Youth Specialties Apologizes for Racist Content
A national youth workers organization issued a public apology for a racist depiction of a "Chinese delivery man" in one of its recently published books.
Youth Specialties president Mark Oestreicher apologized on behalf of himself and his organization for the offense published in Skits That Teach. In the book, the character of a "Chinese delivery man" was "horribly, inexcusably, and unquestionably racist," said Oestreicher in his recent blog post.
The book and its 1,700 copies were released in fall of 2006, but the issue was brought to the attention of Oestreicher and the publisher, both of whom were not aware of the content, just recently by an Asian professor at North Park College. According to Oestreicher, the book containing the skit with the Asian character was edited and designed within a day or two. The new version is expected for release mid-March.
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"We at Youth Specialties really screwed up – big time. I’m ashamed and embarrassed and horrified (and fairly angry, also), and I personally beg the forgiveness of our Asian American Christian brothers and sisters," stated the Youth Specialties head on Friday.
"If there is any place we should expect an exception to the cultural norms on this kind of prejudice, it should be in the church. This kind of racism (intentional or not – that is not at issue here) goes against everything we believe here at YS)."
Oestreicher explained that there was no intention of racism. At the same time, he acknowledged that if the character had been African American with similar racial characterization and phonetically-spelled accent, the content would "not have slipped through the administrative cracks in our development process," he believes.
"But, somehow, the characterization that did get printed didn’t register high-enough on the radars of the people who saw it. This, while we might not want to admit it, reveals a systematic racism," he further stated.
"Systematic racism" is seemingly widespread. Some Asian Americans say that racial stereotypes are hindering them from reaching American pop stardom, according to The New York Times.
“There are very talented Asian-Americans out there,” Michael Hong, founder and chief executive of ImaginAsian Entertainment, a multimedia company that features Asian-American artists, told the Times. “The only problem is nobody is signing them.” Those who are being signed are mixed-race Asians, the report noted.
Most recently, "American Idol" contestant Paul Kim, a Korean American, was praised by judges but was voted off by viewers after the first round.
"I was told over and over again by countless label execs that if it weren’t for me being Asian, I would’ve been signed yesterday," said Kim on his MySpace.com page, according to the Times.
Kim, however, does not see the let go as a racist move.
"I don't think it has anything to do with me being Asian, I think it's just, I didn't have a huge fan-base as the show started," he said, according to The Mercury News.
And Kim believes it was in "God's plan."
In the meantime, Oestreicher said Youth Specialties will issue the public apology in its weekly e-mail on Wednesday, which goes out to some 30,000 youth workers. Moreover, the organization will destroy copies of the original version of Skits That Teach to ensure another copy does not get out. Those who already have the original version are being offered a free copy of the edited book and returns will be accepted.
