East Meets Black: Asian and Black Masculinities in the Post-Civil Rights Era

201 Pages·2015·3.45 MB·English

East Meets Black
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East Meets Black
Asian and Black Masculinities
in the Post–Civil Rights Era
Chong Chon-Smith

University Press of Mississippi Jackson
www.upress.state.ms.us
The University Press of Mississippi is a member of the Association of
American University Presses.
Copyright © 2015 by University Press of Mississippi
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
First printing 2015
∞
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available
British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data available
For My Oma
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: Racial Magnetism in Post–Civil Rights America 3
1. The Asian American Writing Movementand Blackness: Race and Gender
Politics in Asian American Anthologies 35
2. Yellow Bodies, Black Sweat: Yao Ming, Ichiro Suzuki, and Global Sport
55
3. “I’m Michael Jackson, You Tito”: Kung-Fu Fighters and Hip-Hop Buddies
in Martial Arts Buddy Films 84
4. Afro-Asian Rhythms and Rhymes: The Hip-Hop and Spoken Word Lyri-
cists of I Was Born with Two Tongues and the Mountain Brothers 115
Conclusion: Critical Reflections on Race, Class, Empire, and the “Pains of
Modernity” 138
Notes 143
Works Cited 169
Index 184

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Acknowledgments
There is a community of people who, having the gift of encouragement and
sacrifice, generously gave their time and energy for this book to be complet-
ed. I hope they see, inside these pages, evidence of their inspiration and sup-
port. Judith Halberstam, Shelley Streeby, Nayan Shah, Tak Fujitani, and Lisa
Yoneyama always offered me an open door and a warm smile, and helped me
fundamentally to rethink the project into a book. Lisa Lowe provided unwav-
ering guidance and intellectual freedom. Words are not enough to express
my gratitude for her brilliance and kind spirit. I am deeply indebted to other
valued mentors, colleagues, and interlocutors who came along just at the
right time: June Johnston, Kathryn McPherson, Coach Malone, Lisa Sánchez
González, Helena Woodard, Cindy Franklin, Candice Fujikane, Ruth Hsu,
Laura Lyons, Hagen Koo, Chung-Hoon Lee, Rosemary Marangoly George,
Don Wayne, Camille Forbes, Jin-Kyung Lee, Patrick Velasquez, Cecilia
Ubilla, Quincy Troupe, George Lipsitz, Dylan Rodríguez, Setsu Shigematsu,
James Kyung-Jin Lee, Ayo Shanti Oum, Iris Morales, and the late Fred Ho.
Much of the success of this book I attribute to Wesley Stone, Chris Bible,
Gilberto Porter, JoonHyun Choi, Norman Ho, Jason James, and Agustinas
Suhardja. They have been loyal comrades throughout the journey of writ-
ing and revising. The Newman Center at the University of Texas at Austin,
Emmanuela Hong, Manilay Khamphanh, Arvind Santhanam, Tra My Evelyn
Huyhn, Sergio Palacios Coyote, OASIS at the University of California, San
Diego, the Scientific Soul Sessions collective, and the World Martial Arts
Center have provided fellowship and laughter when I needed it most! For
my fellow graduate students who helped me survive and thrive in perfect
weather, bureaucratic institutions, tennis courts, and potluck dinners, I
thank Kulvinder Arora, Aimee Bahng, Emily Cheng, David Carroll, Yu-Fang
Cho, David Coyoca, Margaret Fajardo, Lilia Fernandez, May Fu, Hellen Lee-
Keller, Gregory Lobo, Natchee Blu Narnd, Nga Nyugen, Gabriela Nunez,

Theo Verinakis, and Chuong Dai Vo. For helping me make my institution-
al home at Hunter College of the City University of New York, I thank my
remarkable colleagues in the Departments of English and Asian American
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