Sunday Read: #WeDontLookAlike sparks an outcry

As Asian Americans begin to assert themselves and make their presence felt in this multi-cultural society, let's not forget that the path to understanding and tolerance is a two-way street.

The role mainstream media -- whether it be television, movies, the internet or print -- plays in allowing our country become the America we want it to be -- can not be understated and is part of the reason we write about pop culture.

Several incidents of mistaken identity and misrepresentation underline the rough road we still have to go to achieve recognition, empathy and understanding.

The first to stumble was People magazine, that barometer of celebrityhood ad pop trends. The magazine was called out by Crazy Rich Asians actor and Daily Show correspondent, for its SAG coverage in which Chieng, was misidentified along with him wife, Hannah Pham, as Randall Park and Jae W. Suh, respectively. Actress Tan Kheng Hua, who played lead character Eleanor Chu's mother, was also mistaken as Michelle Yeoh.

Fellow “Crazy Rich Asians” actor Remy Hii, who played Alistair Cheng, tweeted in support of his co-star, explaining to journalists why this erasure of Asian identities is more serious than just an “honest mistake.”

“To the journalists consistently at fault, I refuse to believe you’ve never mistaken a Bomer for a Cavill, an Adams for a Fisher, a Hemsworth for a Hemsworth and yet it happens All the time with PoC,” he wrote.

“When you fail to recognize our faces, when you consistently misattribute our names as though any Asian performer is interchangeable, you erase our identities & you erase our humanity. You negate our achievements & talents with your ignorance. We’re not going to take it. Do better.”

People magazine's apology highlighted the problem, which read, “We also understand that there is a larger issue of misidentification in the media — especially among nonwhite subjects. We will try to be more thoughtful and careful in our work going forward…”

In Vogue's coverage of the Screen Actors Guild Awards it included photos of actresses Gemma Chan and Tan Kheng Hua. Unfortunately they were captioned with the names Michelle Yeoh, their Crazy Rich Asians co-star, and Liv Lo, the wife of CRA's leading man, Henry Golding.

BagSnob, by Taiwanese-American Tina Craig, posted this:

Fashion watchdog Diet Prada, partly written by Tony Liu, called out Vogue’s blunder on its Instagram page, which, in turn, sparked a strong reaction on social media.

One tweeter tweeted: “What’s going on with you not being able to correctly identify women of colour?”

“Vogue Magazine can’t even be bothered to accurately report the names of non-white stars. Disrespectful and sad,” another poster posted.

Bag Snob pointed out that Vogue, apparently, has no problem identifying other celebrities.

While Vogue has corrected its error, there was no explanation or apology. Maybe they thought no one would notice even though this isn’t the first time the magazine has misidentified Asians.

Last month, Pakistani American activist Noor Tagouri said she was “devastated” after Vogue got her name wrong in the mag’s print story.

In a caption accompanying a photograph of herself, she is misidentified as Pakistani actor Noor Bukhari.

And while it might seem like a simple typo, in a video uploaded to Instagram, Tagouri explained why the mix-up was so serious.

“I’m SO heartbroken and devastated. Like my heart actually hurts. I’ve been waiting to make this announcement for MONTHS. One of my DREAMS of being featured in American @VogueMagazine came true!” she wrote in an Instagram posting accompanying a video of her initial reaction of joy and deep disappointment after seeing the erroneous caption.

“We finally found the issue in JFK airport. I hadn’t seen the photo or the text … But, as you can see in the video, I was misidentified as a Pakistani actor named Noor Bukhari. My name is Noor Tagouri, I’m a journalist, activist, and speaker.

“I have been misrepresented and misidentified MULTIPLE times in media publications — to the point of putting my life in danger. I never, EVER expected this from a publication I respect SO much and have read since I was a child. Misrepresentation and misidentification is a constant problem if you are Muslim in America. And as much as I work to fight this, there are moments like this where I feel defeated.”

In this instance, Vogue issued an apology to both Tagouri and Bukhari, and has publicly owned up to the error on social media.

“We are sincerely sorry for the mistake. We were thrilled at the chance to photograph Tagouri and shine a light on the important work she does, and to have misidentified her is a painful misstep,” a Vogue Instagram post reads.

“We also understand that there is a larger issue of misidentification in media — especially among non-white subjects.

“We will try to be more thoughtful and careful in our work going forward, and we apologise for any embarrassment this has caused Tagouri and Bukhari.”

Getting misidentified isn't limited to celebrities. Asian American politicians also fall victim to people's unfamiliarity or lack of interaction with AAPI.

California Assemblymember Rob Bonta was recently mistaken for fellow Assemblymember  Vince Fong. There's not even a passing resemblance. Bonta is on the left.

If we are to be generous, we might excuse the tendency to think Asians all look alike and give it the sociological name of Cross-race Effect. People who are unfamiliar with Asian Americans, who have grown up isolated from people of color, who have few social or professional interactions with Asians, who cannot tell the difference between Japanese and Filipinos, or Malaysians and Chinese ... we MIGHT give forgive their ignorance ... 

Mainstream media, however, such as People or Vogue, cannot fall back on that excuse. There is no excuse

The larger issue is that too many non-Asians tend not to see us as individuals and view us as characatures, stereotypes or others ... all of which, of course, are perpetuated by the movie and TV show we watch, the entertainment we stream and the periodicals we read.

Speaking to CNN, Tagouri said: "I'm so grateful and humbled by the support and conversation this has started.

"This wasn't about ME being misidentified and represented - it was about all marginalized people who are constantly an afterthought and not truly seen."
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