JACL Letter To American Girl Brands

JACL Letter To American Girl Brands

February 17, 2009
Ms. Ellen Brothers
President
American Girl Brands
8400 Fairway Place
Middleton, WI 53562-0998

Dear Ms. Brothers:
As the oldest and largest Asian American civil rights and education organization in the United States, the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) commends American Girl for its commitment to diversity and for promoting values that strengthen the character of young girls in our nation. However, it has come to our attention from one of our members that the packaging for your World War II doll contains a diorama that includes the headline "Japs bomb Pearl Harbor."

We fully understand the need to promote your series of historical dolls by using photos and images that depict a particular era in our history, but we are concerned by your choice of a headline that uses a racial epithet. The world has changed greatly in the sixty years since World War II. The term "jap" is a racial slur and though its use may have been tolerated during World War II, its use is certainly not tolerated today. You should be aware that the use of that term during the 1940s helped to vilify and demean Japanese Americans and was a factor that led to their forced eviction from their homes and communities on the West Coast, followed by their confinement in concentration camps.

Moreover, we are especially concerned because your product is marketed to young, impressionable children who may come to believe that the use of the term is acceptable. We don't believe there was malicious intent in packaging the dolls with this headline. We would request that you act immediately to repackage the World War II dolls in an appropriate manner removing the headline.

I look forward to your response to our concern.

Sincerely,
William Yoshino
Midwest Director
Japanese American Citizens League

Japanese American Citizens League
Midwest Regional Office
5415 N. Clark Street
Chicago, IL
773-728-7170

Not a Tasty Cookie at All

Agh, I saw this pocky-gone-wrong-cookie-snack on Angryasianman's site. I just knew that ONE day, there will be some horribly misspelled/offensive snack. I love food, but this doesn't sit well with me. It's manufactured by Want Want China Holdings Limited.

For people wondering, gook is the offensive term and actually, Sen. McCain has used it to describe his enemies during the Vietnam War. So why is it offensive? Well, wikipedia has a WEAK definition of it (except for mentioning the g word is like the n word for African Americans) and even 'cited' an apology made by Sen. McCain by AsianWeek. Exactly, not the best reference. In any case, here's a way better definition of the word.

1. n. [1920s+] (orig. US military.) a derogatory term for foreigners, especially south-east Asians, e.g. (in chronological order of use) Filipinos, Japanese, Koreans, and Vietnamese.

If I can find a photo I took some time ago, I purchased a snack called "Crack Sandwiches" and had Asian American pop singer, Coco Lee on the packaging. And yes, it was tasty and no, there was no crack.

Miley Cyrus Gets Slanty Eyed: Epic FAIL

I found out about this from Jossip.com. What the heck is this crap? Not only does she and her pals look out of their minds, there's some slanty eyed business.

I'm also glad to see that OCA issued a statement to TMZ in regards to this.

"The photograph of Miley Cyrus and other individuals slanting their eyes currently circulating the Internet is offensive to the Asian Pacific American community and sets a terrible example for her many young fans. This image falls within a long and unfortunate history of people mocking and denigrating individuals of Asian descent......Not only has Miley Cyrus and the other individuals in the photograph encouraged and legitimized the taunting and mocking of people of Asian descent, she has also insulted her many Asian Pacific American fans, said George Wu, executive director of OCA. The inclusion of an Asian Pacific American individual in the photo does not make it acceptable.

What the image really boils down to is that slanted eyes have a history with Asian Americans (and Asians internationally, in general). The history is that Asian Americans have been made fun of, mocked, demoralized, dehumanized, seen as foreigners in the history of the United States and at ONE point, EXCLUDED (1882 Chinese Exclusion Act) from immigrating to the United States. So what's my point? My point is that Asian Americans are not seen as Americans, that they're seen as EASY SCAPE GOAT targets for racial/social commentary in the eyes of mainstream society and that if you know someone who's Asian (i.e. that Asian American guy in the photo), who thinks that this kind of disrespect to themselves is "ok" to participate in and showcases that to others, it's not acceptable. If one looks at the past of Asian Americans in the U.S., there are newspaper comics demonizing us, degrading us, hurting us, lynching us.

Maybe to push it even further, this slanty eyed business also creates feelings of exclusion, disrespect, heightened negative self-conciousness, isolation, anger and sadness from Asians/Asian Americans.

There isn't any motive in this kind of work aside from idiocy.

Additional Source