So tell me, Spain. How exactly do you get your eyes to look like my eyes, again? (Because it’s been a long time since I was an Asian girl in grade school in the American Midwest.)
Ahh…I get it. My eyes kind of go off to the sides like that. I get it now. Haha. That’s funny. In fact, I’m so honored you want to look like me. For those 5 seconds. While your lips are sneering. And look – you’ve even put a dragon on the basketball court! We like dragons! You know, if we had a contest where we asked hermits to guess where the Summer Olympics were going to be held next based on team photos, you would win first prize. By the way, thank you for honoring the greatest physical feature of my entire race and just putting that out in the spotlight. After all, it’s what we’re known for. We are kind of funny-looking in that way, aren’t we? 
I mean, you didn’t know this was offensive. You were just listening to your sponsors (the Spanish one, not the Chinese one)! And if you had known it would offend, you wouldn’t have done it! That alone validates this picture in itself – if you had known. And it was intended as a salute!! Considering your country welcomed Lewis Hamilton to Barcelona so well in Formula 1 just last February by ALSO looking like his family (yes, that requires black make-up and wigs) - and also didn’t mean anything by it - this is just par for the course. Spanish sports are surely on a roll with the apologetics and “meaning no harm,” aren’t they? Because there’s quite a lot to cover: Formula 1, now basketball … and the pride of Europe, futbol!
How could I forget? Just remember: Aragones calling Thierry a “black piece of ****” doesn’t mean that he’s racist, either, oh no. After all, he has “black friends and gypsy friends” – all of which, I’m sure, he has invited over for a matchmaking fête to wed his sons and daughters. It all sounds a little familiar to me for some reason. Let’s see…
“‘I want to say that we have a great respect for the Orient and their peoples. Some of my best friends in Toronto are of Chinese origin.”
- Jose Calderon
I guess it’s a little bit too much to expect that befriending these people of The Orient might actually cause you to stop using the term “Orient” in itself. Or might result in your understanding that these friends might actually be offended by your actions. That would be too “American” or “PC.”
And when Spanish futbol fans throw bananas onto the field and make ape noises whenever a black player (even on the Spanish team) touches the ball, it’s funny. It’s hilarious. The audacity of FIFA and FIA, to just step in there and tell your national clubs to regulate your fans!! It seems like everybody likes to pick on Spanish sports. You poor guys.
But let’s not forget that if any of these people offended us, they’re sorry about that. They are all really truly sorry we’re offended, if we’re offended. It just had to end up that way, for some reason, because if they “didn’t really mean anything” it completely changes the trajectory of the comment, you understand? They just said and did things that happen to bring race into the picture … but we expect way too much for thinking their minds actually have the capacity to fathom the history, much less respect that history, that exists behind race, period! But feel free to bring that issue in at any time – in a complimentary or insulting manner – as long as you don’t mean anything by it. I’ll be sure not to take offense for the sake of not hurting your feelings. You’ll just have to pardon me – I’m a bit on the sensitive side.
“Maybe some people in Spain come through like that but in England or the U.S. they have the same problem. We don’t feel we did something bad. It’s wrong to interpret it as racist.”
- Jose Calderon
Calderon was right. There are problems like this in the United Kingdom and United States. And Pau Gasol, a Laker in our multi-cultural wonderland known as Los Angeles, looks forward to covering all the ground he can. Therefore, this makes every racial slight that happens in Spain permissible. How dare we NOT eliminate all racism in our own countries before pointing a finger at a Spanish team in international sports? We better start minding our own business!
Okay Calderon, since WE were the wrong ones since we interpreted this picture as racist, I feel like I have to get something off my chest. So, I would like to issue an apology to Jose Calderon, Pau Gasol and the rest of the Spanish basketball team for being offended. Obviously, by being offended, we have hurt your feelings. Because it’s all about you – and you didn’t mean anything! I hope you’ll forgive me for ever thinking you would ever intend to do anything off-color, even though it came out of an official team picture at the highest level in international sports. It’s really my bad.
I’ll do you one better: I’m sorry you were offended that I was offended. “My people” and I look forward to seeing you, Gasol, back here in Los Angeles in the fall.
Read Pau Gasol’s blog (translation courtesy of Babelfish/Yahoo)
Edit: Why stop at Formula 1, futbol, OR basketball, when women’s tennis can get in on the action??
Thanks a lot for you entry.
But I can’t understand how people who voted to someone like G. Bush are offended for a non malicius picture.
I understand that the same people that created the KKK, or the American Native Reserves, or invaded Irak, or keep Guantanamo working, or … or … or …
This is not just. You are writing about Spanish but if a stupid throws bananas you can say one people is stupid, not to a country.
Do you remember when the American Basketball Team makes armies greats in Japan. How can you understand this? Do you remember Hiroshima?
Well, what I see every day is that Spanish people respect Asian people, we like their culture, food and now we admire China Sport Teams as well.
I thing that we have a lot of very important problems in our world (a lot of them because the EEUU) to pay attention to a picture like this.
Thaks again and best wishes!
noise, you’re an idiota. look up the word “satira” en el diccionario!
noise may need to look up ‘idiota’ in the dictionary (although I feel ‘sarcasm’ may be a better starting point), but I also think that noise shouldn’t be made a mock because clearly his/her first language is not English, and tone is very hard to interpret through words alone.
Of course, bringing up the KKK, Guantanamo Bay and Hiroshima in the context of this post is a little out there, but also suggesting that “a stupid throws bananas you can say one people is stupid, not to a country” is, in my humble opinion, perfectly suitable given correct circumstances.
Taking into account that I don’t believe e*starLA is slagging off an entire nation, is most certainly being sarcastic and noise is almost certainly not a natively-speaking English person, perhaps buttkicker should consult said diccionario and look up ‘considered’ and ‘response’ in that order.
I give Juan Carlos a pass because he only spent a season here, but for Pau and Calderon to feign ignorance like “Oh, we didn’t know it would offend people” is such a crock. Both those guys have played in the NBA for 5+ years and have spent enough time stateside to know better.
I’m not naive enough to think that people don’t poke gentle fun at other cultures in certain company, but to see public figures to do so so blatantly, and for an advertisement… it runs counter to the perceptions I had about Spain.
And noise, if you’ll remember, less than half the country voted for George W. Bush. But the electoral college and the sham that was the 2000 election are topics for another day.
TELL THEM WHAT YOU THINK!!!
PAU GASOL of the LOS ANGELES LAKERS & JOSE CALDERON of the TORONTO RAPTORS
EMAIL THE NBA (you will have to register)
http://www.nba.com/email_us/
WRITE TO THE NBA:
David Stern
The National Basketball Association
Attn: Fan Relations
645 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10022
EMAIL LOS ANGELES LAKERS:
http://www.nba.com/lakers/contact.html
WRITE TO LOS ANGELES LAKERS
Los Angeles Lakers
555 N. Nash Street
El Segundo, CA 90245
USA
Phone: (310) 426-6000
PAU GASOL WEBSITE (No email contact)/Sponsored by Nike
http://www.paugasol.com/
PAU GASOL’S NIKE SPONSORS
Nike World Headquarters
One Bowerman Drive
Beaverton, OR 97005
Phone: 1-503-671-6453
EMAIL:
http://www.nikebiz.com/contact/
EMAIL TORONTO RAPTORS
http://www.nba.com/raptors/contact/index.html
TORONTO RAPTORS ADDRESS:
Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd.
40 Bay St., Suite 400
Toronto, ON
M5J 2X2
CANADA
LIST OF MANAGEMENT/OWNERS TORONTO RAPTORS
http://www.nba.com/raptors/news/mlsel_management.html
JOSE CALDERON’S webpage
http://www.josemanuelcalderon.com
EMAIL:
email@josemanuelcalderon.com
@noise: Unfortunately, as you might be able to tell from the comments here – this post was actually an apology dripping with a great deal of sarcasm. In reality, it wasn’t really an apology. I’m not sure what you had decided but I commend you for taking the crack at such a long piece of English.
Indeed, it would be wrong of me to pin the actions of a few on my perception of Spain as a whole. And I do my best to not generalize, on my own part. But when evident in so many different sports with so many different examples, I have to notice the pattern – while taking care to note that yes, I have to say there is a hostile environment that exists there that is somehow permissible to the rest. I only see defenses and excuses and dismissals…and denials after each episode. I do not see a recognition of the problem by many Spanish parties and without recognition I cannot believe that Spain thinks it’s a problem-to-be-fixed that is at the top of their agenda.
So, I don’t really see things changing in the near future when international sports players, men and women, visit Spain to partake in what they have spent their entire lives training for. What will African countries have to say about it, when they know that naturalized players of their own race are treated w/so much hostility in your country? I can’t lie but I hope that affects Spain’s bid negatively in the future Olympics. It’s at the core of the Olympics – unity, fairness, what-have-you. It seems too soon. It seems Spain is not ready.
@buttkicker: Okay, so you’re my college roommate so ordinarily I would delete comments like that but I know you and the lovely anger you harbor at episodes like this so I’m letting it sliiide… Now get back to work.
@Ollie: Thanks for the thoughtful response.
Indeed, I try hard to not generalize about the entire country as a whole – but again with the patterns. It’s simply not pretty. I don’t know how to put this delicately but from afar, at least, it seems that there is just a minimal level of understanding about race in some parts of the world more than others. And people can get away with that, because there was no sort of cultural or civil rights -type of revolution that has taken place in those parts. So extreme majority rules and is permitted to live in ignorance because they can without repercussions from the “minorities,” whatever qty they might be.
@Jen: Exactly. Clearly, a lot of thought didn’t go into this entirely ludicrous thing they did. Or even a little. I have to say, after I saw the women’s Federation tennis players do it too I didn’t know I could be in even more disbelief than I already was.
@LC Chen: Thanks for the contact info. I’ll leave it up in case anyone would like access to it.
IM OFFENDED THAT THEY ARE OFFENDED
I find it hard to believe that anyone would waste their time BEING offended by any thing such as a mocking photo. Being offended by someone depicting or mocking a feature particular to your race is admitting that the feature in question is something you are ashamed of. If someone mocked me for being overly handsome do you think i would be offended? If i were wealthy and someone mocked me by holding up a wad of cash would i be offended? I think not. I would be flattered that even though they may have intended to belittle me, they only succeeded in complimenting me on one of my favorite features. A overweight person may have reason to be offended if someone mocked them, a handicapped person would have cause as well, but a race of well over a billion people who all have eyes shaped a certain way should be proud to see the Spanish trying to look like them.
@Matt Dillon: I find your analogies pretty astounding. Especially the part where you think that Asians everywhere “should” feel complimented. So by that logic, Hamilton should feel the warm and fuzzies at the spectators who showed up in Barcelona in black face and black wigs, since they intended to look like him? Wow. “They really want to look like me” were the thoughts that “should” have been running through his head. I mean, when white actors stopped dressing up like blacks in silent movies because blacks weren’t allowed to be actors, that was just a farce, wasn’t it?
Maybe we can consult you on any potentially exploitive racial episode next time so we can get *your* opinion on things, so that we indeed know how to feel. Because it would be too much to have you accept the feelings of the people who are directly subjected to such incidents. After all, we should instead ask someone who would be complimented if someone held out a wad of cash to mock him.
Makes a lot of sense to me.
Clearly, there are cultural divides present here. The Spanish know what they intended, and it was no harm…and it brought Asians’ race into question. But they will only go so far as to do that “salute” and stand by what they intended by that salute, while refusing to consider the feelings of the people they are saluting. You can have your cake but you can’t eat it too. It’s interesting that you know, a simple apology would have made it go away – but instead they made it worse by making excuses for themselves.
So whose thinking “should” be changed, here – a bystander or a member of the race in question? I guess when you are self-important, you don’t have to change anything.
@e*star: You are making the issue too complicated. The analogies i made are simple common sense. I am not saying the Spanish players were complimenting the Asian race. I could agree that they were attempting to be racist. However i am confused why an Asian would be offended by something so normal to them. I have blond hair and round eyes. If an Asian bleached their hair and pushed the corners of there eyes together to appear round, should i be mad? I would not, no matter what their intention was. Simply because it is not anything to be ashamed of. I would be confused more than mad. No one needs to demand an apology. Voice your disapproval by ignoring the gesture. Making a fuss is just agreeing that they are sensitive about their eye shape which leads me to believe they would rather they have round eyes. Obviously that is not true so why all the fuss? This is not the same as perpetuation of a stereotype. This is a fact not a stereotype. Besides, all the media attention, news print, blogs like this and every other action taken because of a photo has contributed slightly to global warming.
@Matt Dillon: I would say that there is hardly anything more complicated than “voicing disapproval” by ignoring the gesture you are disapproving of, as you just said. Does that even make sense? That’s inherently counterintuitive. Your argument against making a fuss, period, is counterintuitive. I would concur that no, we’re not ashamed of the shape of our eyes, but you yourself used the word “mock” to describe what the teams were doing in the photos multiple times. So yes, I perceive it to be a mocking, just like you, and I disapprove. And I’m voicing that disapproval by this post. There you go. I wouldn’t say that’s complicated.
So let’s visit what it means to “mock.” In grade school (this reflects the level of humor in this “mocking”), kids would pull their eyes to the side like that and taunt with, “Chinese, Japanese, dirty knees” … Now, it’s not really a FALSEHOOD that I’m one of those, is it, or even a stereotype – yet I have no right to feel insulted? Having to justify my emotions is pretty insulting, really. It just adds fuel to the fire, but you know – this is a legit discussion so that’s why I’m going with it. Dialogue is necessary about these things, so maybe more like you will understand.
Does it have to be a stereotype for me to disapprove? You never addressed dressing up in black wigs and wearing black makeup.
I find your rules for which people can be insulted by things pretty restricting. They seem rather arbitrary. This is not the end-all-be-all insult of all insults (I’ve had practice dealing with them my entire life), but your problem with something that people of my race happen to find offensive is baffling in and of itself. But I honestly hope these responses have cleared a couple things up.
I know im not in the minority here in america, however i have delt with native americans in my school calling me whitey, and honkey, and even pointing out my paleness (i was the minority there). And you know what?, I never once felt angry or picked on. So i would assume if i was in your shoes and i was one of more than a billion people with a similar characteristic i would feel even less like getting upset over it. Your race is the majority. Quit acting picked on. Stand tall walk tall and get over your insecurities.
Also if i were black and i saw people with black faces how could i get upset. They are just proving their ignorance. Why do i need to point it out. According to what is dominating the news lately the whole world agrees that both cases were in bad taste. why do some of them feel the need to go into further discussion?
whats to discuss? I havent heard one quote from someone in the press saying they wish this would happen more often. I know that this is a very old idea, but if you ignore a bully they will go away, if you show them it hurt they will keep doing it. Besides, it looks very bad for your entire race to be upset over a small group of people. Take the police for example; People make fun of them all the time, call them names, mock them etc. However, the entire reason they are respected is that they pay no attention. They know they are in the right. They know they are ultimately the ones who will come out on top. When was the last time you saw a news artical or tv report about a group of kids call them pigs and pulling their noses up? It happens all the time, and ITS NOT NEWS WORTHY.
In the end, no one was physically hurt, no crime was committed therefore no action need taken. Spend your collective time and energy on more important tasks. Come to think of it i need to take my own advice and worry about my family and not waste my time trying to convince others they are wasting theirs.
then this must be quite offensive to Gasol picture
Hey did you ever hear the “my mother’s chinese [lift eyes up] my father’s japanese [pull eyes down], look what they did to me? [pull one eye up one eye down]
comedy gold.
Indeedy, we’ll just agree to disagree. Anyway, I’ll leave you guys with a clip from The Daily Show.
It is a photo taken from a non international newspaper that shows a gesture from the spaniards towards the chinese people. Chinese embassador in spain said that he sees it as affectionate, so why so much fuss?
You criticize them for not know what it means on a USA context but you call them racist therefore ignoring what it means on a spaniard/chinese context. It works both ways.
“Considering your country welcomed Lewis Hamilton to Barcelona so well in Formula 1″
Less than half a dozen out of 55,000 spectators don’t make a country. Don’t you have hooligans on your country? no racist people at all?
@tristan: Non-international means it’s okay, because they *meant* for others to not see it? Yet in the next sentence you cite the Chinese ambassador. It’s called the internet, these days, and if you can’t fathom that everything gets passed across the internet – then you have bigger problems to worry about than direct diplomacy.
I have to admit that the American people often have a problem with thinking everything in the world has to do with them. It doesn’t, and it would do us good to remember that. So I 100% believe the bball team didn’t mean it in a malicious way. But when we say that it evokes “mocking” to us, we would like for you to stop defending yourselves and just listen to us – just listen. Making excuses about why I am wrong to *feel* the way I felt about that picture is IMHO wrong – that feeling is done, a stated fact – and needs to be dealt with. That very gesture is tied into negative experiences in many Asian Americans. And thus, that is mostly who you’re dealing with right now as a result.
Actually, we have TONS of racist people in the United States. But we bring them out into the open and criticize them … so we took it upon ourselves to bring Spain the same courtesy we do towards the rest of our own citizens. Perhaps the internet made the world (The Olympics) a little smaller than people are still comfortable with…
Anyway, I’m going to close comments here. It seems the arguments have been mostly exhaustive. Thanks to everyone for participating or even just reading this far.
Pingback: Uncanny Philosophy » Blog Archive » Of Racism & Standup Commedians