Major and Minor players...

Beyond Black and White:

Racializing Asian Americans in a Society Obsessed with O.J.

By Cynthia Kwei Yung Lee

I found Lee's article to be an eye-opening piece in addressing the extended issues of race that seemed to revolve around the Simpson trial, yet weren't given the same amount of attention as the general confrontation that was developing between black and white Americans. I was unaware of the extent to which Asian Americans were involved in the case, save for Judge Ito, as well as the racial remarks that were used against them or when referring to them.

However, I do understand how these issues may have fallen below the radar of most Americans when looking back on this case. Yes, Asian Americans clearly had a role to play, but, for the most part, the major players in the case made race issue revolve around the tensions and distinctions being made between black and whites. A black man was on trial for killing a white couple. A white, racist police officer appeared to have tainted the evidence. The main black defense attorney made this a case about race, about being African-American in a white world. These were the major issues, the major players - the people that everyone was thinking about during the trial. Ito was obviously there and was also an essential part, as were the Asian American witnesses that testified in court, yet it wasn't really about them.

Clearly, the way in which the public reacted or better yet failed to react to much of the racial commentary about Asians during the course of the Simpson trial reflects the issue that this paper is bringing forward. Yes there was anger and people were offended by senator D'Amato's comments about Ito or the drawings published in O.J.'s Legal Pad, but this outrage really came from special interest groups. It seemed like in some of the situations presented, the American public largely accepted the comments that were being thrown around so carelessly by certain media members and people involved in the case.

What I did find particularly interesting, as Lee noted, was the backlash received due to the racial remarks made about Dennis Fung. Both Cochran as well as Shapiro made jokes at Fung's expense, yet the white, Jewish Shapiro seemed to be the only one who faced public wrath for his comments about the "Hang Fung" restaurant in which he handed out fortune cookies. Neither comment was tasteful, yet it seemed that, as Lee pointed out, Shapiro was the only one who found himself forced to make an apology in order to quell the public uproar. Cochran escaped unharmed, which appeared to be due to the fact that he was the one who made this case about race, who made it about the racism perpetuated by whites. It was interesting how that type of defense had some backlash against a white member of his own team, and really says a lot about the sentiments that brought during this trial, on differing levels of course, about issues of racism.

Clearly this case was about more than black and white, but not everyone seemed to realize that. Not everyone got on board and paid attention to every derogatory comment made about Asian Americans. The black/white perspective really took the forefront of this case, and while that is clearly troublesome, as other issues did exist, I do feel that it's understandable due to the race and identity of the major players/parties involved. Like in many major play or film or production, there are major and minor characters. And while Asian Americans clearly had their role to play in the Simpson trial, those roles were largely secondary to the white and black actors, and therefore did not garnish the same amount of attention.