Model Chrissy Teigen (@chrissyteigen) is making headlines this week after she described on Twitter a random encounter she had with an anonymous racist in West Hollywood. Teigen — who is biracially Thai American — tweeted a description of the incident to her over 700,000 followers (after the jump) on April 16.
https://twitter.com/chrissyteigen/status/588721803184381952
https://twitter.com/chrissyteigen/status/588721955487920129
https://twitter.com/chrissyteigen/status/588722659208265728
https://twitter.com/chrissyteigen/status/588724597110935553
Which, first of all, is seriously racist. Also, as Mindy Kaling points out, “Asians always dropping things” isn’t even a stereotype.
https://twitter.com/mindykaling/status/588722954361380864
That’s us Asians — forever failing to defy the laws of gravity with our things. Which is totally not like all people who hold things in their hands and sometimes drop them.
I feel like this clip from Hari Kondabolu is totally relevant:
Live at Gotham
Get More: Watch More Stand-Up.
Well, there you go: there’s an Asian dropping the fucking mic.
For everyone who is just now discovering that anti-Asian racism is, in fact, a thing: yes, Asian Americans — even famous ones — endure racism, too, and both “chink” and “Oriental” are considered anti-Asian slurs.
Although this incident appears harmless enough, in fact it is representative of a far more serious problem within the Asian American community: racialized bullying. Several studies show that in concentrated studies, Asian American high school students reported higher rates of bullying than other groups, and Asian American students are more likely to endure bullying that is racialized compared to other minority students.
Nothing like calling a total stranger a “chink” first thing in the morning; following that up with “Oriental” is like your racism tank was on empty, and you needed to stop for a racism refill for the day. And that wasn’t even like you chose the regular octane racism. It’s like you decided to go for the deluxe premium octane racism so that your racism engine could run that much more smoothly.
So, fuck you, West Hollywood guy in brown suit jacket and jeans. You think all Asians are dropping things? Come find me, and I’ve got a few choice words to drop in your direction, too.
