There seems to be a lot of debate over whether the “slanty eyed” photo featuring the Olympic Basketball Team of Spain is offensive. I’m actually not sure we can really have this argument, because the fact is, something is offensive if someone is offended by it. Now it may be true that some people in some places are offended by this gesture, while other people are not. It actually makes quite a bit of sense to me that Chinese people in
I will share that I am personally offended by this "slanty eye" gesture, because it was a means by which I have experienced humiliation and embarrassment since childhood. My first memory of the “slanty eye” gesture was from a white family I encountered while I was on a camping trip with my family. I was about 7 years old, playing on a swing set with my younger sister and brother. There were two other children around my age, who were approaching the same playground with their parents. One girl screamed “Mommy! Mommy! Chi-NEEEESE people!!!” I felt like a spectacle, a zoo animal. Both kids ran over to me and my siblings and proceeded to tug at the sides of their eyes with their fingers, singing “Cheeeeny cheeeeny Chinese. Ching Chong Ching Chong,” in what my 7-year-old brain perceived as a mildly mocking tone. They didn’t come over to talk to us; they came over to talk at us. I am pretty confident that these children were too young to have any intention of offending, but I can still remember to this day that I felt uncomfortable and ashamed, and it was a feeling I strongly disliked. As an adult, I had a college professor jokingly tell me to “open my eyes” when our class was posing together for a picture. I’m sure that he didn’t intend to offend either, but in truth, it made me feel singled out and laughed at, on the basis of being Chinese.
Over the course of my life as a Chinese American in the
With this said, I still believe it may be possible that this photo was not intended to offend anyone. However, upon realizing that this gesture is indeed offensive to many people, I believe that the proper response should have been a sincere apology. Jose Luis Saez, president of the Spanish Basketball Federation, argues that it was a "gesture of affection...to identify with the Chinese people." This puzzles me because I have never once felt any amount of affection or identification with anyone who has made "slanty eyes" at me.
Dear Olympic Basketball Team of
And Dear People Who Defend their Actions,
I am saddened by this photo. But I’m even more saddened by your unwillingness to offer a sincere apology, even after learning that the photo you took offends me and others like me. It is time for the defensiveness to stop. I am not interested in hearing any more explanations. I am ready and eager to forgive you and to put this incident behind us, once you have taken responsibility for your actions and admitted your fault. There is a better way to demonstrate your respect and affection for the Chinese people: say that you are sorry. It might feel hard to do, but you are not alone. People make mistakes all the time. It is learning from our mistakes that allows us all to grow and become a better, more compassionate, and understanding world society.
Sincerely,
Lynnette Li
5 comments:
Achs, I don't remember that memory from our childhood, perhaps being 4 or 5 I was too young to understand or remember. But I do remember generally instances of being made fun of for being Chinese or being stared at as if I were some alien. I agree with you that whether or not something is offensive is not up to the person who made the offense. Whether or not something was intentional doesn't define how it is perceived. I'm also sad to hear that the Spanish basketball team/leaders are not willing to apologize. That is worse than the photo itself.
oh, and our eyes aren't even that small or slanty.
Nicely put.
I think sometimes when people do something that offends someone; they feel that admitting fault and apologizing is admitting to being an offensive person.
So I especially like how you mentioned this concept.
Thanks, Lynnette-- for sharing your thoughts so eloquently. I wasn't aware of this photo until I read your email. It's disturbing on top of disturbing with those naive smiles and that professional set-up... my gosh. yeah- you're right-- it is aMAZing to me how difficult it is for people to admit to their mistakes. People need to hear each other and understand that intention plays only a small role in our communication. And your camping memory made me sad & mad and reminds me that 1) ignorance breeds ignorance, so, crap. 2) I therefore need to teach my future kids and students about such behavior and its roots, using a photo like this as a "teachable moment"... I need to be reminded, because it's easy to take it for granted that some things, like the "slanty eyes" gesture, are pretty rare in my own small world.
I just spent a month in Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Macau with 82 people from 33 different countries, and one of the big lessons was the importance of empathy. If you have empathy for someone or for a group of people, you can treat them with dignity and compassion, even without fully 'understanding' them.
There was clearly an empathy deficit when these pictures were taken. I think that your position is a smart, sensitive, and reconciliation-oriented one, which shows a great deal of empathy toward the athletes in question. I hope that such empathy, even if it were not initially present, can be achieved on their end.
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