Frank Shyong: Andrew Yang faces his critics in the Asian American community
LOS ANGELES - At an Asian American and Pacific Islander presidential forum on Sept. 8, Democratic hopeful Andrew Yang eloquently expressed support for affirmative action and talked about how growing up Asian American had made him feel like his "spot in this country is somewhat in question."
Then, a week later, after clips surfaced of comedian Shane Gillis calling Yang a racial slur, Yang tweeted at Gillis, offering to meet and commiserating about how society has become too vindictive about offensive jokes. He also wrote that anti-Asian racism wasn't taken as seriously as racism against black people. (Gillis was briefly hired by "Saturday Night Live" and quickly fired after his long history of using ethnic slurs became public.)
"In the same week (Yang) went from being thoughtful and deliberate and nuanced on race to being relatively glib," said Karthick Ramakrishnan, a UC Riverside professor who runs multiple AAPI data initiatives.
Yang's candidacy has been intensely polarizing within the Asian American community, in part because he has presented discordant views on race and identity. His jokes on the campaign trail about Asian dads and how Asians are good at math have sparked accusations that he's perpetuating the model-minority stereotype.
