May is Asian-Pacific American History Month, and as the month opens up, one of the topics people are talking about is how a UC Irvine Asian American fraternity could think it was okay to make a YouTube video of themselves -- with one of the members in blackface. Granted, they could use a lesson in African-American history, but Tina over at 8Asians thinks the lack of Asian American history is partly to blame. How? Here's part of Tina's explanation:
Clearly, those kids need to take responsibility for their egregiously stupid actions. However, I’m going to stretch this one and blame it partly on the fact that we don’t have enough Asian Pacific American history taught at the K-12 level. I can’t imagine these guys didn’t share it with a bunch of their friends and other people at the frat and university before going public with it, and I can’t believe no one said “Hey, guys, you know, there’s this whole history with that blackface thing…”
Why am I talking about APIA history when this UC Irvine frat event was about blackface? Because blackface is equivalent to yellowface. If these kids and all their friends, family, and peers had a stronger sense of the APIA experience, a better understanding of all the racism, bigotry, ignorance, and cancerous hate that weakens our society, the stupidity of the *concept* of this video would not have even seen the light of day.
Learning about cultures -- our own, as well as others' -- is an important part of developing a multicultural nation. Find out what else Tina has to say about APA history, and also more about the UCI incident at 8Asians. The fraternity has decided to suspend itself from the university for a year. Here is the original video:
The Library of Congress website has resources about Asian-Pacific American History for teachers. And parents, check out our guide to kids books on Asian American history.
News and Politics Editor Grace Hwang Lynch blogs about raising an Asian mixed-race family at HapaMama.