Rush Hour: An Unexpected Image of Black and Asian Solidarity
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 มิ.ย. 2024
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Thanks to @FDSignifire for joining me for a conversation, you can check out our full discussion over on Patreon: / qualityculture
In this video, I break down the racial humor in Rush Hour and discuss its impact regarding Black and Asian Americans, especially considering the fact that many Black and Asian Americans still enjoy the films.
Sources:
It's Still a Guy Thing: The Evolution of Buddy Movies | LA Times
web.archive.org/web/201210102...
‘Rush Hour’ Angers Some Asian Americans | Washington Post
www.washingtonpost.com/archiv...
Let your boys be a little foul-mouthed. It might help them bond. | Washington Post
www.washingtonpost.com/parent...
The history of tensions-and solidarity-between Black and Asian American communities, explained | Vox
www.vox.com/22321234/black-as...
Embattled Korean Grocers Wait Out Racially Charged Boycott | Washington Post
www.washingtonpost.com/archiv...
In 1968, These Activists Coined the Term 'Asian American'-And Helped Shape Decades of Advocacy | TIME
time.com/5837805/asian-americ...
The real reasons the U.S. became less racist toward Asian Americans | The Washington Post
www.washingtonpost.com/news/w...
Affirmative action divided Asian Americans and other people of color. Here's how | NPR
www.npr.org/2023/07/02/118398...
Some Asian Americans say affirmative action ruling used the group as ‘pawns’ | NBC News
www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-am...
Meet Edward Blum, the Man Who Wants to Kill Affirmative Action in Higher Education | ACLU
www.aclu.org/news/racial-just...
Civility in The City by Jennifer Lee
0:00 Intro
2:50 1) An Asian Guy & Black Guy Walk into a Buddy Movie
17:14 2) Contextualizing Rush Hour
26:02 3) Breaking Down the Narrative - บันเทิง
![[LIVE] : ONE ลุมพินี 67 | คู่เอก "นักรบ vs ทาเกียร์"](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/eahGc1XmrEU/mqdefault.jpg)
![🎮เกมยิงปืนใหม่ ภาพสวย และ สมจริงที่สุดในโลก [ BODYCAM ]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/My3l1owRY9I/mqdefault.jpg)
Since this video is blowing up, I’ll just politely ask everyone to watch the *whole* video before leaving a comment. A lot of y’all are complaining about things that are eventually addressed and/or refuted with sources cited *on the screen*
Also, let’s do better than simply replying to the thumbnail 😂
Much love ✌🏼
-Terrence
To be fair, you put up a ragebait thumbnail and now you're dealing with people's rage. You knew what you were doing.
@@Shann553why are they upset? I had no reaction to the thumbnail
@@veonncaines7063wether you had a reaction or not is irrelevant to the clear intent
@@soldierbreed people who are upset are probably kids or dumbasses.
@@Shann553 I'm more referring to people who, for example, claim "no one thought it was racist back in the good old days" when that's verifiably untrue (something I showed in the video). Either way, most would agree that a lot of the comedy plays off cliched stereotypes. *Acknowledging that doesn't mean you're not allowed to like the movies-I very clearly state a lot of us like them anyway.* I don't believe that simple acknowledgment translates to 'ragebait', it just is what it is. The "...and yet" in the thumbnail was meant to signify "and yet... it slaps". Lol
I love how majority of the bloopers for these movies is just Jackie Chan messing up English and getting mad and then in the third one Chris has to say three words in Chinese and gets them wrong and Jackie goes, “Ha! See! Not easy speaking another language, is it? You all make fun of me! You have THREE WORDS! I have THREE MOVIES!” while everyone dies of laughter 😂
And frickin Don Cheadle rattling off Cantonese fluently like it was nothing.
that was my favorite part of the bloopers. he was so vindicated. my man was Struggling and needed to yell his truth! as if he's not super talented in martial arts which already transcends language! that said I'm guilty too. me and my siblings always tease our parents when they sometimes mess up their English. that said if we ever someone ELSE make fun of them for it would be fisticuffs. anyway let immigrants speaking eng as a second language live! lol
@@tai9705My dad's first language is Spanish and even though I didn't spend my early childhood in America I assimilated fast and so I could always notice when his pronunciation was off. I used to tease him about it (looking back, his English was really good) and it was just sooooo funny to me as a kid. I feel bad for it now, but it's become a running joke for us now that we enjoy it for what it is. But you're definitely right, I'm not letting anyone ever come at him for the way he speaks.
@@LuisHuangSFwhat a GD pro
Gefilte fish
Let's be real here: race jokes are not always the same as racist jokes.
Twitter doesn’t get this
Amen
@@Azurethewolf168they don’t have brain cells
Well said friend
@@Sizzlik bingo
One of my best friends who I sadly lost contact with was Asian and I remember people in school calling us "Rush Hour" because we would always be inseparable and messing around with each other lmao. Love to all of my Asian brothers and sisters.
- A fellow black man
I see this as a complete win and want to continue seeing movies like this inadvertently helping to mend the Asian and Black communities into solidarity. Ain't no better combo in the world
-a fellow Chinese man
I guess they meant your friendship worth $800,000,000. Look for him and reconnect.
kinda wholesome
I moved from a diverse city to a majorly Caucasian neighborhood when I was young for a little while. It was just me and one of my first good friends I've had and it was just us two, a Chinese and black kid and we were literally Rush Hour lol
Love and respect bro, we need more rush hour movies to bring us together in these dividing times
I'll never forget that when I worked at a cruise ship there were a Philipino and an Indian guy who would call each other nicknames such as "rice bowl" and "curry soup" something like that very stereotypical and racist but they were really good friends it was their way of referring to each other, one day someone heard that and didn't know they were friends the person reported them to their superiors, they had to stop saying the nicknames after that, even tho they told their superior they weren't offending each other.
This video reminded me of that 😂
That experience explains perfectly what's happening right now. People who aren't even included in the joke being offended on behalf of them and complaining until they're forced to change their jokes
Filipino*
@@RoboRoby321 exactly it’s the assumptions without any context if they had at the very least paid attention to their surroundings and the buddy interaction between them they would have never reported it
"Clean the deck yet, rice bowl?"
"On my way, curry soup"
Some randos outta nowhere: "R A C I S T!"
Because asians where casual to racism, it's not good nor bad, we are realistic to the fact we have names for each other, this all went toilet when one race type decided to reject the casual and deem it "racist" because they don't like the nick name we call each other as a casual norm and kept pushing it till today.
“Rush Hour is the reason Rotten Tomato’s exist” is one of those facts I’m just gonna be slowly digesting for the rest of my life
I was flabbergasted lmaoo
They just casually dropped that in too. 🤯
Good job Rush hour?
I don’t understand what the big deal is
@@mosquitopyjamas9048 Rotten tomatoes 🍅 is another centre of online culture wars.
'Critics hate movies the fans like!🤬' with Rotten tomato scores on thumbnail is an entire genre on TH-cam
"I'll slap you so hard, you'll end up in the Ming dynasty", is so out of nowhere and hilarious because the fact Carter knew about different dynasties gave it another layer
Yeah his character was goofball but showed many times how he was actually a smart and capable officer at the end of the day. That’s why people liked his role so much
For real, as an Asain guy that joke had me fucking dead 💀
I laughed so hard as a Chinese, it's really funny
This is the key that racists don’t get when it comes to humor.
Racist “jokes” are not funny because they show ignorance, or aim to harm.
*speaking to a Korean* “Don’t worry, if we get in trouble you can just do some kung-fu shit right?”
*speaking to a Black person* “Wow, I left my wallet on my seat and you didn’t even steal it?! You’re a rare breed!”
These are obviously bad just from reading it, but it’s wild how often this kind of thing gets said without the speaker even realizing it.
@@mookiestewart3776😊 5:25 in 😊😊😊
The racist jokes work because these two grown ass men share a strong bond. It was always directed with that in heart and that's why it worked.
Exactly, I'm not keeping my nostalgia in check for nobody. If they can't handle it, don't watch it.
racism not because of hate, but of trust
I'm only 3 minutes in, but as an Asian American, this genuinely connected me and my Black best friend. We have a picture in 11th grade of us posing together like the dvd cover
ALSO, shout out to your guest for mentioning Laos in his little part about what Asians arrived in America after leaving their countries. 90% of people I meet haven't heard of Laos, nice to hear my country represented ‼️
How cute!
The reason why the jokes work is because the racism never came from a hateful heart and the fact that Chris and Jackie became best friends made the film more enjoyable to watch.
Bingo. The jokes were made because they were jokes. Especially the jokes concerning Lee’s mispronunciation with English as it returns with Carter’s atrocious chinese speaking. They’re both complex for the other but that’s the kernel of truth and they have fun with that. This movie would never succeed today because the black community would just be pissed off and get it canceled.
@@DarkEclipse23why would the black community be upset with something that was genuine and came from the heart?
@@m.joseph1858wanting to look like a victim
@@DarkEclipse23most people who cancel others for being racist are just white people
@@DarkEclipse23not true at all!!! We absolutely love this franchise and if another movie was to be well created like this we would most definitely enjoy it! But movies aren’t really made how they use to be anyway that goes for all genres….and honestly if this movie was made today I’m sure the Asian community would be more upset
As a chinese person...
Its not because its a different time, its because it works in the movie, the racism isnt a point, its a storytelling tool.
Rush hour was always within its bounds. Its a story about 2 different cultures clashing, how their relationship struggles and grows, and how they overcome their differences. The 'racism' goes from distain for eachother, to comradarie jabs. Which is a very real human interaction.
If you think its different now, then you likely were laughing at the "racism", and not the comedy, and missed the story beats alltogether
This ^
thats a great way to explain it. my ignorant self wanted to comment "racism isnt inherently bad depending on how its used" but even as i typed it it didnt feel right lol. you hit the nail on the head.
Yeah but do movies lately have the ability to adapt this kind of storytelling, chemistry, and humor?
What does being a chinese person have to do with this comment?
I agree !!
Awww the part about Asian Americans and African Americans largely supporting eachother and having solidarity was so positive and had me welling up.
So beautiful! It’s inspiring!
90s LA riots
@@siroshcelotHe literally mentioned in the video that there were tensions and that the riots were part of these tension 😭 what is your point
@@siroshcelot why you mad 😂
I introduced Rush Hour to my 12 year-old nephew last year... He loved it so much that he re-watched it dozens of times. It's incredible how much Rush Hour resonates with all generations.
NGL, as a Chinese, the line of 'slap you back to the ming dynasty' was funny as hell
Im south east asian but that line got me howling
Saaame 😁
i hope you dont find it racist cuz it isnt but it is funny as hell :D
Because it was meant as a joke. People always misunderstand that not everything is meant to be offensive and because we’ve allowed morons to have the upper hand, everyone has to step around eggshells when speaking. If you cannot laugh at yourself, then society is fucked.
@@DarkEclipse23 exactly man we are fucked
Gentle reminder to everyone that you can love a piece of media while still criticising it.
Yeah imagine not 100% loving or hating something. What a novel idea
Gentle reminder that white people think they speak for minorities when they don't.
I just hope people remember this 10 years from now when we're able to do honest film analysis and critique over all the films that are coming out now, which I'm guessing are going to look a lot more cringe to that generation than anything in films from the 80's and 90's.
@@NelsonStJames80s and 90d had some really garbage movies just like now. Can’t hold any decade on a pedestal.
@@lexis4490nah nah man 80s n 90s were classics,not like this WOke trash we got now(sarcasm)
On Jackie's choreography: on more than one occassion, Jackie has stated that he was a HUGE fan of Buster Keaton. Buster Keaton was a popular silent film actor who performed a lot of physical gags, like a house falling on him but he just so happened to be standing right where a window frame would fall around him and see him safely survive the house collapse. I thinks it is so crazy that of all the American action stars to choose from, Jackie is a fan of Keaton's, a silent film actor from the super early days of motion pictures.
It makes sense. Modeling his work on a style of filmmaking that didn't rely on language would make him more universally appealing.
"I been lookin fa yo sweet and sour chicken ass!"
That shit till this day has me in tears every time🤣😂
I attended an anti-racism workshop at work last month and a black coworker said, "I had to move past thinking I cannot be racist because I am black." Solid. There's this film where both POCs, black and Asian, are racist toward each other especially because of stereotypes and prejudices, but they came to respect each other, and I'm grateful it exists as such a fun and teachable piece in cinematic history.
Something I learned in an "aspiring anti-racist learning cohort" is the difference between racism and prejudice. It's hard to be truly racist if you don't have a lot of power over the groups/person you're interacting with. Anyone can be prejudiced, but it transforms into racism when your prejudices become power plays as well.
@@melwasnevergivenanameDoes that mean a poor white person cannot be racist?
@@philipsmashmouth8782 please read a book, there is literal theory on this exact topic. Just because you are ignorant to it, does not mean it isn't real
A lot of us are aware of Critical Race Theory, if that's what you're referring to. "Racism equals prejudice plus power" is a useless distinction to make. The only purpose of it is to give members of more "more oppressed" races license to shout racial slurs or make generalizations about "more privileged" races, then when called out for being racist, to deflect by saying they can't be racist because of some academic definition most people don't use while ignoring the fact that they said something bigoted to someone else.
@@prettywoman301its real dumb
As an African American the line “I’ll bitch slap you back to Africa” had me and my family laughing so much lol great callback to the first movie
Snoop like 3 feet taller than you😂
As an asian "I'll slap you so hard you end up in the ming dynasty" goes pretty hard LOL
@@nytrul3159 i like it how they were educated enough to know ming is the last han ethnic dynasty, which is the ethnicity most ppl in the world associate with the term "chinese".
asians in general not just asian americans were treated like shit in hollywood up until fairly recently. i’m glad people are aware of it now and movies like everything everywhere are brining amazing representation and a new positive spotlight.
They weren't treated like shit, what the fuck are you talking about
Kudos for also basically reminding people to keep their nostalgia in check. What often happens under videos like this is commenters gaslighting younger generations by claiming that the 80s & 90s didn't make a big deal about race. That Larry Bird & Magic Johnson's rivalry was just strictly about basketball for every single fan and never ever about black vs white. And the ethnicity of a music artist didn't matter b/c people of all colors just appreciated every genre (ex: Whitney Houston got shunned by the black community for allegedly trying to sound white). Because older generations were just more in tune w/ each other and somehow no longer in control of the current culture.
On a separate note, one person held back this franchise from becoming even better: Brett Ratner. In one of the behind-the-scenes interviews for RH2, he said that he always held Jackie back when it came to the action b/c he thinks that Americans don't like long fight scenes and that he believes it to be the reason that Chan's Hong Kong movies weren't huge hits in the US. Mind you, he said this after The Matrix (choreographed by Yuen Woo-ping) had already proven him wrong, and Quentin Tarantino was in the process of making Kill Bill (also w/ Woo-ping).
God,that is such a shame! He kept Jackie away from doing what makes his movie good
@@nadiahapsari3359 To be fair, he's not the only one. Hollywood insurance policies always held Jackie back. Shanghai Knights was the only American production that gave him a longer schedule to choreograph fight scenes.
I think when people say the older generations don't care about race, it doesn't mean they weren't racist (they were def much more racist). They mean they weren't as widely or deeply offended by race jokes or playing into the stereotypes.
@@Ravenstar2296 I already covered what people tend to claim by naming specific examples such as Bird vs Magic and Whitney Houston. Like those who claim that nobody back in the 90s was surprised that the song "Informer" was by a white artist unlike today's reactors. I didn't even mention anything about jokes b/c sensitivity isn't just about race.
I feel a big part of the charm is both Tucker and Chan were happy to let their characters be wrong and look ridiculous. Even when they each do something racist, it's not framed as them being right but them being foolish. And then when they bond, it's there as well, where they act like "I don't give a shit who's watching, I'm here with my BOY!" It's an oddly vulnerable depiction of masculine friendship even under all the jabs at each other.
This is a good point. My younger sister and I love movies and often watch old favourites together.
I've noticed more and more that she spends most of her time tutting or showing disapproval at some of the off colour jokes etc, missing the fact that 90% of the time characters are clearly shown to be flawed in their perception. The nuance is lost in our eagerness to show how enlightened we are, it seems
@@thestoicwhinger you are the one who doesn't understand. When a girl says 'that's awful' or whatever what it means is 'that's funny!'. Usually. If she really didn't like the jokes she would leave. She probably thinks it's funny that you don't understand girls.
But my philosophy on women is that you should never let them know what you understand. Because if they think you understand then they will try harder to confuse you.
@@Arigator2 perhaps. She's already blacklisted a few of her old favourites, such as Something About Mary. Which I find a bit sad, tbh. But what are ya gonna do?
@@Arigator2 i appreciate your point but i know my sister very well. We are best friends (respectfully). I know what I see, trust me
@@thestoicwhinger I don't trust anyone.
Not all the jokes aged well and it's not a perfect movie but this movie has a special place in my heart. You don't really get movies with a Black and Asian leads together and having such charm and chemistry.
Yes that's true that not all the jokes from the Rush Hour trilogy haven't aged well, but they can possibly make you laugh to be hypothetically honest.
@@sabsain2399your reaching! He said she needs a bra, wtf is sexualising about that? Do grown women wear bra's?! I'm what you would call a woke warrior ( right wing term for decent humans) but even I think you are reaching. Like the comment above said some jokes didn't age well but overall was a great movie seeing to minorities as lead.
If you can laugh, the joke aged well... society doesnt.
When i play mortal Kombat, i wanna see people getting brutally murdered... Doesnt means it has or should have any kind of impact in real life.
So we should not treat art with real life moral compass.
@@sabsain2399i love when a person looks at a movie and over analyze every joke.. What's the point of jokes if you are gonna take them litteraly?
@@sabsain2399 you sound fun to be around... Guys make jokes, about family, race and appearance.. That's how we know we are friends. my first grade class in 1991 was 27 nationalities of 31 kids... And we where able to get along, even while making jokes
I loved the section on the Model Minority. "Asians who emigrated to the US and found success, often bought into this characterization. Not realizing that this 'compliment' was just a way to create a wedge between minority communites". Really love how you pulled this all together by Breaking the Narrative. Very poignant with the Affirmative Action conversation right now.
Big FD Signifier fan btw, glad I found ur channel.
Here's something you all don't realise outside the Western world - my closest friend while growing up in high school was an Indian. Not the American type, the Asian one. It's still a black and white dynamic, and we were almost always together throughout our school years and still kept in close contact after graduation. We'd always meet up whenever he returned for a semester break from medical school overseas. Like Rush Hour, we would say racist things to each other that wouldn't normally be tolerated by other people, but we also share many details of our lives like close friends do (the good, bad, ugly, and hilarious). Unfortunately, he passed away just over 7 years ago and I miss him and still think of him.
I had just bought my house when COVID hit. I’m a black woman. My Asian neighbor down the way was the first to visit my house, even before my family. But when the attacks started the most hurtful thing that happened was I honked as I passed her walking to say hello. Before she realized it was me, she looked so afraid. I worked that day and had my black co-workers express they didn’t care about Asian folk (not all, but quite a few) I said I would not allow anyone to hurt her. They said said we’d both get killed and my response was “Then the last thing she will see before we both die, is me protecting her”. I don’t even know her name. But when no other white neighbor has still come to say hello, she did. It meant worlds. I got her back, even if she doesn’t know it.
WTF is wrong with people. I always believed us "minorities" need to stick together and not try to out pace each other
thx
What kind of monster human beings do you work with?
@@Josh729J I no longer work there. It was the big fruit company that doesn’t sell fruit. Your assessment is accurate lol.
You should let her know it. It would probably be something nice her life. Let her know you appreciate it. Life is to short not to.
There is just something magical about Rush Hour
💙💙💙💙
Preach
Yeah they're good movies
100%
To me it starts with the bloopers. I will forever not know/remember how gafilka f-... kafiltha... that fish dish is pronounced, and I am okay with that.
This was a really good video. My brother is part Japanese (we share a mom) and i used to love going to his grandmas and larning about their culture. I dont remember how but she taught me how to write my name in Japanese and that is what started my love and fondness for Japanese culture
I feel like this video did a great job of showing off some great examples of that fondness. Thanks for making this
Growing up with these movies I never actually knew about the racial tension between asians and blacks. I was too young at the time to understand but what I knew was in every black community there was a dozen asian food places, nail shops, and convenience stores. For as long as I've been alive I have been surrounded by people from the asian community and these movies to me show how strong that bond can be. These movies are never getting removed from my stash regardless of the jokes because they are just that jokes. This sits on the shelf next to Friday and Boyz in the Hood as a certified classic.
It's a cross culture community between people, especially in the minorities. Asians loves black culture and blacks loves Asian culture. A great example is rap and anime.
4:06 At this point in the film, Lee has been established as a character with very little understanding of American culture and history, ESPECIALLY that of the black community. He just saw Carter using the word casually and seemingly as a term of endearment, was just told by Carter to "do what he does," and with no other information present, does what he thinks will make the situation more amicable while he's standing there alone, feeling out of place and awkward. It makes complete sense that Lee would mimic Carter's vernacular given the established character. Yes, it was used to set up an action comedy scene, but it's still entirely consistent with his character and not done out of malice, but ignorance.
Thank you for explaining this, but it's sad that it even needs to be explained. The humor of it is self evident but our society is sick today.
Yes! Exactly, it was completely innocent and very realistic I think. While these months were obviously very problematic, I think the reason it is remembered mostly fondly is because their interactions felt authentic to the characters' background's. It's been said a lot in these companies (and the video) but I think it's worth saying again: once they got to know each other (and each other's cultures) more, any each jabs were never out of malice but just friendly bickering. Of course, that doesn't mean it is totally ok, but it worked well for tone of these movies at the time.
Right. It was a cultural misunderstanding NOT racist.
The fact that this even needs explaiing to this generation is sad. When I first saw this scene on release day I was laughing my ass off.
i remember going up to my black friends the next school day and saying the line with an imitation chinese accent (obligatory I'm asian disclaimer 🙄) and they fake beat me up like the movie scene lol. that movie really brought the black and asian community together for a time.
The racist jokes works because everyone got made fun and everyone laugh together, it came from a good place like how you joke around with your closest friends the meaner the better and we all laugh together knowing it came from a place of heart
Facts
It's sad that they can't make a movie like this anymore when our society getting more sensitive. I wonder that's why they still don't make Rush Hour 4 yet. 🤔
@@ArcadeDiscovery They can. People would accept this because it has a history. And when the racism is overt like this, nobody tends to want to cancel it. It's always when someone is trying to be sneaky racist that it has the worst response.
The jokes aren't even racist! "Racist" implies bad intentions, whereas jokes are just jokes and are completely harmless. Shame how today's society treat jokes as if they're literally breaking the Geneva convention
Facts
Nice, you tricked my movie-heavy algorithm into slipping in a 40 min video on the modern dynamic between black- and Asian-American communities. I sincerely appreciate the patience you put into this. Now when I explain my love for movies like Romeo Must Die and Rush Hour, I can just point to this video for context into the racial components that I'm not nearly as qualified to deep dive into.
I grew up in Texas and always knew Black and Asian people to enjoy positive relationships, so I did not have the context of what was going on in California and New York as a norm, so when I watched the movie, I saw two people gravitating toward inevitable roles as friends and allies. Now, I want to watch the movie as an adult and think about it within the cultural context described here.
I think Tucker is incredibly underrated in his ability to remain approachable whilst unabashedly representing any and all parts of African American culture, and that includes the flamboyant and queer. The Fifth Element is the greatest example, with him perfectly matching the energy of Prince and other nonconforming pop/rock divas.
I know this comment basically amounts to 'effinimate black man makes white people feel comfortable' but I think what his performance exemplifies is the way he can sneak concepts right past you, and before you know it anyone feels comfortable laughing along with premises that would have had you tugging your collar and looking around the room.
Appreciate the nuance of this take.
Well said & couldn't agree with you more. In his prime, Chris's unique style of comedy was somehow so casually transcendent. 👏💯✨️
Ikr. Ruby Rhod is a very useless character, but really affect the tone and the worldbuilding of the movie.
then he plays the old switcharo and becomes a weed dealer with a very dangerous plug that puts him and his friend in danger.
Chris Tucker is definitely a gem.
He has managed to make friends with nearly everyone he's work with during his career.
He has an unmatched level of charisma, that make him relatable and easy to watch on camera.
Don Cheadle still has the best cantonese pronunciation ever from a non-chinese character in hollywood lol
Lupita Nyong'o's Korean in Black Panther was better than any of the asian actors lol. Super impressive
Spectacular video! Black and Asian dynamics are complex and you express it gloriously. Good on you for making this, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
This was SO GOOD. I'm a bay area native, and this taught me a lot about what makes my home special and why I feel such a great connection with my Asian brothers and sisters. Thank you 🙏🏽
The racist jokes don’t come off as malicious because both Lee and Carter are fleshed out characters. They’re not just their race. It’s banter rather than a cheap laugh with race being the butt of the joke. The whole last name but is HILARIOUS as someone who’s East Asian. My best friend and I joke that our last names are both body parts. Hell, the same type of joke is in Crazy Rich Asians with “which Chu are you?”
Also the fact *MAJORITY* of the jokes were literally Chris Tucker riffing on the spot, as evident with blooper reels at the end of EACH MOVIE!!! This rhetoric of "wHiTe PeOpLe WrItInG rAcISt JoKeS" is just false and bordering foul with thr amount of times its mentioned
The fade in of “heartbreaking: worst person” killed me. It’s always funny when you find out a reprehensible person is anti-racist. Like PT Barnum, horrible abusive fraud, but also one of the most prominent anti-racists for his time.
What is meant by anti-racist here? Is this a joke? I am pretty sure PT Barnum was just racist. Had Black people in cages and on display for money, but hey, surprise me!
i mean people are multi-dimensional right? you could be a murderer but still think universal healthcare should be a thing or that education should be free
An anti-racist who owned a slave.
Cringe
Baller
Wow this video essay is really beautiful. Really makes me see these these films that have brought me so much entertainment in a different light. In much more deeper way. Would love to see them do a fourth film. Great job man!
Rush Hour seems to be one of those movie franchises that brings out so much solidarity between groups that are regularly othered. I often felt like an outsider with my community being a 1st gen Black American. One of the movies that often helps me get closer to people is Rush Hour. (Other ones along that idea are Romeo Must Die and Remember the Titans.) I can also say that I got into films (as a performer, creative, and reviewer) thanks to films like Rush Hour because even with a male image, I felt like there was a chance for me to succeed.
I had no idea that Black and Asian people clashed heads like this in the past but I'm not surprised. This really makes me want to cry. I met a Japanese man in the army and he is literally one of the most kind, generous human beings I've met, EVER. He was so generous and considerate we had to remind him to think about himself. He constantly put the needs of people above his own, always asking about our mental health. I was going through a terrible depression and he supported me the whole time. He invited me to his house, introduced me to his wife. They welcomed me into their home and told me I can see them anytime I'm feeling depressed.
A wise person knows that there is good and bad everywhere, period.
That is nice to here. I am Asian American and I grew up in black neighborhood. I love y’all. Peace.
Tbh it’s not even a black and Asian conflict problem., it’s specifically African Americans from the hood and Asians.
Tbh it’s not even a black and Asian conflict problem., it’s specifically African Americans from the hood and Asians.
Is this the plot to Karate Kid
My dad has trauma surrounding black people due to being targeted when he initially immigrated as a teenager to the US. Sadly, it lead him to judging ALL black people in the same way. He's a lot better now, but he still is noticeably uncomfortable around them. Growing up in a gang environment there was almost always a slight race war going on between black and asian people in my neighborhood as well. I honestly hope everyone realizes in their life that someone's skin color doesn't determine their character or worth. :/
I’m Chinese and Rush Hour was my childhood favorite and I still love it now. My gen Z cousins also laughed their ass off watching it. We recognized that a lot of the jokes were racists but it didn’t feel offensive. Maybe because it was SO low hanging stereotypes and how both main characters were doing it to each other so it didn’t feel like one race was being targeted.
This was so dope to watch. Rush Hour is a classic, and it helped me bond with one of my now best friends from Hong Kong. Really appreciate the history and insight. Keep it up, brotha! ✌🏽
I'm commenting a month after this video went live so you probably won't see it, but wanted to say great job on all of the reearch that you did for this video. Lots of hisotry and dynamics to unpack and you covered everything quite well.
As a mixed girl (black&white), it always makes me so happy seeing unity among poc. Especially between black and asain people, considering all the ways we’ve been wrongfully pitted against each other through the model minority myth and general anti-blackness.
❤❤❤❤❤❤
There is no such thing as poc unity bc anti-blackness is global
Agreed! We’re all being crushed under the same thing (albeit with different levels of severity) only way to do something is push back at it together
And anti-Asian racism. There's a really good book called "The Making of Asian America" and it goes into detail about the history of Asians in the Americas all the way to the present day. It goes into the LA Riots and the targeting of Korean-owned businesses by Black mobs. While the catalyst was the unjust shooting of a Black girl by a Korean shopowner, the fact that Koreans who had nothing to do with that were attacked and rappers like Ice Cube made racist songs about Koreans is still an uncomfortable facet of those riots. There's a really good movie called "Gook" about the Korean side of the riots.
yea, even when non-whites are racist against each other, it’s the white man’s fault!
Being an asian and my closest friend is black, we make jokes about each other’s race all the time. He likes use my ancestors and my hairline, I like to use the “Help! He’s a thief!” And then imitate the sound of a police siren
This comment section is about to go wild.
I'm White/Italian and my three best friends all throughout school were Chinese, Puerto Rican and Indian. We all roasted the hell out of each other but we never got offended or upset because we genuinely loved and supported each other in all the ways that mattered. Laughing at stereotypes and insecurities about ourselves and our races was actually extremely healthy for us I found and only brought us all closer.
I feel like your friends joke was pretty tame in comparison to yours. I'm black and its kind of annoying when I get called a criminal for laughs.
Great. I wish this was more common. The only way to bring people together is to be able to laugh at each other equally. The moment you start ruling things out and drawing arbitrary lines along subjective power dynamics is when you suck the positivity out and communities get divided.
@@keshi5541 to be fair, he was the one who brought up that joke first and I just ran with it lol, but of course he's completely fine with it. It just depends on the person and respect their feelings when they say that they aren't comfortable with it.
Interesting analysis. As a young Black man myself whose best friend since we were toddlers is Vietnamese, ever since childhood I always found these three movies wholesome and hilarious with their constant use of stereotypes for both races.
This is one of the most amazing and powerful videos I have ever watched, extremely excellent work
my first real exposure to the black community as a filipina american was kids i grew up around in my neighborhood who helped me understand how abusive my family was and how to stick up for myself, and i can’t lie this movie has a really special place in my heart bc it really feels like the vibe from back then for all its good and bad parts 😭
Thank you for not only doing this video, but acknowledging the history. I remember being a little kid living in Los Angeles during that era, both Asian and Black parents with come up to our school to educate of the positive history of their cultures without being negative. I respect you for having a conversation about with a black content creator, I wish more people would do that because you learn so much more.
This made me tear up. I have such appreciation for both these communities I don't belong to. I really enjoyed your video.
Thank you for this video!!! 🎉 As a fan of rush hour, thank you for addressing the pros/cons, historical context, and intersectionalities the move touches!!
as a mixed person (black and Asian) this video made me cry!!!!! what a world we could have together if we could just be a little more vulnerable around each other. someday... I really pray for it.
So you're actually "Blackanese" 💀
@@justadudIt’s called Blasian numb-nuts
@@justadud I think the term is Blasian, because we don't know if OP is Japanese. ;)
@@justadud I remembered just now that Blackanese was what Chris Tucker called himself in RH1. 😂
Rush Hour must be your favorite movie, right? 😂
WTH! Came for love of Rush Hour, left with an incredibly well researched and edited historical documentary about asian American and African American communities. I learned so much stuff despite being a member of the community discussed, growing up during that time, in Los Angeles! Haha.
I dunno how you found all that b-reel footage, but i know this must have taken forever to edit. Incredible job. This is like master/PhD level stuff. Great job!
Yes exactly
lol, PhDs on their time off, doing obscure dissertations on cool niches of the internets 😂
Some really beautiful and nuanced points in this that I wasn’t fully expecting from a essay on the Rush Hour series. I’m subscribing bro!!
Hey great job on this video.. I was so glad to see Fiq also and hear his viewpoints. I was also really glad to hear you address the solidarity between the communities also. That pic of the person holding the Free Huey sign with the Asian characters on it also was amazing. Thank you for this well put and insightful analysis of yes a silly movie but an important topic :)
This movie is such a classic. As someone black, I’ve watched it with people who are neither black or Asian, and they’ve laughed at all the same jokes in the movie I laughed it. It’s just something about the comedy that can bring people together. It reminds me of something like White Chicks. It makes racial jokes but it never truly demonizes one side or the other. They’re just people with different cultures
Theres alot of American Specific jokes in the Rush hour movies that Jackie who was pretty new to the US at the time might have not understood.
I want to say there was a point in American history when, "after" slavery, plantation owners were looking for people to work their plantations. Due to a large amount of chinese immigrating to america for the gold rush, chinese individuals moved to the south for work. They weren't allowed to marry white people, so it caused a lot of chinese individuals to marry freed slaves. At one point in Louisianas history, according to a census, 80% of chinese men were married to african Americans.
I dont know if its historically important in this case, but ADHD brain wins over this time.
I am grateful for your ADHD brain, what a random but awesome fact. So awesome I am commenting, but due to my own ADHD brain, already forget what this awesome fact was. 😅
Today I Learned. Thank you!
I mean they still did this with black people, just under peonage systems.
@@Azurethewolf168true
@AzureWolf168 yup! I was mostly mentioning it for the shared history of Chinese and African Americans.
The key is learning about the beauty of each others cultures. There's a lot to love in both
This was an amazing analysis while relating this to the movie. Much appreciated.
as a black and asian person at the intersection of both identites, who has experienced antiblackness not just in the american context but also in asia (specifically japan and korea), i have many, many thoughts. but my biggest takeaway was that i need to rewatch all the rush hour movies ahaha. i appreciate the nuanced and well-researched approach to this very difficult topic. thank you for creating a jumping-off point for convos with my friends and family :)
Blacks and Asians are 2 of the best races on this planet - facts.
@@parrishharris3008Asian isn’t a race brother
It is tho@@user-lx3qt8zg5f
@@user-lx3qt8zg5fneither is black
😊
Me (an Afro-Caribbean/ Afro-Latina black girl) and my partner (a Southeast Asian Man) love this franchise so much because it’s special to both of us and we get to watch a movie that’s culturally significant to us both. Yes it’s racist, but somehow it doesn’t come off as malicious. It’s definitely flawed, but there’s something beautiful about two people being able to joke about their differences and bond because of them.
Really emphasizing "Afro". Shows what kind of person this is.
@@forkingcountry7615 A black person? Lmao.
@@forkingcountry7615that’s what i’m saying bruh, they don’t realize that identity politics is what divides them. don’t gotta treat ethnicity like an rpg with stat increases
lmao its racist for people who don’t understand banter that comes with good friendship 😂
@@r.i.petika829um if you're Latino and African descendent idk why acknowledgement of that is dividing us? That's the dumbest thing ever. If you're triggered by others embracing their heritage that's a YOU issue
Weird
Thank you for sharing this video essay. It was quite informative and enlightening for myself, who is not from America, but has grown up watching Rush Hour when it first came out.
I have nothing to add to this discussion, the video and comments said it! This was really cool to see and experience. Thank you for the video and to the commentators below. 😁🙂
I'm part Mexican, and have many Mexican, Black and Asian cousins. we're more lower middle class, some family living in trailer parks, so a lot of that "low hanging comedy" (as some people put it) is really just basic fun. like Adam Sandler stuff or Jackass or something for white people.
what people argue about between "how race should be represented" is, to oversimplify, usually defined by classes within that race. Bill Cosby had no love for rap culture and sagging pants and whatnot since it wasn't upright and scholarly. but even before his allegations some black people hated him for taking that bossy highbrow tone, as they wanted to "keep it real" and give love more to the people at home, not the system. you find that argument in Mexican families, between the cholo aesthetic and the meek scholars. and even between Jackie Chan and his own actual son, who he feels is not respectful/honorable when he just says "wassup" to him. he's said this in interviews.
another comparison you can fo is SNL vs MadTV. SNL was mostly white, with maybe 1 or 2 black cast members a year. 50 years without an Asian person. FIFTY. and very very little actual Hispanic rep in the cast.
MadTV was so saturated culturally, and played better for the homebrew crowd than the highbrow crowd. SNL tries to be so sanitized and PC and plays the corporate game, while MadTV was actually out there with people of other color representing less so much "the system" but more "the people". Jordan Peel french kisses a goat at some point. I'm not saying that was my favorite part or that it itself was a highlight, but it shows the difference in these 2 approaches.
every race argues between itself what should be happening for it politically.
but if you hang out with the other kids in your neighborhood of other races, they joke around. they're friends, not politicians. even Fat Albert's gang had nicknames based on appearance. the Little Rascals went out in the streets and had rough adventures. but they were together.
the scholars, they just isolate themselves and read about this stuff. they don't live. they just analyze and study. you have to be involved to put your heart into it.
racial humor is fine for those who can live and feel closer to the warth, but hazardous to people walking on stilts for status. hoping to find a perfect balance by standing still above everybody.
the truth is, we need to be flexible. to know how to be down to earth, but still to aspire. not abandoning one for the other. but how to live the whole range. truly diversify our empathy and soul experiences. for time itself.
interesting perspective. I think for sure some class differences are part of the reason why jokes like in this movie can be looked at in not such a concerned way
well said
Very well explained.
Ok
@@BluEx22329That's it? Lmao...Y'all are useless to actual discussions.
What I think really makes Rush Hour work is that it doesn't use race as a premise for the story. It's about a girl being kidnapped and two dudes trying to rescue her. And Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker are very clearly coded as the main characters and they have all the complexity of main characters. So all the racialized humor happens within the context of a movie that feels like it could have been written by Black or Asian guys (definitely guys though, women are still treated pretty badly in these movies). And this makes it work.
Great vid, worth the watch, especially in the last parts.
A beautiful and thoughtful and heart filled video essay! Well done!
The Malcolm X movie could have included his Japanese ally Yuri Kochiyama cradling his corpse like history shown, instead of cutting her out
And also the director shoved in a random useless love interest in Blackkklansman.... really don't have respect when directors do that type of shit about real people. Especially when you're talking about black history.
She's fascinating.
The Malcolm X movie also doesn't mention his sister Erica at all.
He smashed?
@@TheBusyJanetell spike lee
Crazy to think that a decade ago we knew how to differentiate racism from comedy
Thank you.
This is what happens when you get an entire generation to ignore the concept of 'context' in a heavily context based language.
@@zetablade7018English really isn't a context based language.
@cyan_oxy6734 ever hear of sarcasm?
@@zetablade7018couldn't agree more.
fr, ppl are such privleged cry babies if this movie offends them lmao
great watch. thank you for making this!
Super interesting perspective bro, thanks for making this!
i remember watching this as a kid with my family. My parents are korean immigrants, and when we watched the movie, it didnt click that the people in the movie were representing people like my parents (asian immigrants, poor english, low scale jobs), but man we all loved rush hour. We used to say my dad looked like jackie chan and my dad took it as a huge compliment. i wanna rewatch these movies, it'll be interesting to consider everything this video addressed. thank you for doing a deep dive on the rush hour series, i love these movies and i feel like the internet needed to give this kind of attention to rush hour!
P😊0😊😊ppl 00⁰😊pp😊⁰
P pppp
I really appreciate the context and history about Asian-American and African-American relationships. I have learned a fair share of civil rights history, but so rarely do the books and papers discuss these cross-sections of minority experiences.
We really shouldn’t be going through the oppression olympics imo. Like you said weve all struggled. White black asian hispanic. But when we look at the past we should move forward with the information we have gained and try not to have those things be repeated. Its easier said than done, but people should really start looking past race when interacting with those around us.
@@dookie7299well the people pushing that narrative on the top are social justice activists, they are making enemies out of nothing when a lot of those issues haven’t even been issues for decades. They only care about using race as a tool for their own agenda, not to actually help them.
My family and I watched these 3 movies so many times, a childhood classic, we would see any of them every time they aired on TV
An absolutely incredible video. Thank you for making it.
I'm Navajo and my roommate is black and he's become like a brother to me. I love him so much. And I feel like we're just now getting to this level of humor between each other and it's great. But yeah, it's a fine line. We'll make jokes about race to each other and take little jabs here and there, all in good humor, but I'm always a little nervous about crossing a line or about someone else hearing us and taking it the wrong way. 😅
I can't tell you how sweet it is to hear a guy say "I love him so much" about their friend. I feel like I don't hear that expressed so often. yall must have a good thing going!
@@frankinsaneandmyrrh1202 Oh man... I'm so sorry. I want so badly to be a source of joy for you regarding this, I really do, but I'm actually a girl. 😅 But I agree, men need to be able to express love for their friends more!
@@sparkymularkey6970 oh, whoops!😂 I guess because of the film I assumed you two were also bros. it's still nice to see wholesome friendships between men and women, though!
Im black and my boyfriend is Wenatchee/Arrow Lakes native. I play a lot of fighting games and he'l call me 'chief smackahoe', Ill call red gatorade 'indian gatorate' (the tribes over here do use the term indian)..I'll thank him for taking in my black cat because it didn't have a father lol. Its all love. The one time he left me speechless was when I said something was savage. I was playing wow and not really paying attention to what I was saying, but he yelled "that is OUR WORD" and i lost my mind lmfao. If theres love, you know that its just people laughing at the absurdity of things, its not hate or anything
As a black man with an Asian wife who has learned the language but does not YET own a Chinese restaurant on Crenshaw...thank you for this excellent video. I have a very different context. We're in the UK, but rush hour was a big part of our teenage years too. We have a Chinese friend, South Asian friends and black. We all rip the shit out of each other with racist jokes. At the time lots of them were from Rush Hour.
I do think there's something special about minority- minority solidarity and relationships that really needs more exploration. Asian and black solidarity in particular is hugely important given the future rebalancing of the world towards Africa and Asia. But more importantly for our shared histories and shared struggles against white supremacy.
Good luck on the restaurant!😊
Best wishes
Dave Chappelle burner account
what i dont get though is how fried chicken and watermelon is so rasist to black people whe asian people be eatting nithing but fried chiken, and watermelon be pricy in north east asian so it be seen as such a valbule snack
In contrast: black or Asian supremacy is somehow better.
Rush hour 1&2 are classics that I'll always be down to watch again.
Glad to see FD Show up. I haven't watched you yet, but I look forward to this video.
I think the best scene in the series is the interactions between Don cheadle and Jackie when he talks about Carter, something about it about the Martial art masters being related but also the joke about Carter in Chinese and seeing Lee's reaction is just fun.
Don - Why are you hanging out with 7-eleveln
Jackie - 7-eleven??
Done- Cause he never closes his mouth
Tucker - I heard that, I heard that! Don't me talking bout me man!
Lmao one of my favorite scenes
"The issues between these two communities exist, but at the same time, FUN exists."
And,
"The issue isn't 100% of the story."
Have probably seeded something in me as to how I'm gonna write my stories from now on. I'm an Aussie Romanian-Diaspora lady who's working on making an animated show featuring a similar kind of melting pot of cultures, and I'm grateful I watched this video. Well-said, and thank you for making it!
amazing video. well researched and very educating. thanks for this
Very cool. Nice to see this breakdown
The thing about dark humor and raciat jokes is there has to be an understanding between the person making the joke and the audience that "this is a bit fucked up innit?"
cause otherwise it just becomes racist.
lol if the person that is doing the racits jokes is your friend or a dude that is just joking with you you must had fun to and try to do the same it is what it is people need to stop trying so hard to be the victim and just go beyond those words.
I do love that both communities have always been fond of this movie even though they’re honestly really unproblematic. Weirdly enough, they brought us closer together 😂 I’m Southeast Asian grown up around mainly other Asians and Black people, and almost everyone I know enjoys this movie. I think this series worked so well because Jackie and Chris had such good chemistry and their characters felt like real friends that would ride and die for each other. What you talked about them connecting because they were considered outsiders in Hollywood was also a key factor in what made this a classic for our communities.
they like the movies because they dont see them as problematic. The fact that you do shows your ignorance just like this video shows his ignorance on what racism is and isnt
@@Waywardbiscuitit just shows the victim mindset most minorities have (and white people perpetuate it cause it keeps them in power, while minorities fight amongst each other)
It definitely brought us closer together.
Beautiful video brotha!
I love these movies so much. They bring me so much happiness whenever I'm down. Such a fun and electric duo!
The movie works cause of the 2 leads. Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker just worked so well with eachother and it carried the whole franchise.
One big thing that I think often is overlooked: Lee is a foreigner who lands in LA on a mission, not an Asia American going about ever day life-this to me makes the stereotypes and comedy even more over the top but also somewhat understandable.
I was privileged enough to grow up in an area with a ton of military bases around me, so I grew up with mixed racial couples all the time, not to mention being in a place that had Asians, Pacific Islanders, Africans, Indians, Native Americans, Middle Easterners, Hispanics, and Latin Americans. It was just... normal to me, to have friends from all kinds of walks of life, and with different cultures. I reveled in it though. I love how beautiful other country's cultures are! So... when I saw this movie series, I just... saw two goofy guys who eventually grew to love each other as friends. My friends and I sorta did this sort of teasing too.
Thank you for making this video though. You educated me and reminded me of things I didn't know. I grew up thinking the riots were about white and black, not Asian and black, so I'm glad to have learned something from this.
Thank you for going into the details and history of Black and Asian communities in this video! I was pleasantly surprised by the deeper conversation and will be sharing it with many many others interested in Black and Asian solidarity.
The Aaliyah Jet Li negative kiss reaction happened with Denzel Washington & white actress Mimi Rogers in “The Mighty Quinn.” It’s a little deeper than anti-interracial couples & more that Black relationships in film are you usually shown in dysfunction. So the anger is rooted in “why do other groups get healthier relationships on screen but not us?” Hope this was explained well enough to understand.
Wild... I would've never thought about it from that angle. I remember being confused & upset that they didn't allow more romantic intimacy between the characters in RMD; it just felt weird for such a grown movie to treat its leading couple like kids in the relationship context. I assumed it was b/c of systemic animosity & interracial discomfort. But considering what you just shared, it also explains a lot... 🙏
I have that same outlook and feeling for a LONG time in film (being almost 40 and feeling that since the 90s) that black relationships in TV and film were always so dysfunctional and problematic while interracial relationships were portrayed so positively (and usually it was a minority individual and a white person). I didn't have an issue with aliyah and Jackie chan romance in RMD, too me it was expected as soon as the characters met on screen.
And the fact this is STILL very much an issue in 2023 is depressing as a Black woman smh - sure, dysfunction makes for great TV and film, but the fact it happens in basically 99% of entertainment when you have (particularly mono racial) Black couples is infuriating
@@RobJarrell63I've legitimately never thought about this. When a black person is portrayed in a positive, healthy relationship in a romantic film, it's when their partner is white.
Like not even just a broad interracial relationship where the partner just isn't also black, like.....SPECIFICALLY they get to experience sincere love when they're with a white person
Black folks gotta have a whole sub-genre of romance we call "Struggle Love" while white folks, or black folks with white partners, just get to be called romance
@@RobJarrell63Jet Li
Great video here, really touched on a lot of important things and I appreciate it
The 2nd part where you help contextualize the film in the time era it was released in is phenomenal and important. Great work 👍
As a white person who grew up in a wonderfully diverse community, but who's father actually attended klan meetings when he was my age, racism has been an incredibly difficult subject for me to understand on a personal level. When I say that, what I mean is that I grew up genuinely thinking racism had been *"solved"* and therefore, was something I somehow couldn't repeat, because... you know, we studied it in History class... All the while, I myself was learning racist beliefs, racist stereotypes, racist microaggressions, etc. at home. Dad never said we were better than anyone else, and to this day, I still think he genuinely believes that's how he sees the world... In short, he sees everyone as equally awful, but seems to think he can know at a glance in which way a person will be awful to him, unless they're white.
The first time I repeated a racist joke and it wasn't received well was in my senior year of highschool. At the time, I really didn't get what I'd done wrong--I mean, the joke went over great on Dat Phan's comedy special I'd watched the night prior. I went home that day wondering "... Am I racist for finding that joke funny?" and it wasn't until well into my 20s that I really started trying to dismantle the harmful systems of thinking about people I learned growing up.
Around the same time that I was doing that deeper introspective work, I was more outwardly trying to position myself into a career in cinematography. Rush Hour came up a few times in a book I was reading on blocking, so I gave it a watch, and that same question came up time and time again. I knew what I was watching was obviously, overtly, unapologetically racist, but... I couldn't help but feel like that still wasn't enough reason to say it was a bad movie. It had too much to offer; there was something different and valuable about it that, given my background and perspective, I simply couldn't express, not only because I can't fully comprehend it, but also because it wouldn't be my place to do so.
I guess all I'm trying to say is, thanks for putting to words that which has remained ineffable to me for years.
I call you liar.
Great video!
As a bi-racial American (black/white) who grew up watching anime & having Asian owned businesses in my neighborhood, I was oblivious to many issues centered around race. I only really became aware of that stuff at an older age & from encounters online & outside of my neighborhood. From the Wu-Tang clan feeling authentic growing up, to fictional characters from Asian media like Piccolo feeling "black" to me & a lot of black people, to wondering why Tom Cruise was the lead in a movie called "The Last Samurai" & why white actors kept playing characters in christian stories about Egypt, to now a lot of the Japanese music I love feeling like it shares attributes with the black American music I love, I always felt we weren't so different. I went to school with Asian-Americans dressing in the same hip-hop influenced style I was. When I was a young kid & first heard Linkin Park (favorite music act), I thought Mike Shinoda sounded black & was shocked he wasn't. I see things like The Boondocks & Samurai Champloo & the theoretically conflicting black & Asian influences feels synergistic, they just feel right.
Similar to how I feel a certain level of kinship to a lot of Latino-Americans due to similar struggles & similarities, it really is just how humans are. I've seen racist speech across several different minorities to & from other minorities & it always felt so particularly illogical to me due to our own individual struggles. I've seen so many black educators, writers, creators discuss civil rights history in America & never really talk about Korean & black tensions. Cultural appropriation is such a slippery slope. I think people are generally pretty good at sensing sincerity & respect it. With that respect comes a healthy relationship that tends to play out. I hope the black & Asian solidarity continues to grow in America, because I've always felt like it was there in my experiences.
Your comment was genuinely wholesome
Nice video bro. Very refreshing!
Love this video. really enjoyed watching