The next superman is going to be played by an Asian guy!

Okay.. so no thats a lie. but you'll understand why i said that. ;p
Sorry to get anyone's hopes up... hehe

So I remember hearing rumors about a year ago that they were in the process of making a live action DRAGON BALL Z movie!!!

Well as soon as I heard that memories started rushing back to me. My childhood obsession with this show/series some would say was unhealthy. I would constantly rewatch episodes i recorded on VHS and then go online to ultimatedbz.com to read up on trivia, news, etc. There was not a tidbit of information about the series i did not know.

What could have caused this ridiculous obsession?? Crazy battles? Lovable characters? the secret desire to be a super saiyan??? (or saiya-jin if youre nasty.)
I think that it might have been a combination of all of the above.

But also the fact that for the first time in my life, I finally had a cartoon hero, that looked like me! I remember as a child this one time when i was playing in 4th grade when we were all picking which x-men we were going to be playing as. I of course wanted to be the big bad wolverine. However, when i picked him right away one of my friends who wanted to be wolverine also said to that he should be wolverine because he looked more like him.

I pointed out that, i looked like wolverine just as much as he did. He then pointed out that wolverine wasn't asian. I lost that argument because the rest of the group agreed with my friend, and they all wanted to start playing. I got stuck with Nightcrawler. didn't think too much about it.

Not that Nightcrawler isn't super bad ass! I love Nightcrawler, and as I grew older, he is definitely one of my favorites. However at the time, he is nowhere as bad ass as the rough n' tough wolverine.

Well, as x-men's popularity waned and anime was on the horizon, the tables started to change. I remember how my friends and I started a mini "guild" about dragon ball z. And for halloween I had the pick of the bunch of who i wanted to be. And of course, I chose to be Goku, the protagonist. My sisters helped me make the costume and everything. I looked cool.
Well after all those memories came rushing back, i googled the dragon ball z movie and started to check out what it was about.

And then I saw it. The Man that was able to stop Vegeta's conquering of the earth. The man who put down the Freeza. The man who kicked the shit out of Majin Buu. The man that was my Hero from 4th-8th grade. (yes 8th grade)

Goku, was being played by a white actor..

Oh you better believed that pissed me off. The coolest thing asian kids had going for us in the mainstream media. Our hero, was now being played by a white guy. Whyyyyy!!!!!!

Does anyone else find this discouraging? Of course this goes along with the whole "asian guys can't be protagonists" but still... Come on!!! Its like, give a brotha a shot!!! Not only is the guy obviously asian in the series, but dude, he is the master at martial arts!!!!! WTF!!! It should have been a give me!!!!! Like, dude, i know this is terrible to say but when it comes to playing master martial artists, i'm pretty sure us asian guys got that down.

Now there is the argument that Goku is not necessarily "asian". He's a Saiyan. Who knows if he looks asian or not! Well, read this next 5 sentences and then ask that again.

Which brings me to the title of this whole thing. What if they announced that the next superman was to be played by say, John Cho. Or Rick Yune. Oh you better believe there would be people up in arms saying ohhh, you can't do that! he's white!!!

WRONG MOTHER FUCKER!

i'm sure all of you comic book experts know that Clark Kent, isn't actually "white". He's actually a Kryptonian. THATS RIGHT!!!!! HE IS AN ALIEN ALSO FROM THE PLANET KRYPTON!!!! So boo yah.
don't even try to make that argument.

This is just another example of unequal media representation at its best. This whole thing made me think of the whole "Charlie Chan" TV show from the 30s and 40s. (White guy portrays an immigrant chinese detective)

Also makes me think, wow so one of the one things asians can play in movies (martial artist) we can't even play anymore?! Come on folks. I think we need a new plan of action. Lets make our own movie on our favorite anime. Anyone wanna make a live action pokemon movie with me???? And the best part is, we can have him get with Misty in the end breaking the whole Taboo of an asian protagonist guy with a non asian girl!!!!! Lets do it!

Now i'm not saying that I need my heros to look like me or anything.. But i'm just saying, it would be nice to have that connection every once in a while ya know?

"It's not fair..."

“It’s not fair..”

Vincent Chin was a 27 year old automotive supplier that worked as a waiter on the weekends to help make ends meet in Oak Park Michigan. On the night of June 23^rd 1982 he was having his bachelor party where he was met by 2 men who were disgruntled over the failing economy. Having lost their jobs at a Chrysler plant, they shouted at Vincent “It’s because of you little Motherfuckers that we’re out of work.” They were referring to the success of the Japanese Automotive industry… They went looking for him later that night and caught up with Vincent when he was eating at a McDonalds. They waited for him and when he was heading back to his car they jumped him. While one man held him, the other took a bat to his head. He was beaten so severely that he would eventually die 4 days later in the hospital. He was supposed to be married 5 days later.

Right before he slipped into his endless sleep while in the ambulance he whispered to his friend “It’s not fair…”

The two men were only given three years probation and forced to pay $3,780 in fines. The judge stated “These weren’t the kind of men you send to jail… You don’t make the punishment fit the crime; you make the punishment fit the criminal.” The only jail time the two spent after all this time was a weekend in a holding prison.

26 years and 19 days later…

Luis Ramirez was a 25 year old Mexican immigrant worker that was living in Shenandoah Pennsylvania, a town of with a humble population of about 5,000. On the night of July 12th 2008 Luis was on his way back home he was confronted with a group of teenagers who had been drinking that night. He was beaten severely and while the kids were fleeing the scene they yelled to Luis’ companion “You fuckin’ bitch, you and your fuckin Mexican friends get the fuck out of Shenandoah or you’re going to be laying fuckin’ next to him.” He was rushed to a hospital where he died 4 days later. He left behind a heartbroken wife and three children who still ask for their father.

The teenagers were simply convicted of assault while the charges of reckless endangerment, aggravated assault, ethnic intimidation, and murder were all thrown out.

What next? People getting away with lynching a black kid for supposedly whistling at a white woman? Getting murdered for loving a person of your own sex? Oh wait….

The world is crazy. After all this time how are people still getting away with things like this? Why is this being allowed? What is a person to do with the world we’re living in? I know that these incidents are isolated, but the fact that people are getting away with this is fucked up. What is a kid in this type of setting supposed to do? I cannot help but picture myself in the shoes of Luis and Vincent. I know that if I were ever called racists names or anything like it I would have a reaction. But what am I supposed to do when facing uneven footing like Vincent and Luis faced?

Should I start carrying some sort of weapon for protection? A knife perhaps? Something easily concealable and lethal just in case? But wait, what if there is more than 2 of them? A knife can only do so much against staggering odds? Maybe something tougher? What about a gun? If there were even ten of them, the gun should be able to hold off any amount of punks because nobody is going to mess with a person holding a gun…

The fact of the matter is I don’t think guns are good at all. Not for citizens at least. For cops, sure, soldiers, sure, but for normal people like me? I don’t think so, but when I hear that people are getting beaten to death without consequence then I don’t know how else to react. I mean, if it’s a choice between dying or prison, then I’ll be picking prison thank you.

It also makes me wonder what the results would be if the roles were reversed. What if it was two Asian men who beat to death a white man who was celebrating his bachelor party? Or a group of Mexican teenagers who beat to death a 25 year old man with three kids and a wife? I can only assume that they would call the Mexican teenagers gang bangers and throw them right into jail. The Asian men would cause such controversy that white supremacists groups all over would be trashing Asian grocery stores and telling them to “GO BACK TO WHERE YOU COME FROM” Of course expect the occasional “ching chong ching” remarks as they do it.

I don’t know anymore. I feel so helpless. Somebody…

Above: Vincent Chin murdered at the Age of 27 five days before his wedding
Below: Luis Ramirez murdered at the age of 25 leaving behind a wife and three kids.