race, racism, and micro-aggressions: an open letter to white members of the fs community
I was once told by someone in the fs fandom that βAmericaβs POC issues donβt matter in the rest of the worldβ. This was deeply distressing to hear at the time, and in light of all thatβs happened with Y*gudin, recent comments from Kurt Browning, as well as the general state of white fs stan twitter, I felt it necessary to write this. Not as a shady response to that person (whose username I donβt remember) but as a general, open letter to everyone.Β
America is a microcosm. There, perhaps, more than anywhere else, we see the stark contrasts caused by racial issues. It is the birthplace of the general narratives of how we understand race and racism but racism is not an issue that is circumscribed to America. Nor is race conflatable with nationality. The racial inequalities that exist in America and that you (by now) should hopefully understand are really only a microcosm of the rest of the world β a world whose economical structure and distribution of power is built on centuries and centuries of western colonialism and the oppression of BIPOC.
I can understand why many of you who donβt live in the West, particularly the North American West, donβt recognize your part in these systems. You arenβt brought face to face with racial issues in your everyday life, so itβs easier to view racism as βsomething that happens over thereβ and not a scourge that exists in every institution and system on the international scale.
This view of racism as an American-only problem is detrimental, especially in such an insulated community like fs. You fall into the trap of thinking that no more work needs to be done to combat racism in this sport, that this sport is fair. You may even dismiss it when POC bring your attention to blatant and not so blatant acts of racism.
But figure skating is still a majority white sport. Yes, you may see more poc in the audience now but this sport is BUILT on notions of eurocentricity and eurosuperiority. Consequently, it still privileges white skaters and white fans. Iβll speak mostly on the asian, particularly east asian, experience because I am more well equipped to do so but I invite black and brown members of this community to add on to this post with their own perspectives β perspectives I donβt feel like I can accurately articulate without speaking over other people.
That said, letβs defuse some of the myths surrounding racism and its existence in this sport.
Many confuse the currently strong presence of asians, particularly east asians, in skating as a sign that these skaters and poc in general do not face any institutional barriers due to their race. You may think that because there are poc skaters who are considered some of the greatest of all time like Yuzuru Hanyu, Yuna Kim, and Patrick Chan, skating as a whole is no longer prejudiced but fair and meritocratic. In reality, youβre buying into the myth of poc exceptionalism. While Hanyu, Kim, Chan might be considered the βcomplete packageβ, many who are less renowned are held back by the biases that have long been associated with Asian people - less emotional, more reserved, not passionate enough, too demure. But consider this: POC shouldnβt have to be the βcream of the cropβ, as it were, to break through these barriers. All skaters, on all levels, should not have to face racially motivated prejudice.
And the acceptance of POC skaters is not unconditional. In fact, POC skaters are only embraced when they perform according to white taste, or when they manage stunning, irrefutable technical feats. For example, Yuna Kim and Patrick Chan both have very traditional styles that former white skaters can identify and relate to themselves. Their repertoires (Beatles, classical music, film music like James Bond) are palatable and tailored to white fans. When skaters do not perform/imitate whiteness or heteronormativity, like Yuzuru Hanyu often doesnβt, white cishet fans react by saying they βcanβt relate toβ or βdonβt understandβ the program. This is an example of privilege at work because people of colour and LGBTQA+ folk have always had to consume cishet white media and culture. Our world is built on it. Though some things we may not immediately understand, we are forced to learn how to relate to this media because white = classy, white = history and tradition, white = the norm. It is a PRIVILEGE to not relate to something and immediately dismiss it because it is a performance set to a japanese song or because it tells the story of a disaster that happened halfway across the world. At the end of the day, Iβm not here to police your tastes. But, white fans, you donβt have to broadcast it every time that you find a POC skaterβs culturally informed choice strange, or bizarre, or unrelatable because in doing so you are demonstrating your own privilege and shoving it in the face of poc fans.
This is not even to mention the blatant discrimination in majority-white spaces when you are not viewed as sufficiently βassimilated"Β or palatable enough to white culture. Folks like Canadian ice dancer Asher Hill have testified that some of their fellow coaches have even said things such as βthis is why I donβt work with black kidsβ. Just because they donβt say it on TV or on record doesnβt mean that many of the older and not so old members of the community donβt harbour these racially motivated feelings, which in turn translates to how they interact with POC skates and fans AND into the commentary they provide. These members of the community are often shielded from criticism by a certain barrier of βrespectabilityβ: ex. βI canβt believe fanyus are now mad at Kurt Browning for comparing asian skaters to cars! Kurt Browning! What, are they gonna get mad at Tracy Wilson next? No oneβs safe from the fanyus if you say even one remotely negative thing about Hanyu! Ridiculous!β In reality, Kurt is a product of his time. He may not have said it with any malicious intent but that doesnβt negate the fact that his words were upsetting to hear as POC.
Prejudice against POC skaters and fans is now harder to identify because it often manifests itself in the form of microaggressions. Microaggressions are the slights that POC and other marginalized folks face, often on a daily basis, but that disguise themselves are innocent expressions of preference, compliments, or even attempts at allyship. Iβll list some of the recent ones I recall below:
- βShe [MaΓ©] looks so EXOTICβ. Maybe it was meant to be a compliment but the constant exotification of POC continues to βotherβ our presence, asserting implicitly that whiteness is and will remain the norm. Calling POC, especially BIPOC, βexoticβ is just a step away from full out orientalism.
- βIt looks like Japanese nationals in the crowd! Welcome to Tokyo British Columbia!βΒ (Said before anyone was holding up flags or banners.) This is an intensely uncomfortable observation because it reminds poc viewers that we will always be singled out due to our appearances. It echoes the βyellow perilβ rhetoric of asian people encroaching on white spaces. Moreover, the assumption that all the asian looking people in the crowd were japanese groups all asian people into a giant monolith. Let me put it to you this way: imagine if a commentator said: βWow! It looks like Spanish nationals here!β because you are in an asian country, Javi Fernandez is one of the competitors, and there are a noticeable number of white people in the crowd. It would be a ridiculous observation when no one is holding up any flags, right? Because itβs assumed you canβt automatically conflate all the white people in the audience as Spanish. The refusal to differentiate our cultures and randomly mixing up different cultural attire, languages, and music is sadly a consistent issue in skating and it is a message to poc that we are interchangeable, our cultures are interchangeable. Weβre all Japanese or weβre all Chinese or weβre all Korean depending on the situation. It may not have been said with malice, but that doesnβt mean its effect is negligible.
- βShe [Rika] has such small eyes itβs hard to tell her expression and I canβt connect with herβ. I shouldnβt have to explain this one but I will anyways because I know some people will take this the wrong way. You CAN criticize Rikaβs skating. But some of these comments focusing on her appearance, specifically features that have racial connotations makes you question how much of their inability to connect with her is rooted in an unconscious bias. Letβs be clear, sidelining poc artistry doesnβt just happen in skating. It is a reoccurring trend in all performance sports, from ballet to ballroom. Hereβs another example of uncomfortable fixation on our features: βanother almond-eyed talent from asia!β. Imagine if I reversed it. βAnother pale-skinned talent from Europe!β Now it sounds odd, right? Because itβs not assumed that all people from Europe look the same, as it is of Asia, or Africa, or South America.
And thatβs only a few of the hundreds of instances I can think of. As a POC fan, Iβve made my peace with the fact that I wonβt ever be seen as a βtrueβ skating fan by some people, especially by older members of this community. But for all of you white folk that consider yourself allies? If youβre not a bigot, itβs easy to reblog and call out extreme examples of racism. Donβt get me wrong, that is the essential work of an ally. Itβs harder to take that same energy to your own βbackyardβ, if you will, and see that the sport you cherish is founded on white privilege and continues to discriminate against POC skaters. Itβs harder still to realize that some of the people you put on a high pedestal are flawed and make mistakes. But I hope you guys can be just as eager to acknowledge examples of casual latent racism in this sport as you are to call out acts of blatant racism. This means starting to consider your choice of words more carefully, and examining + questioning your own inherent biases. I understand that itβs a difficult, conscious decision to do so, and that often it would lead to some harsh realizations, but there are three key principles to how you can start:
1. Donβt respond with white (cishet) fragility when POC or LGBTQA+ folks tell you that something youβve said or someone else said is wrong or offensive (ex: I didnβt mean it like that! Stop being so negative!). Try not to immediately get defensive and take it as an attack on your own character when you are asked to examine your own biases. Donβt police how POC and other folk feel (ex: I donβt think you should be offended by that. Are you sure this has to do with race? Maybe itβs just a coincidence. Stop making everything about race, youβre the one thatβs creating divides!). You can give more facts if they donβt know the whole picture, you can add some more perspective but you CANβT tell POC how to feel because this is not an issue that you yourself are affected by.)
2. Donβt be selective about which issues to care about. Many white people wanted to rage about IAOP this year. But then the same people went mum on Great Spirit, Alinaβs βEgyptian danceβ program, Evgeniaβs straightjacket/asylum dress etc, etc. When this happens, it becomes obvious that you only care so long as it serves your own interests β so long as you can weaponize it to attack the morals of a skater you donβt like. This isnβt true allyship this is just self-serving performative activism.
3. Donate to organizations whose primary purpose is to develop skating in minority communities that otherwise would not have access to the sport. Skating is expensive. I had to quit skating as a hobby because as new immigrants we just, at a certain point, didnβt have the money for lessons and for new equipment. Donating will ensure that A. more people can enjoy this sport and B. the voices in this sport become more and more diverse as new cultures and new forms of expression find their way into the canon history of figure skating. Organizations like Figure Skating in Harlem, or its Detroit program counterpart could always use your help. (If anyone has more, please feel free to add).
Iβve used the wordΒ βyouβ quite a lot in this open letter but I donβt exempt myself from any of the things I mentioned. As an asian fan, I have to be actively critical of the anti-blackness in the asian community. I am learning as you are learning. This open letterβs purpose isnβt to deride anyone. Everything Iβve said I apply to myself as well. Itβs okay to make mistakes; itβs okay to recognize that your favourite skater has made a mistake. No one knows everything. What makes the difference between a true ally and a performative activist is the willingness to admit it and change.Β
