The reaction to Thessaly La Force's article about PARASITE provides an unintentional but revealing case study about how AsAms truly feel about mixed-white Asians. So many dragged her as a racist white woman who didn't understand Asian culture yet it turns out she's half-Asian. 1/

As many said, the article was lazy, poorly researched, racist, & Orientalist, which is why people (correctly) assumed a person with white heritage wrote it. Yet a common refrain in the AsAm community is that criticizing mixed-white Asians for their white privilege is bigotry. 2/

But the fact is, an Asian with white heritage—esp those who are white-passing like La Force—has a fundamentally different social & institutional racialization than a monoracial Asian does. They are consistently given opportunities & resources that monoracial Asians are not. 3/

How many Asian celebrities are mixed-white? Keanu, Henry Golding, Chloe Bennet, Hailee Steinfeld, Darren Criss, Mitski, Olivia Munn, Charles Melton, Joji—even Bruce Lee. How often are they prioritized over monoracial Asians & used as the standard faces of Asian representation? 4/

But that prioritization doesn't stop with celebrities—it extends into every other institution & industry, affecting everyday Asians. If we can acknowledge that East Asians have privileges over SE Asians, why is it so taboo to acknowledge the privileges mixed-white Asians have? 5/

The answer: because a white-dominated society encourages division in the AsAm community & discourages the dismantling of white privilege. But forcing the AsAm community to deny the white privilege of mixed-white/white-passing Asians only goes so far, as La Force's case proves. 6/

Putting theory, discourse, & the groupthink of prominent AsAm voices aside, everyday people will racialize many of these mixed-white Asians as white only, & treat them accordingly. This reality shouldn't be taboo, but discussed openly & with the same care/nuance as any other. 7/7