look even in a single country, how would you do that with a whole continent that has a bunch of different countries?
If you take a white-skinned Chinese and put him next to a black-skinned Uzbek, or a very black Indian and describe them as having the same look, race, and skin color - you are NOT only color-blind, you are delusional. If you take a brown-skinned Tibetan and put him next to white-skinned Chinese and assume they have identical culture, ethnicity, and experience because they are both Asians, then you are dangerously lost in the land of ignorance. No wonder those color/race labels are a mess, thanks to the truly dumb US census.

[inclusiveoutsider]

Why is there so little representation of the South Asians. Every time they talk about Asians they only show one type of Asian. South Asians, like myself are always left out, or under represented. They might show one, light skinned, South Asian, and five or six Of the other type of Asian. We South Asians are the faceless Asians. PBS even has an interview with a guy on his book on the stereotypes of Asians, and he mentions and shows Chinese looking Asians. He then says his group is invisible. What about South Asians. Our group is truly invisible, most people in America don’t even know we are Asians. Truth is, that seems to be because we are never represented when the media talks about Asians and It seams deliberate.

[guntherstewart]

Some people are only really referring to east Asians when they say Asian

[williamharding]

Is it me or is the term used fluidly? Sometimes it means race. Sometimes it means ethnicity *wasps. Sometimes privilege. George Zimmerman is called white, but is he?

[PogieJoe]

Such a complex conversation. Thanks for tackling it.

[slimpickens]

Don't forget about the Asian store owner in Falling Down. Dfens go on a tirade against the owner about high prices in his convenience store and the fact that he's been in the country for so long that he cannot properly speak English.
Dfens: How much is a can of soda
Owner: eighty-fi cents
Dfens: it's eighty-five cents. What, they don't have V's in China?
Owner: I'm Korean

[legalgood]

From pop culture references to US Supreme court cases..excellent research and writing! Adrian and Dolly are fantastic hosts, too! Thanks, PBS! We need more, please!

[klaudinegarcia]

Why do we even call a group of people by their skin tone in the first place anyways??? 🤨 I never thought about this before but, now I'm starting to realise how stupid it is. All races and ethnicities can come in different skin tones.

[michaelwilliams]

Wow this was a great video. Your perspective is so needed.

[IsRoxasSora]

Topics like these need more unpacking. PBS please produce more of these 😊