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August 1, 2005
No White Boys

To follow on the ever-present discussion about white men-Asian women couples (last seen on our post about Bitter Asian Men) here's a controversy brewing in Oakland:

There's an art show up at the Asian Resource Gallery in Oakland called Not So Lang (pretty): Why Two Chinese-Cali Artists Don't Date White Boys. Haven't gotten down there to see the show myself, but apparently there is a T-shirt in the show with "I Don't Date White Guys" stenciled on it. This upset some people.

Read a description of the show at Manja.org. It includes quotes from the artists, Joy Liu and Tiffany Eng.

The gallery space is regularly curated by activist Greg Morozumi. Has anyone seen the show? It's up til the end of August at:

Asian Resource Gallery
310 Eighth St @ Harrison
Oakland Chinatown (in walking distance from Lake Merritt or Downtown 12th St. Oakland BART)

Posted by Melissa at August 1, 2005 4:30 PM


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Comments

I went to the show last Thursday. Its really great, the art was fantastic. Um...haven't heard much about anyone mad about it, but I can imagine a bunch of emo white kids aren't too pleased :)

Posted by: Roshan at August 1, 2005 9:17 PM

'emo'?
i read the little interview. it didn't shed much light imho.

Posted by: a questioner at August 2, 2005 6:52 AM

emo = short for emotive indie rock. Or emotive hardcore. (Depends on who you ask and how much of a music geek the person you ask is). But generally, thrift-store clothes wearing hipsters who like indie rock.

Posted by: Anonymous at August 2, 2005 4:24 PM

emo = emotive indie rock!? well, you learn something new every day, although I doubt this is going to be a 'final round' question on Jeopardy any time soon. I thought it was Elmo's hidden twin.

So is there 'non-emotive' indie rock - kind of a 'Mr. Spock Rock'?

Is there an 'emotive franchise' rock?

frankly, i have a hard time dealing with thrift store clothing wearers who vacation in Europe; have the 20G i-pod, drive a MiniCooper and constantly complain about being poor.
but, hey, I'm picky.

Posted by: a questioner at August 3, 2005 9:12 PM

while i know what you mean, questioner, i will say that there are some folks who know they're comfortably middle-class yet still wear thrift-shop duds: it has to do w/not wanting to support sweatshops, being more environmentally friendly (instead of creating a demand for more brand-new products), & yeah, also sometimes about the aesthetic (depending on what kinds of thrift store clothes you get).

Posted by: angela at August 4, 2005 8:18 PM

oh yes, i can get with the recycle\reuse thing, just i can't stand hearing the 'broke blues' from trust fund babies. they don't know from having it tough. spare me.
but, as with most things - 'always' and 'never' always never happens.

Posted by: a questioner at August 6, 2005 8:13 AM

what's good y'all -- well as for who got upset about the show, they were mostly white liberals (not the emo-hipster kind, but the non-profit kind... if you know what i mean), who were shattered by the specific pointing out of "WHITE" guys. they were folks in the building who thought the artwork would cause funders to go running. they wanted the show to go down immediately, saying it caused a "hostile working environment".



but everyone has been, for the most part, very supportive -- so big public thank you to everyone who's gone to see the show; it's our first baby step to showing...



and for anyone interested, we *are* selling hand- or screen-printed t-shirts with the handy saying on it, "i don't date white guys". holler.

Posted by: joyous at August 8, 2005 10:57 AM

so did the shattered hipsters gather themselves sufficiently to have a conversation about the issue?

were there any couples shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot?

any females hastily leading their beaus out the door?

Posted by: a questioner at August 9, 2005 11:16 AM

Didn't mean to make a big deal out of the "emo" comment, it was just offhand. I was referring to white liberals, a lot of whom I consider to be in the emo crowd.

Anyways, thanks for the info on the shirts, Joy.

Posted by: Roshan at August 9, 2005 6:21 PM

The question is, what are these gooks doing in America in the first place? America is a country that belongs to white people. It isn't Asia, and gooks don't belong in it. These gooks Joy Liu and Tiffany Eng invade a white country and live in it where they don't belong, infesting it like the slitty eyed insects they are, and then repay the true owners of the country (white people stupid enough to allow them to live here and not murdering them like they probably should) by making t-shirts with slurs against them? I think someone is going to have to commit a hate crime against these gooks that involves alot of slow torture.

Posted by: slopheadgookhater at August 10, 2005 1:16 AM

okay slopheadgookhater, thanks for sharing. next!

Posted by: claire at August 10, 2005 12:29 PM

hater, the only people who may even have a right to complain about people invading this country are native americans. it's the white people who invaded this country, not anyone else. stop drinking the hatorade.

Posted by: Anonymous at August 10, 2005 12:44 PM


What happened to the post that named this racist motherf*cker ("slopheadgookhater") is really a person named "Bill Becker"? Did somebody make a mistake or did "Bill Becker" make more direct threats to "commit a hate crime"?

Anyways, whoever this shithead is, I hope his shitty life gets shittier by the hour until he decides to do the universe a favor and blows his shitty head off. I'll bet every acquaintance and family member of his will be relieved that this jackass is out of their lives. I'll bet some of them pray for this to happen every single day.

Posted by: innocent questioner at August 15, 2005 11:45 PM

hi. don't recall any such post showing up as a comment. we have no record of it.

Posted by: Melissa at August 16, 2005 11:29 AM

Hmmm. I must have been seeing things. I could have sworn seeing it a few days ago. It didn't last very long, but someone's post said "slopheadgookhater is Bill Becker" and gave a link to his email address. Maybe someone else could verify this? Maybe not. Oh, well.

In any case, the person who wrote under the ID of "slopheadgookhater" really is a motherf*cker. Also, I'm sure everybody he knows thinks he's the most boring and disgusting person THEY know. Oh, but of course, whatever the case, his mother definitely doesn't think her son is a motherf*cker, I'm sure.

Posted by: innocent questioner at August 17, 2005 12:08 AM

Imagine a white person with a shirt "I don't date black people". You'd never hear the end of the outrage.

Posted by: pjgoober at December 9, 2006 6:35 PM

Nah, I dony think blacks will get outraged by that. To be honost they wont care.

Posted by: RELAX at December 9, 2006 8:41 PM

Heh.

I wonder if the "outraged" whites would have been just as outraged had the shirts said "I don't date Asian men."

It's funny how white men get all indigent as long as they're not included but as soon as someone else is mistreated or not included, they tell them to stop whining.

Posted by: Bobo at September 6, 2007 12:06 PM

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