Sinophobia - Tumblr Posts
God okay I'm just. So fucking tired. So here's a list of resources to educate yourself on issues within Star Wars. In light of the Bad Batch Finale and the announcement of the second season, it's vital that you educate yourself about the racism and other issues present.
Reminder that you cannot be in the middle. You are either racist or anti-racist. If you do not practice anti-racism and choose to stay "neutral", you are only supporting a system that constantly perpetuates racism and harms people.
And if for some reason, you think I'm overreacting; for some reason, you think I'm sensitive; for some reason, your first instinct is to get defensive and lash out; you really need to do some thinking as to why you want to scream at POC who just want the right to be recognized and seen. Who just want the right to not be erased.
And if you think this is "not good enough" because they're "just blog posts" or whatever - don't bullshit me. Even if I posted a shit ton of scholarly articles you wouldn't have read them anyway if you're coming at me with excuses for why you think the discrimination is okay. These posts are accessible, and well-written, and straight from the lived experiences of the many minorities and the allies that want to amplify their voices. I'm not asking you to take everything at face value. I'm asking you to do your own research and engage in some critical thinking instead of blindly accepting what you're given.
*Disclaimer: while I have read these sources, i read some a while ago and if there's an issue you have with some of them let me know!
(If your post is listed and you want me to take it off the list please dm me and let me know!)
The Bad Batch
#unwhitewashtbb carrd - with extensive resources here that speak about the Māori people, their culture, and the current issues they face. If you care about them, then read these resources and amplify their voices.
Petition to #unwhitewashtbb
Why you're actively supporting racism if you decide not to support anti-racist movements because you "have beef with someone" who's an anti-racist
The importance of speaking about #unwhitewashtbb, from a Polynesian fan (With another post by them!)
How Kanan is whitewashed
Clone Whitewashing #1 - how the SW crew most definitely knows how to animate dark-skinned clones with proper facial features yet chose not to
Clone Whitewashing #2 - with really clear pictures of the whitewashing
Clone Whitewashing #3 - with an extensive Temura Morrison reference sheet
Issues with Echo's design
Reasons why the take that "Omega is light-skinned because she's based on Temura Morrison's sister" and the take that "Polynesian people can be light-skinned too you're just being racist" are absolute shit takes (similar post, #2)
How Fennec Shand is whitewashed - the intricacies of her design
Fixed Fennec Shand design
How Temura Morrison has previously also been whitewashed in SW media
The Clone Wars
Islamophobia in Barriss Offee's portrayal, from a muslim woman.
How Barriss is muslim-coded, from a muslim woman.
The Mandalorian
"Bleaching" Temura Morrison
General Resources Around Star Wars
Orientalism in Star Wars
The Islamic Origins Of The Jedi
Ableism in Star Wars
Sinophobia in Star Wars, from me, a Chinese woman.
Resources about AO3 and racism
POC are not a monolith: why it's not ok to say "light-skinned minorities exist" in response to calls to stop whitewashing
How whitewashing has affected SW as a whole
John Boyega and Racism
Orientalism in SW Music
Feel free to add further resources in reblogs or just send them straight to me and I'll add them!
Oh, and by the way, if you think "it's just fiction you're just overreacting this doesn't hurt anyone": news flash: it sure does.
CBC News: Anti-Asian Racism in the media
Role of Media in anti-asian racism
NPR: Hollywood colorism
How the media fuels anti-black racism
Ways anti-indigenous racism is expressed in media and in other ways
NBC News: Rise in anti-asian racism
Resources on anti-black racism
What I've listed above is only a single drop in a massive ocean. There are so, so many other minority groups who are also suffering that I haven't listed. I haven't even touched on homophobia, on transphobia, and I've barely touched on ableism, not to mention that there's so many other issues out there. I haven't talked about the issues with how the Tuskens are portrayed, or how Watto is portrayed, or how Jar Jar Binks was portrayed, or how Kelly Marie Tran was treated, or how Trace and Rafa Martez were treated, or how the fandom hates Mace Windu, or how Poe's backstory was butchered, or much, much more. If you have more resources, please please please share them in the reblogs. It is impossible to encompass everything in a single post, but we sure as hell can try.
Alright. I've given you the resources. I've given you my time and energy. It's up to you now to educate yourself. It's ok to make mistakes - we're constantly learning and unlearning. It's ok to need to take breaks, and to save this for later because you're tired and the world is going to shit. We are human.
But it's not okay to stay willfully ignorant. It's not okay to constantly try and belittle the trauma and struggles of minorities just because you've been okay living in a system that's built on oppression. Educate yourself.
One more tip: when reblogging or sharing your own resources, flood your tags with everything to do with Star Wars. Flood the Crosshair tag. Flood the Hunter and Omega tag. Flood the tags, because this is relevant to their characters and to the entire saga, and fans need to know.
Including tags of the people I posted resources from under the cut!
@royalhandmaidens @queen-breha-organa @milfcaptainrex @milfchewbacca @bisexualmikisayaka @fixyourwritinghabits @starilicious @jester-mereel @milfbailorgana @cafffine @milfcommandercody @thecyndimistuff @shoulderpads-mcgee2
(If I'm missing a tag and you want to be tagged please let me know!)
No cuz why was h*sbro like "lets make the chinese character paranoid and the 'strange' food one who eats bugs" NIGGA WHAT
Okay gonna put in an EARLY request here for OFMD fandom.
The character's name is Zhang Zheng Yi Sao. That's a real historical figure, very very awesome pirate queen. Her name isn't "Susan." That's what she went by when undercover selling soup.
I beg people to use her real name and not a fake one that may be easier for you to spell and pronounce. She doesn't introduce herself or tell anyone to call her Susan after her real identity is revealed and people in the show call her Zheng. Or Queen, I suppose.
So please, as someone from Chinese fandoms who has seen the amount of microagressions fandoms get up to when dealing with "weird and difficult" Chinese names...can we not?
If you're worried about spelling, ZYS would be how Chinese names are typically abbreviated in fandom. And Zheng isn't inherently any harder to type than Susan.
Trying to get ahead of things a little here, as a white American person who has learned things the hard way over the last few years.
EDIT: I got a letter wrong I even googled it blame the mead I'm drinking and the fact it's 5am for me. ZHENG Yi Sao!
a chinese person on tumblr dot com: man I love chips
some fucking clown: don’t you know chips are banned by the Evil Chinese Surveillance StateTM? how can you make jokes like this? you must be a spy sent to infiltrate tumblr, which is clearly china’s number one source of american intelilgence. justify your existence to me with a 5000 word essay about the failings of the CCP or I’ll doxx you.
its not racist to acknowledge that china and russia have lgbt censorship and that a lot of asian countries are homophobic. however it IS racist to pretend america isn’t homophobic as well and pretend this makes you morally superior. saw that one Alex Hirsch tweet about Disney trying to get the lgbtq market then turning around and censoring gay relationships for russian and chinese markets. like. don’t blame american problems on Asia. america never needed russia or china’s help to be homophobic. yall are plenty homophobic on your own. don’t go ‘well if it weren’t for those damn commie censors I could have my queer rep angry emoji’; just. just stop. american fundamentalists and puritans are to blame; white conservatives are to blame. russia and china have been america’s convenient big bad bogeyman for decades now because racism lets you pretend your own country isn’t completely fucked up. don’t delude yourself into thinking this is just ooh backward asian censorship instead of a deep-seated problem in american society. if russia and china didn’t exist you still wouldn’t have your goddamn gay rep.
the fact that neonazi slogans pretty much seamlessly slip into common lingo is both obviously frustrating towards efforts to distinguish dogwhistles from background noise, but also testament to the oversized influence that reactionary, functionally comforting and nonconfrontational, rhetoric has. like it's both the case that someone saying 'hell yeah brother, reject modern degeneracy, embrace tradition' could just as easily be a dedicated klanner as much as a he/they cottagecore fanartist, as well as that the average westerner will need to overcome a lot more discomfort with 'the people's republic of china has the best green energy policies and affirmative action in the world' than with 'we must return to traditional lifestyles and secure a future away from Urban life', because one of those things is associated with all the comfy apolitical animated films they loved as a child, and the other is something they've been explicitly taught is dangerous ideas they should be afraid of considering