From its wording, I’m not sure whether NHK disagrees it was racist so refuses to acknowledge it, or remains unaware that it was racist despite responding to
complaints of its blatant racism. Seriously. I don’t know which. But, for the record, both rationales are really bad.
What’s worse is that NHK is not the only media conglomerate exhibiting questionable judgement as to its coverage and analysis of Black Lives Matter
protests, peaceful and otherwise, and stories emerging from around the globe regarding this uprising. TBS went as far as to actually give a platform to white supremacist — er, “advocate”?
— Jared Taylor to talk about Black Lives Matter issues. Is that a powerful statement of its position on the question of whether our thoughts and feelings matter in Japan or what? And a
couple of days later they double down by calling on Atsugiri Jason to speak on the topic and for black people. That’s two strikes, TBS! Don’t get me wrong, being a white comedian doesn’t
necessarily disqualify Jay from speaking on issues of police brutality. Anyone paying attention to the media knows this movement is far from black and white.
But … come on, TBS! And you too, NHK! Y’all can do better!
You want to know how I know you can do better? Because I’ve seen you both up-close and personal do remarkable things, and not in the distant past but
recently. Not two years ago, in lieu of the bad behavior of Nippon-TV (defending blackface and disregarding global criticism) I was invited by TBS to give a presentation to the producers and executives about their role and
responsibility especially as it pertains to diversity and representation. And at NHK, just last year, I appeared in and offered up valuable advice on one of its programs that shed light
on discrimination faced by Burakumin. The show, “Black in Buraku,” compared and contrasted the plight of Japan’s historically lower caste with that of African Americans both in the U.S.
and here in Japan. It was a seminal moment indicative of great days to come.
Yeah, not so much.
It seems, at best, the left hand doesn’t know what the right is doing at these rather large corporations. Perhaps it’s a simple case of tatewari,
everyone kind of isolated in their own spiritual and mental silos, and the memo that the calendar has rolled two decades into another millennium — one in which black people are not to be
viewed as being so “other,” so beyond the pale, as to be inconsequential — has not reached every member of the staff yet. Whatever the reason, the result is that while one hand is ramping
up to thrive in a dynamic new paradigm, the other is still stuck in the past, content to reinforce the same old racist stereotypes by marginalizing and misrepresenting blackness. And
black people — who are intelligent, vocal and unflinching in our demand to have our humanity acknowledged — continue to be ignored in the worst way. Still.
Not good.
This is why you are seeing Black Lives Matters marches in Tokyo and Osaka, and there will be more, yes, here in
purportedly racism-free Japan. Because Japan, trust us, you got racism coming out your butt! And that half-assed, half-baked apology NHK offered up is reflective of a mindset unwilling to
acknowledge this.
Allow me to re-write your apology, NHK (and this can work for you as well TBS, if you ever think it’s appropriate to apologize to us for turning to David
Duke for commentary on the actions of clearly non-Aryan people):
We apologize for our recent racist behaviors. Listening to our brothers and sisters of color, we’ve come to realize where our problem resides. We simply
never saw black humanity comparable with our own. We relegated you to alien status because of the difference in our appearances (and consequently likened ourselves to white people). And
once we alienated you, whatever happened to you physically, mentally or spiritually, never truly hit home with us. It rarely has the impact it would have if you looked like us. We realize
if we had humanized you from the start relations would be 100 times better right now. So, we promise, moving forward, to make every effort to refrain from alienating you, and to embrace
our common humanity and produce programming that encourages the same, as much as possible. In order to accomplish this we will be hiring and consulting with people of color on all
programming that pertains to people of color. We realize that by doing this we all stand to benefit a great deal. Again, we are sorry for our bad behavior. We can do better, and
we will!
Now that would be an apology deserving of forgiveness.
And if you need guidance on how to explain black lives matter to your viewers there are actually resources on the net for doing so, many in Japanese. Check
out the Instagram user @euro719, a Japanese kid who breaks down what’s going on in the current situation in Japanese so
that his followers can explain it to their relatives.
