Red and Yellow, Black and White

The Sunday New York Times had this huge two-page spread recently about the experience of Asians in movies and television.  It was interesting.  I take the liberty of sharing a few quotes:

    "It's never been easy for an Asian-American actor to get work in Hollywood."

They are pleased, of course, to be making progress -- and dissatisfied, as they should be.

     "Hollywood has been casting white actors in Asian roles for decades now, 
     and we can't keep pretending there isn't something deeper at work here."

Of course you can't and you shouldn't!

     "The mainstream Hollywood thinking still seems to be that movies and 
     stories about straight white people are universal and that anyone else is 
     more niche."

Yup.  Like it's their world and the rest of us are just taking up space until we can prove ourselves worth of access.

     "Everyone seems to be becoming slowly aware of how overwhelmingly white 
     everything is ... It's almost like the whole system is slowly being shamed 
     into diversity, but it's moving at a snail's pace....Just look at the movie 
     posters you see.  It's all white people."

Yes.  It was an interesting and comprehensive article.  There were lots of examples of white actors playing the part of Asians -- and scripts being rewritten to accommodate white casting.  

But in all those columns of newsprint, it struck me that there was no mention -- no mention! -- of any of the other populations that have suffered identical treatment.  I am hoping that it was the journalist who was responsible for such a glaring omission because it makes me a little nauseous to think that none of the Asian professionals quoted wanted to align themselves with all the Black, Brown, and Red peoples who plowed this ground before -- and along with -- them.