Racebending.com

Welcome to this week’s supporter spotlight!

Every Wednesday, we’ll be spotlighting a different member of the community. We all believe in working to cure ignorance and celebrate the many faces of America – and the world. Now each week, you’ll have the opportunity to learn about other people in our network of supporters, who hail from all over the United States and across over fifty countries of the world.

This week, we’re featuring supporter Lee Le, a passionate follower of Asian American issues with awesome taste in shirts.

My name is Lee Le. I am a second-generation Vietnamese-American woman born and raised in Orange County, CA. My age? Nice try. I’m not telling.

2. What’s your story?

I am currently attending the California State University of Long Beach majoring in Asian Studies, Chinese Studies, and Linguistics with a minor in Anthropology. As you can see, I have a hard time choosing just one of something; I try not to go near Baskin Robbins. As a soon-to-be graduate walking into the world, my future is uncertain, but I think everyone’s is to some degree.

3. Why do you support Racebending.com and how did you learn about us?

After learning about the casting for The Last Airbender last year, I was outraged. However, there’s only so long you can discuss an issue within your circle of friends before the conversation dies. I was wondering if there was a larger discourse out there on the issue that I can participate in. That’s when I found Racebending.com on Facebook.

I’m not sure how much of a tangible difference we can make, but it is important to keep the conversation going. I’ve heard so many young Asian-Americans say that racism is no longer a relevant topic for us. I tell them to go look up what year Asian-Americans got the vote; it’s more recent than you think. I tell them to go look up Vincent Chin; it’s more heartbreaking than you can imagine. Keep the conversation alive. Social change begins with discourse; it begins with the conversation you and I are having right now.

4. What makes you passionate about The Last Airbender film controversy and similar Hollywood choices?

I am a fan of the animated series, and I think it is a good show from all of the technical aspects such as characters, plot, animation etc. However, it is also very personal to me. When I was growing up, there were almost no Asian actors on TV. I remember when The Power Rangers first came on, everyone I knew, including my adult relatives, was so excited because the Yellow Ranger was Asian. The rest of the time, I wondered why I looked so different from everyone on TV and in the movies, why I was so short and so dark compared to those people, why I could never be Cinderella.

The media is powerful in that it can shape our perception of what normality is; children need to see their image and culture reflected to feel that they belong. That is why Avatar felt like such a victory to me. However, when a live-action movie was made, when the stakes got higher, Hollywood still felt that Asian Americans are not good enough to carry a movie. In 1937, two white actors were cast as the leads in the movie adaptation of Pearl S. Buck’s The Good Earth while Asian actors were relegated to supporting roles. In 1990, a white Jonathan Pryce with yellow makeup and taped up eyelids pranced around as a half-Asian character on the stage production of Miss Saigon.

Now, it is 2010. We have come so far in so many ways, and yet…

5. What other issues interest you?

I am passionate about ending any sort of social injustice. The rights of same-sex couples to get married, the right for everyone to have healthcare… in general, the right for everyone to be respected and valued as human beings. There is so much social injustice out there. If you’re not angry about at least one thing, you just haven’t seen enough.

6. What are your hopes for the future of American media?

In Helen Zia’s book Asian American Dreams, she talks about an incident in the 1990’s where a 4th generation Chinese-American politician, Matt Fong, while running for senator, was asked “If the United States and China became engaged in a conflict, where would your loyalties lie?” A couple months ago, I was at the grocery store, and a middle-aged white lady asked if I knew English. Asian-Americans are always seen as “outsiders”, as “foreign”, no matter how long we’ve been here, but the truth is we are just as American as anyone else. I think the media can really make a difference in this.

Right now, we are usually cast in roles in which “Asian” is written into the storyline specifically. With The Last Airbender, we didn’t even get those roles. With more exposure in movies and TV, our presence will begin to seem more normal. We can be the friends, the neighbors, the doctors, the superheroes, or (gasp) even the romantic leads. Compared to when I was a kid, I think we have made so much progress. I can think of at least 5 different TV shows on major networks that have at least one Asian-American character, and that makes me happy, but we still have so much further to go. I hope that one day the American media will reflect the fact that we are as relevant as those of any other skin color.