Ronny Chieng’s Chinatown Report & The Wave of Anti-Asian Racism | Beyond the Scenes

the side of the Daily Show. I'm Roy, but Junior, this is beyond the scenes where we go beyond the topics and the discussions that we have on the Daily Show. I sit down with correspondence, producers, writers, anybody that had anything to do with the piece happening. We talk to them on this show and you enjoy it and it is as delicious as the Daily Show because it's on the side. And see what it's on the side. It feels healthier.

the original segment, Jesse Waters from Fox News. This is during the twenty sixteen election, and Trump was talking China, China had and he went down to Chinatown to do what was supposed to be quote unquote journalism and having a real discussion with Asian people, But really what he was doing was exploiting people who did not speak English and then going around town partaking in all of the different stuff that basically just highlighted a bunch of Asian stereotypes.

He got a foot massage, he played with some nunchucks, he played kung fu fighting, and my man, Ronnie Chang caught wind of this shit and he clapped back in a major way.

where the Daily Show had to address it. We decided to go to Chinatown to get the response of people from that neighborhood who were interviewed, the same neighborhood that was interviewed in the Fox News segment. And we went down, and I was worried that because in Singapore and Malaysia, people get really apathetic about politics and they're very hesitant to be on screen and they're very hesitant to be

on screen talking about politics. So I didn't know if that would be the same thing we would face in New York City Chinatown. But what we found, the entire Daily Show team found was that it was the exact opposite, because as soon as we got to New York City Chinatown, people literally as soon as we got out of the car and I was dressed in the suit, and they they as soon as they saw me, they're like, hey, are you here to talk about that thing that happened yesterday?

And I was like yeah, and they're like, come over here, and then they they brought us to the place in Chinatown and people lined up around the block to talk to us. They lined up, so it was like, yeah, people don't normally line up to talk to us, So I literally I was just standing there as people came one after the other to come and and bitch about what happened yesterday. What are your thoughts on the Jesse Waters video on Fox News?

the country should be run. So that was the idea we are doing in Chinatown, which was trying to get their opinions, and in many cases we kind of asked them to speak Chinese or Cantonese just to make the point that you can have sophisticated thoughts in languages other than English, and so yeah, the response was, you know, it required almost no effort on that pot. The streets. The streets did the talking on that one.

on a piece as an Asian, was this personal? Was this a more personal piece for you?

have an objective view of it. And also I was pretty pissed going back to the studio and I remember we brought the footage back and this this is again speaks to the team at the Daily Show, is that we we went out to shoot, went back edited, whether we shot, wrote the Deak piece and on the same night, right, and we recorded the same night, like and you know, field pieces are usually separate to death pieces, but this was like the perfect merging of Chat with Trevor and

a death piece and a field element and man on the Street all in one day. I mean, that's the you know for me. And that was this is early on in my Daily Shot. It is maybe one year in and I was like, man, this is the Daily Show. It is best, you know everything, Everyone's operating and firing

on all cylinders in a very short timeframe. And sorry to answer your question about not being pissed off, I mean, part of it is the job, and part of it is I always feel like because I'm a first generation immigrant to America, so I'm in America because by choice, like I want to be there, and so when I see shit go down, I see like I also see in this particular instance. Yeah, you can say, you know,

blatant racism. But the silver lining to this whole story was that everyone got angry by this Fox New piece, not just Asian people, not just Chinatown New York City people, the entire country was like, Yo, this this sucks. And that's why it entered the Z guys right, because if most people thought it was okay, it would never have, you know, blown up to the point where you know, at that time, people were pre upset. You know, everyone,

white people were upset. Every race was pretty upset about this. So if you ask me why, I'm not more upsets because, oh, it was a cause that everyone already. You know, most people were upset by the issue already. We were just giving them a platform to express it.

kind of sort of apologized after the fact. Is it the right wing gee Fox News type media outlets that pushed this narrative or was it at the people that actually thought that what he did was real journalism and informative.

And it was a sentiment I felt there was already in America, and yeah, I kind of symbolically put the flag in like this is the moment. But and I was lucky to be happened to be in a position to do it right, because we want to show that criticizes news and media. That's what I'll show essentially is right. And so I happened to be on the perfect platform to do it. But like I said, I think most people in America didn't think it was okay even at the time.

brings me to twenty twenty. As a matter of fact, now we already know the role that Trump played and stirring the pot from twenty sixteen up until COVID. But at COVID, I feel like that's when the pot went from medium to hot, well, from hot to hotter for

anti Asian American sentiment. You know, there was a one h and fifty percent spike and anti Asian crime in twenty twenty, and then also you know everything that started with COVID, and it's starting in China, and then Trump driving the narrative of oh, it's the you know what he said about it. I'm not going to even repeat what they call the coronavirus at the time or whatever, but the China virus is that one I can say. I'm not going to say the other one, but it

really you could say it. I'm not gonna say it. I'm not gonna say the case so.

they they like people. I think Asian people are kind of under the radar a bit until this thing happened, and then now it became It kind of gave people an excuse to like go after Asian people if you're having trouble. Oh but I will say in America, I think what's interesting about being Asian America is that you're kind of always you know, the idea of being a

perpetual foreigner in America. Like Asian Americans aren't usually like they're always seen as having to like answer for stuff that happened in Asia or you know, like everyone's always putting stuff that happened in Asia on Asian Americans when that very separate cultures, Like a lot of Asian Americans

haven't left America before. They were like born in Asia and they never left, you know, and so it's almost like quite frankly like African Americans being asked about stuff that happens in Africa, or like Anglo Americans being asked about stuff in the UK, you know, like what happened in what's going on with Brexit. You know, like most people, I don't know what's happening. A lot these Asian Americans

are just Asian American culture. But I guess my point is that that's that's That's the way I kind of describe the perpetual foreigner thing is that you're you're always being asked about stuff over there, and so you got nothing to do. Most most Asian Americans have nothing to do with the stuff over there. You know.

safe and that I'm not here to punch. I will get and I'm being silly, but there is this idea and it's no different than at night when you live in the city. There's a woman five six steps ahead of you on the sidewalk, right, I'm not trying to creep you out. I know I'm a big dude. So to keep us both comfortable, I'm gonna slow down my step a little bit, give you ten feet so that you know what I mean, like just being conscious of making sure that everybody has a little bit of space

and that everybody's comfortable. That was problem One problem too, was for me because there were two door men that got fired in New York City for not helping they want an Asian woman who was being attacked on the sidewalk. And my thought was, wow, okay, if if that happened, what would I do? Me Roy And in my head I'm like, okay, I'm going to help. I have to break that up. But then there was also a piece of me in my head going Okay, when the police come, what are you gonna do to make it look like

the one attacking the Asian? And I'm like, fuck, I've got to call the police on myself and let them know that I'm cool, set my phone up, set up the IG live stream, then go ahead like like being a little fanatical on that side. But there were all of these levels in my head of how could I help but also remain safe for police and people that are pulling up with even less information than I have, you know when I circle the corner. But that's that's

that's an interesting thing we could probably exploit. Matter of fact, I'm gonna I'm gonna pose that question to our guests after the break, to be joined by the wonderful, wonderful Norman Chen. He is the CEO and co founder of leading Asian American Unite for Change. We'll have him on in a second. This is beyond the scenes. Are you enjoying going beyond the scenes with me? Ronnie?

you're dealing with ain't real. It's not real. Well, everybody, of course, robbery's up, it's a pandemic. Everybody's on employ like, no, man, I'm telling you, they're attacking us. So how were you all able to assess attitudes and stereotypes towards Asians over there with the Status Report.

during difficult times and crisis. This is like COVID are once in a lifetime hopefully, so we're seeing a repeat, a repetition of the cycle of stereotypes leading to scapegoating leading to violence. So, as a new nonprofit last year we re formed in twenty twenty, we were looking for existing research on stereotypes of Asian Americans and shockingly, the last study that had been done comprehensively was twenty years ago, when there are half as many Asian Americans in the country,

and so we thought that's just a glaring need. There's a glaring need to do more research about stereotypes, and so we commissioned the Status Index Study, which was really checking on how Americans now perceive Asian Americans, and unlike most other Asian American research that's out there we interviewed all Americans, so not just Asian Americans about their experience, but also other racial groups. So it was it was quite groundbreaking this year.

life felt way way safe than compared to Instagram. But because of Instagram, man, my head was definitely on a swivel the entire time in New York City. You know, I'm looking behind my back. I'm not walking down you know, streets, I don't know, I'm.

but for other people as well. If I see like an old Asian person on the street, I'm always like, okay, well, you know, it's my job to to is my job to make sure she's okay for the length of time which she's in my field of vision, and then I pass off to the next Asian bystanders who's walking in a separate direction. So yeah, it's well looking for other people too. You know, when we see these videos, by the way, normal, I don't know what you feel and Roy, I mean no, I don't know how you feel when

we see these videos. Happening to elderly Asian people. I'm not even I'm not even worried about I'm not thinking about myself. I'm not thinking what that happens to me. I'm thinking, man, that looks like someone, that looks like my relative, that looks my grandma, like my aunts, my grandaunt. Like I'm worried about them more than I worried about me, for sure. You know, when I see these videos, it's

not like I don't stop fearing for my life. I'm like, man, what if there's another Because the people being attacked aren't the Asian mma fighters, you know, those are the people. Those not the videos we're seeing. You know, we're seeing the people who can't really defend themselves.

Oh you're good at math. Shouldn't we all be good at math like even when you take Ronnie's film Crazy Rich Asians, which did I would assume amazing things for helping to debunk some stereotypes. People will turn around and see three well dressed Asians walking down the street and just go look at them rig as Asians? Norman, how much does pop culture play a role in that? And have you seen any improvements in any regard that would

help you believe that the tide is turning? And how Asians are at least portrayed in entertainment.

prominent Asian American. And the number two and three answers they gave we're all martial artists. Number two was Jackie Chan, who we love, but who is actually not American, he's from Hong Kong. And number three was Bruce Lee, who's also you know, a martial artist, but hasn't been did wow the years? So uh, And you look at the roles people see Asian Americans in the men are the gangsters, they're the nerds, the technicians, the women are the massuse workers,

they're the waitress, exactly all roles. So a lot of those stereotypes still persist. You know, our research was important because no one again had done this research for twenty years, so we re established, we quantified a baseline. This is where things are. It's not good, but at least we know where we are. Hopefully, over the next one year, three year, five year, ten years won't be forty two percent of Americans who still can name a freaking prominent

Asian American. So we're hoping to track progress over time. But to your point, yes, a lot of these stereotypes still exist. The fact that Ronnie and others were able to show Asians in a positive light, right, it's being successful and being frankly physically attractive. When's the last time we saw an Asian American male take his shirt off in a movie? We had a lot of that crazy rich agents and a lot of the Asian American men in the country we're celebrating it, and a lot of

Asian American women as well. There are definitely trends and positive signs, and I think a lot more movies and TV shows are coming out, which is really encouraging.

that require attacking from different places. So yeah, one aspect of the attack is you know, Pierre part Henry Golding taking their shirt off in craziers asions. That moves the needle a little bit, I won't you know. It doesn't solve everything, but it definitely helps a little bit. And some of it is where the funding is going on, the on the street's actual help, some of its legislation.

Some of it is you know, messaging. So like all this stuff plays into it, and that's why having the data helps, because it helps us understand where we can attack. It also helps prove that there is an issue. You know, yeah, No.

American history and classrooms in the US. And now, as you know, recently Illinois mandated the teaching of Asian American history in public schools, which is a huge milestone, and other states are moving in that direction. And so clearly more Asian American history knowledge is important. These are cycles. There were lynchings in eighteen seventy one of Asian Americans

in LA No one knows about that. A lot of people don't even know about the Japanese internment during World War two, and so to make this information more accessible to young kids, who are really the key to address before they become racist adults. We're working with a group called the Asian American Education Project FUE a graphic novel overview of the highlights of Asian American history. So think about it, you're a fourth grade, fifth grade kid, you

don't want to learn even about your own history. How do you make Asian American history interesting and accessible? And we're working with an award winning comic book writer to create an overview of it that hits all the highlights of Asian American history so that schools and teachers and students can get this information in a very accessible way. We can share it digitally as well. These are the things we're trying to do to really have an impact,

to create more education. But to Ronnie's point, it's a movement that needs to happen, and we're starting to get organized, starting to have resources, but there's a ton of work to do in many different areas.

to help small businesses. You know there's organizations raising money to help the businesses in Chinaawn, There's there's people trying to put as as norm just mentioned educate kids. You know, there's people are doing stuff.

to white people. Find someone that's doing the work, and show up and go what can I do well.

more good people than bad people. And I think the fact that we are talking about this, the fact that norm did this study show that they are people who can you.

That's all important, But it's like the drug war, like you've got to start a fight the war at the source, right, what's causing these hate crimes and what's leading to the stereotypes and escapegoating and the violence. And so media is very powerful, Hollywood, TV, movies, the news is very powerful right in terms of how Asian American stories are reported, and so there are groups activating to try to get more coverage about Asian American stories. Education, as we talked about,

is extremely important to shape hearts and minds. We were fortunate, in terms of politically, to be invited by Congressman Ted Lew to present to the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus and where we shared our data so that the legislators and the political leaders can have more information that they can use to fight their battles. And so that's one

way we're trying to link with the legislators. You know, getting Asian American history taught in schools that requires legislation, right, And so it requires political activity, and so that is a very important channel to get things done as well.

of the motive for those crimes. But not only does that not get turned into will did he kill them because of sexual shame or did he kill him because they were Asian? Or was it a little bit of They just stopped talking about it all together.

towards Asian Americans in the past year. So I don't know where they're getting the information from, but clearly it's not share it's not representing the hate crimes that are affecting women in Atlanta and other places. That's one data point.

The second data point is I just was on at an event in the Bay Area with Dion Lim who's the local newscaster and really prominent activists in the Asian American community, and she says now that when she goes to her producers and has you know, sometimes five or six anti Asian American hate crime stories each day, they're saying, you know, we're not the public's not interested in these stories anymore, so we need to find something else to

report on. So exactly to your point, these stories are getting buried, and so how do you solve these problem? I mean, these are systemic problems for sure. One area that a lot of people are focusing on, I think makes sense is representation. How many of their producers or senior people at these media companies are Asian American and about Asian American stories, right. I think that is critical, and I think that's an area where we have seen

significant underrepresentation of Asian Americans and leadership positions. One of the key statistics from our study was that half of

Americans think that Asian Americans are actually well represented. They think, hey, model minority, we're smart, hardworking, we must be successful, it must be leaders Well, actually we're fifty percent underrepresented in terms of leadership positions, in terms of Supreme Court justices, of which there are zero Asian Americans, in terms of the corporate world, in terms of the political world, in terms of owning TV stations and movies stations, et cetera,

we are severely underrepresented. Yet people are under the illusion that Asian Americans are well represented. So I think representation is a key part of the puzzle. And only when you have leaders who appreciate and understand the Asian American experience and the Black experience and the Hispanic experience do we have real diversity and true you know, acric coverage of America. And so we're hoping that we'll see some changes in that area in the next few years as well.

Asian hate crime deal? Before it was we've been trying to get a how do we get other groups because everybody is so insular. You know, Ronnie's very right in that regard in America where everybody's just tending to their own farm. You know, I've got my problems to deal with the latinos head. We're focused on our things and how do we get other mind in orders to understand that if anybody can break through, it's good for everybody.

outreach is critical. We also believe that working closely with these partners on initiatives such as diversity in the media, such as fair representation, are really critical. So yeah, I think it's a key part of the solution. And I say the onus is not just on, it's on on both sides of the equation.

are as cold and unfriendly and not warm. Well, they've never been to my house or Ronnie's house for a dinner party, right, They've never had time to hang out with our grandparents and our parents and just really enjoy each other's company and have great Asian food together. We need to share that experience more and let people know just you know, how warm and dynamic our culture is.

And also again break down these barriers. So I think at the micro level, interaction among different groups is really really critical. That's how you just like you. I mean you maybe didn't meet an Asian American until eighth grade, but then once you get to know Asian Americans, then you start to have a more well rounded understanding of them and hopefully developed good friendships.

goes it out saying obviously than bad people. And when we join together on issues that we do agree on, it increases our voting strength. It creates a more powerful voting block. Because Asian people are what four percent? Nor was it four percent.

on board. But when you're it's so hard to explain sometimes, and that's why only minorities get that, And that's why we should get along in America's because sometimes it's not that anyone is blatantly being evil, it's just that the system itself in a way that you can't even begin to explain the issues you're having. How many times have you gone into a room and been like, now, these

people are even gonna get what I'm saying. I'm talking about my you know, Asian grandma on the streets who don't you know, they don't understand what you know, they're not gonna get it, whereas if you talk to Latino people, black people, they'll understand it more. And so if we can get more like minded people in decision making positions, you know, that's where kind of we can stop moving the needle with change, and that's why we should be joining together as a voting block. You know, that's my

argument to you, Roy. I mean, you can also play back on me as you always do, and you know we can America continue on at least less.

them online launch dot org. That's launched like the Space Shuttle with two a's launch because I know I have a Southern drawl, and you think I said lunch, and I didn't say lunch, I said launch like a rocket. Two a's dot org. Norman, thank you so much, for coming beyond the scenes with me.