Introduction

The Coalition Against Anti-Asian Violence (CAAAV) was founded on October 18, 1986, by working-class Asian American women working to stop the tide of violence against Asian Americans. This tide of violence was rooted in systemic and institutional racism[1]. In New York City and throughout the United States, Asian Americans' hate crimes were at an astronomical rate, and the community organized to protect itself.  One of the root causes activists believed was the negative media stereotypes of Asian Americans in mass media[2].

As CAAAV Fall 1993 newsletter stated, "The movie "Rising Sun" opened on July 30 at Time Square…Virtually all of the film's Japanese male characters are portrayed as venal and sexually deviant foreigners bent on taking over American institutions…. Consistent with CAAAV's longstanding focus on how selective economic scapegoating and racism are linked."[3]

Much like African Americans, Latinx Americans, and Indigenous People, the stereotypes of East Asian Americans have a foundational history in Hollywood. "Hollywood's early films drew on the legacy of minstrelsy, presenting people of color as comedic buffoons or lecherous villains. From the blackface portrayals of African Americans as fools, rapists, and schemers in D. W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation (1915) to the yellowface performances of Asians as diabolical, inscrutable, and exotic foreigners, Hollywood has a rich history of casting white actors to mock people of color. "[4] The representation of Asians as sinister, mysterious and exotic was also known as,  the “yellow peril".

[1] CAAAV. “About Us”. Accessed May 3, 2021, https://caaav.org/about-us

[2] Editorial. “Candidates Surveyed on Racial Violence.” CAAAV The Voice. Page 3. Fall 1989  

[3] Editorial. “Rising Sun! Rising Hate!” CAAAV The Voice. Page 4. Fall 1993

[4] Yuen Wang Nancy. Reel Inequality: Hollywood Actors and Racism. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. 2016. Page 9, Page 10