It's no mystery to as why Asians are depicted poorly in black cinema sometimes or why Asians tend to not like black people. It's all out in the open, anyone with intellect can see.
Despite the fact that both Asians and Black people are the minority in the country. You might wonder as to why there is not more unity between the two communities. From the LA riots to the slaying of Vincent Chen. Our American brothers and sisters with Asian heritage have greatly been ignored or been cast as cliches like Mickey Rooney's depiction of a Japanese man in Breakfast at Tiffanys to the Long Duk Dong character in Sixteen Candles. A variety of Asian cultures are misrepresented and usually grouped together. There are a lot of incidences where Black people have been greatly influenced by Asian cultures and martial art films. The RZA's The Man with the Iron Fist movies are meant to be honoring the martial arts movies he saw in his life.
One of the best examples of black and Asian cultures mixing is the 2000 film Romeo Must Die starring the talented Jet Li in his second American movie and the beautiful and talented Aaliyah in her film debut. The film itself is good and the friendship between Jet Li and Aaliyah's characters seemed so real. The problem is the film was actually supposed to be an action romance film but due to a negative screen test with an "urban" audience the romance scenes were taken out and it appeared the two characters had a non-romantic friendship. This is why the film had "Romeo" in its title as it was to have a romantic element to it.
Jet Li would also star in a film called Cradle 2 the Grave alongside rapper DMX. The film was panned, but the two actors had chemistry and I wish we could see them work together again.
Though we have negative depictions like the Koreans in Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing where a few black people attempt to burn die down a grocery store owned and operated by a Korean family after the black community burned Sal's pizza shop. The Korean man wields a broom and swings it around stating "I am black, you are black..we are the same" They don't burn the store down, but they don't acknowledge the Korean man's hand.
There's also the Korean liquor store owners in Menace II Society, where a Korean female follows two black people around a store to make sure they don't steal anything. The whole thing escalates when the Korean man behind the register says "I feel sorry for your mother" to O-Dog who takes offense to this and kills the man then his wife.This film was disgusting once I was old enough to understand what was really going on in the film. To be honest, I would feel sorry for the kid's mother too as O-Dog is not a good man and he proves it when he shoots and kills the Korean couple.
Closing thoughts:
As I stated before I am not Asian as far as I know, I was greatly influenced by Japanese culture when I was younger. As I grew older I found myself discovering more cultures like Korean, Chinese, and Malaysian and being totally fascinated by them. I am a quarter black, so this post did affect me as I did research.
There needs to be more unity amongst the minorities, for that to happen I believe that the various Asian communities need to speak up. Did you know that the first person to touch Malcolm X after he was shot was a Chinese-American activist by the name of Grace Lee Boggs who died on October 15, 2015, at 100 years old. There was a Japanese-American man who was a recognized member of the Black Panther Party. Asian Americans have been fighting alongside black people for a very long time, why can't anyone open their eyes to that. There needs to be unity and that unity can make our country better than ever before.
a few notable Americans with Black and Asian Heritage;
Hines Ward - Former Wide Reciever for the Pittsburgh Steelers and two-time Superbowl MVP. Half Korean and Half Black born in Seoul, South Korea.
Benson Henderson - MMA fighter with a record of 23-5 and was the UFC lightweight Champion for two years. Son of a Korean American and a Black American, he was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Ne-Yo -a grammy award winning R&B singer. He has Chinese and Black heritage
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