Not a Yellow-and-White Issue

Being whitewashed, it’s a fine line between being in on the joke and being the butt of the joke. There’s just something about the word that implies that you’re the Benedict Arnold to your culture, that you’re selling out. 

Historically, “white washed” hails from the 1590’s, and its traditional meaning is featured in books like Tom Sawyer, in which Tom manipulates his friends into helping him “whitewash” a fence. According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, this version of the word whitewash means “to cover up, conceal, give a false appearance of cleanness to.”

 It wasn’t until the 1990s, when people of color began calling out Hollywood and the entertainment industry for its lack of diversity in casting, that the word whitewashed took on a racial connotation. This is seen in such tasteful movies as Aloha, in which the female lead, a Chinese-Hawaiian pilot Celeste Ng is played by the very white Emma Stone. As people became increasingly aware of whitewashing, many such movies were called out; Ghost in the Shell, The Last Airbender, and Doctor Strange are some of the most incriminating offenders. More than that, asserts Andrea Merodeadora in “Whats and Whys of Whitewashing,” whitewashing can appear in the subtler, but equally malicious form of “taking the narratives, cultures, traditions and imagery from people of color and applying them to white people” An infamous example of this type of whitewashing is the Star Wars franchise, which is saturated with Asian symbols (see Padme’s Japanese-style makeup, hair, and clothing during the Throne Room scene). In fact, the term chinoiserie, according to Oxford Reference, is “the imitation or evocation of Chinese motifs and techniques in Western art,” and it has been around since the eighteenth century, when all of the many French King Louises and English King Henrys appropriated Chinese imagery in their paintings and furniture for their palaces and parliaments.

As Keith Chow, founder of pop culture blog The Nerds of Color, told Teen Vogue,”[Whitewashing] results in the dehumanization of people of color.” This can be, according to Merodeadora, through “the systemic erasure of people of color from media” or by calling someone whitewashed (disguised by such delightful terms as “apple” for Native Americans, “Oreo” for African Americans, and “Twinkie” for Asians). 

But the thing is, while I am all for an increased portrayal of Asians and people of color in the media, and I think that there is validity to the argument that assimilating into white culture is a form of more subtle imperialism, being called “whitewashed” suggests that you’re not Asian enough, Native American enough, or Hispanic enough. As noted by Anna Akana in her YouTube video, “Am I White Washed?” it “heavily implies that someone isn’t meeting their ethnic stereotypes.”

Whitewashed Asians are subjected to such verbal discrimination, such as an illuminating Urban Dictionary definition for “whitewashed,” which said,”[Whitewashed Asians] are verbally impaired of their mother’s tongue. They have never heard of bubble-tea, sticker pictures and jitz. Whitewashed people piss me off.”

Accusing someone of being whitewashed is a form of internalized racism, as it compresses over 3,000 years of an ethnicity’s history into a few cultural shticks (as seen in Buzzfeed quiz questions like “How often do you eat rice?” “Do you listen to K-Pop?”). 

Honestly, it’s stupid. Obviously, I’m not going to say that being whitewashed has been the best thing that’s ever happened to people of color, but if we, as a nation, in this modern day and age are so concerned with white oppression, aren’t we perpetuating it by relegating someone to a few checkboxes? Calling someone whitewashed doesn’t raise awareness about the dangers of being dominated by white culture. Instead, it creates this negative cycle of shame that is unproductive and ultimately doesn’t prevent the assimilation of people of color into predominantly white societies. It creates this mindset that people of color are obligated to recreate and preserve an exact replica of their culture in their new country, but this alienates people. It discourages people from learning about people who are different than them and appreciating all that the world has to offer to them. Instead, people get stuck in the same routine and lifestyle that their grandparents had, and all of their previous ancestors experienced, and then progress and self-improvement is never achieved. 

I see myself as Asian-American (not 100% Asian and not 100% American). Because the thing about being American, is that it’s this melting-pot of different cultures and identities, where everyone gets to bring something to the table. It’s an oversimplification to state that being American equates to being white. Just looking at American cuisine alone, we are home to the kebab, the dumpling, the taco. With our increasingly connected world, there is not a single aspect of our lives that just belongs to one culture. And if our food and our music is this complex blend of ethnicities, why would we be any different? 

For me, I define being Asian by how I enjoy taking care of others, emphasize teamwork at school and at home, and direct much of my energy and time into helping to improve my community. However, I define being American by how I deeply value my independence and how I diligently pursue my goals. Instead of feeling distressed about the different belief systems of these two cultures, I just feel grateful to have the opportunity to experience and exemplify the best of America and Asia. I think that if people who feel whitewashed switched their mentality from feeling like they have lost all connections to their ethnic background, to feeling grateful for all of the benefits they have gained from our increasingly interconnected world, as well as recognizing that their cultural values are much more inherent than they had previously believed, then they would feel much more at ease. ❦

Sophia Chiu is an award-winning writer who has been published in numerous literary magazines. She enjoys all things film and writing- related. Currently, she is on the executive teams of the Inklings Literary Magazine, Wallflower Poetry Club, and Political Awareness Clubs at her school, and co-hosts a podcast analyzing young adult literature and film. When Sophia is not writing, you can find her reading anything she can get her hands on, adjusting her Spotify playlists, and practicing her French (merci!)