(This statement was delivered to the organizers during the Don’t Buy Miss Saigon Unity Event at Rice Park on October 8, 2013): “ I’m sorry I can’t be with you in person tonight, but I want you to know I am with you in spirit….
“ For the last two decades, Advancing Justice – AAJC has worked with partners from all communities across the United States to monitor and respond to negative portrayals of Asian Americans in the media. The showing of Miss Saigon perpetuates harmful stereotypes that hyper-sexualize Asian…
“ Miss Saigon is filled with a myriad of racist and sexist depictions of APAs…. It is unacceptable that racism against the APA community continues to be defended as artistic freedom when equally racist caricatures of other racial groups, such as mammies, are avoided. Similarly,…
“ Freedom of expression is a right that we support, but not at the expense of profiting off the stereotypes that continue to oppress our communities of color. The story of Miss Saigon is as original as the history of racism and sexism existing in…
“ The stereotypes perpetuated by Miss Saigon have been around for as long as Asian Americans have been in the United States. They are harmful and racist. As someone from North Minneapolis, a place where racism has impacted people of color on such a huge…
“ Community Action Against Racism (CAAR) stands in solidarity with the work of the Don’t Buy Miss Saigon Coalition. CAAR’s mission is to hold institutions accountable for spreading negative ethnic and racial stereotypes. Supporting the Coalition aligns with CAAR’s work around racial justice and activating…
“ Stonewall DFL officially joins the protest of the Ordway’s performance of Miss Saigon due to its perpetuating negative stereotypes of women and persons of color and its romanticizing of human trafficking. Our history is in step with the traditions of standing up to persecution…
“Art is no stranger to controversy, but the stereotypes perpetuated by Miss Saigon do little to advance our understanding of the actual culture and experiences of the Asian Community. Miss Saigon is rash with racism and sexism, and performances of the show have a detrimental…
“Miss Saigon thrives on the corrupting Orientalism that is no longer culturally permissible among people of taste and good will. It is cultural trash that demeans both Vietnamese and Americans. It overflows with the quasi-racial condescension that cruelly stereotyped Vietnamese nationalists as moral midgets. It is an insult to all those who fought and died for freedom and justice for the people of South Vietnam.”
