I agree that demanding pound-of-flesh payments from those with internalized racism isn’t productive.
On the other hand, promotion and creation is a two-way process. If the market demands something, there still needs to be suppliers. This is the Ken Jeong conundrum, right? He could reasonably argue that if he didn’t become THE Ken Jeong, then someone else would’ve because that market is ceaselessly looking for one. But doesn’t he have some responsibility to change that and not just acquiesce?
I look at Jenny Han’s interviews and she doesn’t really say much. Her basic response was “This is the story I wanted to tell,” which is a classic Straight White Guy response. Lana Condor was even worse and her interview on The Cut was so bad that Pride’s Taylor Henderson called her out for equating preference for WM with LGBTQ rights.
I’m saying all this as a general response, btw. Not saying this as some kind of refutation of a claim you made.
Ultimately, Asians who think differently from what we see in TATBILB have to respect their own viewpoints enough to step up. As you astutely said, we have to be critical and demand better.
And who’s better than us to provide that better alternative?
