Elaborate theater props can’t mask the deeply rooted bigotry of Miss Saigon. Since its release on Broadway in 1991, this show has gone on to dehumanize Asian people, romanticize sexual trafficking, and trivialize war — all to the tune of millions of dollars made over the course of 4,264 productions.
Now, 12 years after closing on Broadway, Miss Saigon is attempting to make a comeback. But not if we have anything to say about it.
We refuse to buy Miss Saigon — literally and figuratively. We will not pay for tickets to a show that says Asian American women are subject to the whims of white men, or that they are nothing but objects for sexual gratification. We refuse to believe that human trafficking is something at which we should gape. We do not support the myth that U.S.-based adoption is the best and only option for Asian children. And we roundly challenge a Southeast Asian wartime narrative that ignores colonialism and racial privilege.
