kittenbento asked: many props to you for handling and calling out racism the way you do! it's really so important for blogs about art created by non-white people to discuss this stuff when a large part of their following is made up of white folks.

Hello, and thank you for your kind words! :)

I’m a little confused about the second part of your message, so I want to direct you to our Q&A page.

The big thing I want to say is that I am white.  I absolutely, 100% agree with you that it’s really, really important that we listen to and help amplify the voices of POC who are far too often silenced in discussions of their own cultures, lives and stories, but I also want to make it ABSOLUTELY clear that I am NOT one of those POC.  My voice is not a stand in for any of theirs.  I’m just trying to be a decent human being by not being racist (or heterosexist, cissexist, ableist, classist, etc.) and not condoning those attitudes and behaviors in others.  I know I mess up, and I hope people call me on it when I do, but I’m not in this to get points for good behavior.  I’m in this because people deserve to be treated like people- not like costumes, trends, scapegoats, fictional characters, objects, etc.- and as a person in a position of privilege (white, straight, cis, semi-able-bodied with able-bodied passing privilege, middle class(ish) US American) it’s my responsibility to call out other privileged people so we can all check our privilege and not be douchebags. [ten points for using the word “privilege” four times in one very long sentence!]

Anyhow, thank you for taking the time to write to me, you are very sweet, and I really appreciate it. :)

thisisacake:

akoaykayumanggi:

madamethursday:

amn051511:

jhameia:

Katy Perry on Jimmy Kimmel: Racism and Fetishism of Japanese People.

incompetent-fangirl:

[trigger warning: what starts as obnoxious Japanese cultural appropriation turns into full-on racism by the end of the interview segment.  It’s really gross.]…

katy perry herself is a huge trigger warning.

Just when I thought this woman could not get creepier or more faily. Holy shit. She just embodies what is truly sociopathic and murderous about white people. Seriously. She joked about WEARING THE SKIN OF OTHER PEOPLE. 

That’s serial killer level right there. Like, I don’t know how you make that joke okay in your head EVER. You seriously just told Japanese people that you want to SKIN THEM AND WEAR THEM LIKE THEY ARE ANIMALS WHO’S FUR YOU ARE DONNING BECAUSE YOU THINK OF THEM AS YOUR OWN PERSONAL, LIVING DECORATIONS AND NOTHING ELSE. 

Please, Katy Perry, go lock yourself away somewhere so you don’t harm anyone else and spread your evilness around the world. SOMETHING IS FUNDAMENTALLY BROKEN IN YOUR HUMANITY AND YOU NEED TO FIX IT.

While I do agree on the tone of the interview sounding very questionable, I think that the last part of the interview, specifically the issue on hand about Katy Perry ‘wanting to wear somebody’s skin’, is misread. I watched the segment of the interview provided and reread the last two segments, and it seems that Katy wasn’t saying that she personally would wear someone’s skin, but was exaggerating what the Japanese girl might have been thinking.

Right before she said that line, Jimmy explained that the girl was probably weirded out and was telling the story back home. Katy was most likely making a response to what Jimmy said. To me, I see Katy not being crazy, but just being rude. 

I won’t argue on any of the racial stereotypes that were presented, I do agree that it’s highly disrespectful to imagine a culture’s identity based off of a consumer product. But I think that Katy Perry is at least a decent person despite this interview, and shouldn’t be pinned at the level of sociopaths and serial killers.

I’m not buying it unless she issues an apology.  Even then I’m going to be skeptical.

amethystdahlia:

amn051511:

jhameia:

Katy Perry on Jimmy Kimmel: Racism and Fetishism of Japanese People.

incompetent-fangirl:

[trigger warning: what starts as obnoxious Japanese cultural appropriation turns into full-on racism by the end of the interview segment.  It’s really gross.]

…

katy perry herself is a huge trigger warning.

Not surprising given that she also stated before touring in Japan a few years ago that she was looking forward to it because she wanted to “Dress up like a geisha and become an anime character” (which, incidentally, is when I first realized what a despicable human being she was). Still doesn’t make this any less horrifying and disgusting though.

Also slightly off topic but I saw Brave today and one of the previews was for that movie about Katy Perry that’s coming out. Brb vomiting.

Wow, I hadn’t heard that incident.  Eugh.

queernessanddeviance:

ifyougiveamouse:

amn051511:

jhameia:

Katy Perry on Jimmy Kimmel: Racism and Fetishism of Japanese People.

incompetent-fangirl:

[trigger warning: what starts as obnoxious Japanese cultural appropriation turns into full-on racism by the end of the interview segment.  It’s really gross.]…

katy perry herself is a huge trigger warning.

Yeah peeps not cool.

Not cool at all. 

“I’m totally obsessed with Japanese people”

not even aspects of Japanese Culture, but Japanese people in general.

There is nothing wrong with loving Hello Kitty or Watching Anime, Listening to J-pop, or eating Ramen or Mochi.

But when you start to believe that all Japanese people are exactly like the bubbly J-pop girls or the girls in Harem Animes…

then you are fetishizing an entire group of people, you are demoting them from people to an object of your entertainment. Demoting them from human beings to decoration.

Not cool.

This is pretty much the same thing Gwen Stefani did, it was not cool then, and it isn’t cool now. 

Katy Perry just needs to never open her mouth again, cuz when she does then shit like this happens….

Reblogging for ifyougiveamouse’s (awesome url, by the way) commentary.  Bolding mine.

kisforkpop:

adorabang:

Read More

Okay, good. Instant unfollow, and yes, I am going to tell you why. Read it or don’t. 

And the rest of my few followers need to hear my position on this too, before they decide if they want to keep following. I don’t talk about these things a lot on this blog, but my follower count isn’t as important as my ethics, my convictions, and my self-respect, so I’m going to talk about it right now.

So here we go:

Racism is never okay. Racist jokes are not okay. My (and apparently your) race is not a joke.

I’m glad you’re so willing to allow racism to go on around you because “OMG I WASN’T OFFENDED”, but consider that the same racist attitudes are currently getting Black people killed (and harassed, and brutalized, and imprisoned). It has been shown that in NYC, for example, the police have violated the constitutional and human rights of Black youth — they have stopped and searched them IN THE STREET often in front of friends and family for no good reason, no reasonable suspicion, physically violating them — in numbers that actually exceed the number of Black residents who are present on any given day. Things like that happen because some folks are racist, yes. But they are allowed to act on their racism because people like you write it off as “not so serious,” and forgive their behavior.

So yes, it’s that serious. It IS that serious. It’s that serious because folks turn their heads before serious things happen and laugh along with the words, making room for actions in the name of anti-Black racism.

Oh, I get it. This is a little too heavy for you when all you want to talk about is K-Pop and how your oppa is innocent! Creys and Feels, you has them. Gotcha.

But unfortunately, this attitude is worldwide. In India, women are dying, poisoning themselves with bleaching creams to not be dark-skinned. In East Asian countries, the paler your skin, the more beautiful you’re considered to be. The more European your features, the prettier you are. Think about the idols who are considered ugly (or unattractive). What features do they have in common? And it doesn’t stop there. White soldiers slaughter brown families in the name of God and country — because their country — MY COUNTRY — perpetuates and not-so-covertly approves of racism. Still think it’s a joke? Still want to make and excuse racist jokes while people are dying?

Additionally, wearing our fashions and listening to or re-creating our music isn’t how you “love” or “admire” Black folks. This is how you fetishize and dehumanize Black folks. You pull what you think is the best part of being Black out of our culture and market us and make your money off us, while kicking actual Black folks beneath your feet and laughing. But it’s just a joke, right? I’m not laughing.

Saying racism is a joke in any way, shape or form is fucked up. And people who agree with it and act like it doesn’t impact real people are fucked up, too.

And does that mean I’m going to hate Big Bang and never listen to them again? No. I am able to use my critical mind along with my choices in entertainment. That means I’m able to be critical of the artists I listen to and whose music I enjoy without hating or boycotting them. I’m still going to try hard to learn the words to Blue. I’m still going to dance to Fantastic Baby, and try like hell to keep up with T.O.P’s rapping (lost cause, I know).  But I’m also not going to deny there’s a problem.

But there are people like you everywhere who watch racism go by unchecked, and think it’s okay for folks to say and do racist shit because LOL, and I realize that explaining things that should be common sense isn’t going to make much difference. That’s fine. Do you. I’m not going to change your mind with one rant or response. But remember, when the real shit goes down, there will be folks who will use you as an example of Black folks who don’t mind if they’re racist. They’re probably doing it right now, “My friend [adorabang] is a PoC so I can’t be racist!”

You’re probably the token PoC now. Relish the title. You earned it, if not before now, then the minute you made that post.

Congratulations.

ancientrelic:

[OP-ED: Guest Post by Tiger JK] A simple suggestion on Racial Prejudice

This is a guest post by Tiger JK (Seo Jung Kwon), a Korean American rapper, best known as one of the founding members of hip hop group Drunken Tiger. He is also the founder and former CEO of Jungle Entertainment. He is married to Yoon Mirae(Tasha) who is of mixed heritage (Korean / African American).

Let’s Give the Kids More Info and Opportunity to Learn about Racial Prejudice

As I read the replies and comments to the news story about UFC‘s Ben Henderson (Lightweight champion), I was dumbfounded and saddened by quite a few racial slurs. He was the son of a Korean-American mother and an African-American father. He wanted to come back to Korea to feel that he’s a part of the Korean collective.

Such instances of racial discrimination are not isolated… the comments to the news article about a TV comedy ‘Sebakwi’(‘Three Wheels’), showing a parody of blackfaces, also revealed prejudices.

“Why should we apologize? Don’t they make fun of Asians in America, too?“, some kids asked while others would say, “They were only comics dressed up as a black-faced, thick-lipped cartoon characters performing in a comedy like SNL.”

I fully understand that the acts portrayed were not meant to intentionally defame nor antagonize black people , and such comic scenes appeared on many other comedic sketches on both network and cable TV.

However, I think it’s time we should let the kids learn on what’s the right thing to do, and what’s wrong and what not to do. I think we should try to provide them with enough information and opportunities to change their minds regarding racial prejudices.

Racial discrimination and prejudices used to exist in any country throughout the world. But now the world has shrunken into a small global community. Korea is currently enjoying attention around the world with the K-Pop phenomenon along with other human resources.

If we learn a little more about the history of Africans, we could understand why it’s not right to present them as the comic objects. Because it contains a lot of pain, deathly revolution, and struggles to regain their human dignity.

As you may well know, African slavery is a history that’s quite tragic and recent in the grand scheme of things. Not too long ago in American history, they couldn’t even share the same restaurants, buses, and even rest-rooms with other races! They could not even appear in Hollywood films, they were only treated as comedic objects derided by white people.

Racial discrimination exists in the sports world, too, but heavy punishment follows such actions. Sony Music also had to pay a high price, for releasing records by their artist that contained racial prejudice.ESPN had to immediately punish their employee for the headline with a racial slur about American-Asian basketball sensation Jeremy Lin. The wrong choice of the words and actions can put a huge damper on things. The words that drew an outrage all over the world was, “Chink in the armor.”

Korea hosts many K-pop concerts and music award shows overseas. We need more support of the people of the world, not only from music fans but also in many other fields as well.

A movie director for the successful “Tower Heist” was banned from the Academy Awards for his remarks discriminating against homosexuals. I hope our journalists put extra effort to enlighten the young kids to learn more about the flow of the people of the world, and about racial equality and justice.

Thank you for listening to my humble suggestion.

Truly yours,

Tiger JK

“He’s been doing that impression for a long time…”
He’s been racist for a long time.  Also, he’s undoubtedly been called on it, so he’s not even being racist out of ignorance.  This is knowledgeable, willful racism.  Eww.

“He’s not white, he’s Jewish…”
Still racist.  One oppressed group oppressing another oppressed group is still oppression.

“Sammy Davis Jr. did blackface, though…”
First, I can’t find proof this ever happened…?  But, since I’m not a Sammy Davis Jr. expert and a quick Google search doesn’t count as research, I’m going to point out two things:

1. Sammy Davis Jr. was actually black, unlike Billy Crystal.  You cannot reclaim things for groups to which you don’t belong.

2. Stories like this make me think that a lighter-skinned black person putting on blackface could be problematic in it’s own right. (I haven’t seen Mr. Davis’s blackface acts to know their context, so I don’t know if this applies)

“Sammy Davis Jr. did whiteface, though…”
Again, I couldn’t find proof that this happened.  But, if it did, he’s allowed.  The oppressed are allowed to turn this stuff around on their oppressors.  Black people performing in whiteface is subverting a system that oppresses them, while white people performing in blackface is re-enforcing that system.

“It was an homage, homages aren’t racist…”
Nope.  It was racist.

“It’s not racist if he makes fun of everyone equally…”
Nope, still racist.

“But he said he liked The Help…”
Still racist.

“He wanted to hug a black person…”
Fake white guilt passed off as a joke is racist.  Why are we even having this conversation.

“The ‘forty-five minute drive’ joke was social commentary on the number of blacks in Hollywood…”
Nope.  It was racist.

“It was just a joke…”
Nope.  It was racist.  And not funny.  And was racist.

“Lighten up…”
Nope.

“You’re not even black…”
You’re right (for once).  And, while my whiteness excludes me from understanding racial oppression, my whiteness doesn’t exempt me from understanding racism is a serious problem and doesn’t prevent me from wanting to do everything I can to combat it.  While my white-girl feelings don’t actually matter in this discussion, my white-girl actions do matter.  By “lightening up”, “taking a joke”, or “letting it go”, I would be contributing to oppression by allowing it to happen.  That would be racist.

And, for the weirdest one I’ve heard so far…

“He lives in Hollywood and has black friends so he probably knows what’s okay to them and, like, has their permission…”
NOPE.  Nope.  All kinds of wrong.  That’s not… I don’t even know what to say to you.  It’s the ol’ “I can’t be racist, I have black friends” line (and we all know that’s racist), except you’re projecting it onto Billy Crystal.