Via Racialicious comes this interesting video of Irwin Tang discussing his new book Gook: John McCain’s Racism and Why It Matters
John McCain’s repeated and documented use of racial slurs against East/Southeast/Central Asian people immediately comes to my mind whenever someone — just about everyone and their brother, at this point — professes that there is no way no how that John McCain could possibly be racist. Add his repeated “gook” comments to his attacks suggesting that Obama is a terrorist, and his failure to (despite his debate claims) denounce a whole slew of racist attacks perpetuated by his own party, and you’ve got yourself quite a situation that suggests the exact opposite of McCain being the picture of racial tolerance. And damn right it matters.
The R in Republican Stands For Racist…
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Thanks, Cara. I happen to agree that it does matter to the well-being of the world whether or not the US president voices explicitly racist language and worldviews, but well that’s just me. ;-)
One slight clarification on the first sentence after the vid embed: “g–k” doesn’t only refer to Vietnamese people, as Tang explains, it’s a broad racist slur originally used against Haitians but these days at the very least against all East/Southeast/Central Asians. Frankly, “g–k”, “ch–k”, “n-p”, “j-p” are interchangeable; we’ve all been called all of these names all our lives; and as Tang says, it’s often accompanied by violent intentions.
Also, although I understand and appreciate Tang’s featuring of the g-word in his book title, I’d like to caution white folks against getting overly comfortable throwing it around; it needs to be treated with the same discretion as the n-word, never dropped gratuitously. I’m not saying this post has that problem, but it’s something I’ve observed and figure this is a good moment to note it.
Thanks Kai — correction noted.
McCain’s unapologetic use of that epithet is one of the reasons I won’t be casting my vote for him. Though I am somewhat sympathetic to arguments that it was derived from his horrid POW experience*, that still does not excuse his conduct….especially considering he will be leading a nation which includes Asian-Americans. At the very least, he should have learned to distinguish between his tormentors in the POW camp and fellow citizens of Asian descent.
Moreover, it is a grave insult to the Vietnam and Korean veterans I’ve met in my childhood who not only never used such terms, but chided their fellow vets whenever they uttered those epithets and other racial slurs.
* Sympathy derived in part from having family members, educators, and neighbors who suffered under state sanctioned harassment and brutality while living under Marxist derived regimes in China, Vietnam, and Eastern Europe and from studying those societies academically.
One of my best friends and her two younger brothers were adopted as babies from Korea. She recently told me one of her brothers is thinking about voting McCain (the rest of the family is strongly for Obama), so seeing this video just made me especially sick. Her brother is a really sweet (if, I think, politically misguided) guy, and I feel terrible seeing him support someone who couldn’t give less of a shit about his welfare. Another example of McCain spitting on his supporters…
(I sent my friend the link, but of course it’s up to *her* discretion if she passes it on to her brother; I certainly don’t know him well enough to try to pressure him about anything, even if I disagree with his position.)
And I am also (as others pointed out) very disturbed that McCain can’t distinguish between *enemies during wartime* and citizens (American or foreign) in a *non-combat* situation. Like, even racism aside (and it’s very much NOT aside) that shows a serious lack of judgment and, well, sanity. If McCain can’t get over his demons it’s a shame and I feel for him, but he has NO place leading our country.
Sen. McCain is not racist and you owe him any apology. He even fought for your freedoms, you should be ashamed of yourself but you’re too fat headed to get it.
You’re all going overboard digging up something said from 2000.
Gook’s are the Vietnamese communist, particularly the leaders. And in McCain’s case, his Gook’s are specifically the ones that captured, tortured and brutalized him for 5 years. If you were tortured you’d have some hatred in you as well.
I completely understand and accept his statement. He would not call me a Gook, he would not call my father or anyone in my family or the South Vietnamese Government or citizens Gook’s, because they’re not.
To this day, he has a South Vietnamese flag hanging on the wall of his office.
He has the utmost respect for the Vietnamese, Viet Nam, and especially for the south Vietnamese military. He does not respect nor like the Gook’s and neither do I.
You can debate many things about McCain, he has his flaws, but this is not one of them. No matter what, he is a patriot and he truly loves this country, and he has the utmost respect for Viet Nam and the south Vietnamese Army and Government.
And if I so passionately hated a nation we were expected to negotiate with I wouldn’t be fit to lead our country. I don’t think it negates his racism for him to say, “well, you guys are the *good* ones!”
I completely understand and accept his statement. He would not call me a Gook, he would not call my father or anyone in my family or the South Vietnamese Government or citizens Gook’s, because they’re not.
Yeah, except that doesn’t make me feel any better than his saying “but Cara, i wouldn’t call you a cunt because you’re not one — I only use that hateful misogynistic word for my wife! Context!”
And digging something up from 2000? First of all, he’s on record as using the slur a whole bunch of times. And second of all, that’s only 8 years ago. When he was running for president. Somehow doesn’t strike me as irrelevant.
And even if you do want to somehow argue that McCain’s repeated use of a horrid racial slur is not racist, it does at the very least point to his extreme immaturity. Clearly he’s not able to separate the people who tortured him from others, or he’d be calling those people who tortured him something non-racial like “worthless assholes,” “fuckwads,” etc. And clearly he’s not wise and self-restrained enough to think about the feelings of others before he opens his big stupid mouth, or effectively separate his personal anger from his public life.
Also, while I had never heard of McCain having a South Vietnamese flag in his office, the first thing that came to my mind was “dear god, if Obama had a Kenyan flag in his office, I’d sure as hell know that and who would he have hell to pay despite the fact that he has a profound connection to that country.” Off topic, but just saying.
And Realist, I’ll be ashamed of myself as soon as you explain to me how using disgusting racial slurs on a repeated basis is not racist. Further, I’d be fascinated to hear your explanation for how someone could not have simultaneously fought for my freedoms and be a racist. It’s my understanding that the two are not mutually exclusive, but maybe I’ve been wrong all these years thinking that the world isn’t filled only with super duper good guys who never do anything wrong and completely and utterly evil ones who do nothing but horrible things their entire lives.
Ummm yeah. Since when is 2000 ancient history, or a far-back date when using racial slurs was somehow ok?
On my next job interview and loan application, I’m going to insist that employers and credit ratings agencies stop digging up my past. And they owe me an apology if they don’t just take on faith my unsupported dangling assertions.
Hi-
We are Air America’s new web TV show: Maron v Seder. I wonder if you would be interested in posting this youtube video we made showing McCain’s most racist ad yet:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cb8h2j7u1Tk
Thank you.
Maron v Seder
Here’s a picture of John McCain’s office. You can clearly see a flag on the right side of the window with yellow and red stripes.
http://img.timeinc.net/time/daily/2008/0808/loffline_a_0825.jpg
It’s the Arizona flag.
When I lived in Arizona in the 70′s, from time to time there would be an uproar about the “Vietnamese” flag flying over the capital.
John McCain has been running a racist campaign. I’m not sure it’s possible for white people to NOT be racist, but good people will at least make the effort, and he isn’t making enough of an effort.
Thank you for your brave and compelling personal statement. McCain’s use of the racial slur gives an insight into the deep hatreds of this wounded and bitter man.. His campaign has now descended into the most abject racism. Unable to use the “n” word, they have settled on calling Obama a Muslim, an Arab, or a terrorist. This is called subliminal racism (or covert racism).
The AP reported in 2008 that John McCain’s Vietnam War jailer says he would vote for him because of McCain’s willingness to forgive and look to the future. Could you forgive the very people that tortured you? John McCain did. So there goes your “Gook” racism theory…
L, that makes absolutely no sense. Forgiving individual people doesn’t exempt you from holding hate towards a larger group of people. And did he forgive his torturers before or after 2000 when he was last recorded using the slur? Just curious.
Here’s a story.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/10/23/politics/p132217D92.DTL&type=politics
Vietnamese-Americans overwhelmingly support McCain by about 50 to 30 and it’s obviously clear that they understand that ‘gook’ is a derogatory term used for the enemy.
It doesn’t offend them. Why does it offend a guy like Irwin Tang?
Why does it offend you?
Tracy — did you seriously just use the “I know someone of X race who doesn’t find it racist and so therefore it’s not” defense?
Impressive.
It offends me because it’s racist. It offends Tang because it’s a word that has been used against him, his friends, his family, his community and his ancestors, and it’s a word of hate. It says “I think Asian people and people of Asian descent are not fully human.” Why is that so difficult to get through your head? What about you makes it so difficult to admit?