N*gger, Wetb*ck, Ch*nk Can Be Funny Words

Harry Mok
November 8, 2005

I caught a performance at the Kirkland Performance Center near Seattle over the weekend. The three actors from the Speak Theater Arts (Allan Axibal, Rafael Agustin and Miles Gregley) in the show recount their experiences with racial stereotypes and identity in a show peppered with humor. The message is simple: We're all the same, no matter the color of our skin.

One of the running jokes involves Axibal, the Asian member of the trio (who's Filipino, but mistaken for Chinese), and Gregley, who is African American. You have to see the show to understand what the T-shirts for sale at the theater emblazoned with "Big Penis" on the front mean. If you haven't seen the show, I'll let your imagination fill in the blanks.

Here's some more info on the show: PDF

Contributor: 

Harry Mok

Editor in chief

Editor in Chief Harry Mok wrote about growing up on a Chinese vegetable farm for the second issue of Hyphen and has been a volunteer editor since 2004. As a board member of the San Francisco and New York chapters of the Asian American Journalists Association, Harry has recruited and organized events for student members. He holds a master’s degree in journalism from the University of California, Berkeley, where he was also a graduate student instructor in the Asian American Studies Department.

Comments

Comments

Zizzle wrote on Wed, 11/23/2005 - 6:49pm
Maybe you should see the show before you judge it. Otherwise I really don't think you should have an opinion.
me wrote on Wed, 07/25/2007 - 3:15pm
i agree with zizzle...it was very well done
BOOKER CHERRY wrote on Tue, 11/15/2005 - 9:41am
I visited BOSSIER CITY AND SHREVEPORT, LA. last week and discovered the slave/black codes are alive and well in the ARK-LA-TEX. Bossier City has a ordinance that prohibits Black people from wearing Hip-Hop attire on the the boadr walk, a project built with public funds. In talking to one anglo at the board walk, he informed me that the clothing and head dress work by the blacks was offensive to the senses of our good WHITE folk and we will not stand for it. He assured me that they (white people of Bossier and Shreveport) did not mind if the black people visited the board walk but they will have to dress like NORMAL people.
Kim wrote on Fri, 11/18/2005 - 8:59pm
N*gger, Wetb*ck, Ch*nk Can Be Funny WordsThe whole Title Alone is Offensive. It wasn't long ago that my daddy was call those words in front of me and took it just to provide food for his children. He wasn't laughing. He wasn't laughing when his mother was called nigga and girl to provide food on her table. And reading this article... I am not laughing. What is so funny?