Update (8/16/16): I wrote this as a response to a comment that has since been deleted. In a nutshell, it was a guy responding to this post and saying that Snapchat’s “yellowface” filter wasn’t a big deal. He didn’t understand how it was racist. So I wrote this in response.

I understand that you don’t understand. But from reading your response, it seems like you don’t want to understand.

The yellowface stereotypes katie zhu’s talking about have a really long history. You may not be aware of it, but that doesn’t mean it’s not real.

For example, here’s a character from the 1961 movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s that pretty much everyone now agrees is completely unacceptable:

How is this any different from that snapchat filter? It’s based on the exact same idea.

Where does that idea come from? Here’s some clues:

I get it, Pearl Harbor was a terrible thing, and in WW2 Japan was our enemy. But what are we even fighting for if not equality for anyone, no matter what you look or sound like, to be a part of America? These racist images had a huge impact.

Do you think this only affected Japanese people? Of course not! It made America intolerant of anyone that looked Asian.

It’s not something we should take lightly, in my opinion.