Have you heard about China's banana slip? A few days ago in Beijing, as Gary Locke wrapped up his tenure as United States ambassador to China, he was lambasted in a Chinese state media editorial. The piece called Locke a "guide dog." It said he had stirred an "evil wind." Worst of all, it called him a "banana." As in yellow on the outside and white on the inside. It's a slur, akin to "Oreo" for African-Americans or "coconut" for Hispanics, used by people of a given ethnic group to judge another member of that group for being insufficiently, well, ethnic. The point of saying a person of color is "white inside" is to accuse him of being a race traitor, ashamed or in denial of his true heritage.
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A Chinese state media outlet referred to U.S. ambassador as a "banana"
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Eric Liu says use of an ethnic slur reflects anger at his performance
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He says China has a different concept of ethnicity than America
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Liu: America's openness to immigrants is a big advantage over China
Gary Locke
Locke
In this case, the idea was that @placeholder, though of Chinese descent, wasn't Chinese enough.
Chinese
Chinese
Whether Locke is "Chinese enough" is for him and his family to judge, not for any other @placeholder, much less an apparatchik in China.
Gary Locke
Locke
But there can be no doubt that @placeholder is plenty American, and that's really what stuck in the craw of some commentators in China.
Chinese
Chinese
To put it very simply: America makes @placeholder, but China does not -- and does not particularly want to -- make American Chinese.
China
China
China
China
To put it very simply: America makes Chinese Americans, but @placeholder does not -- and does not particularly want to -- make American Chinese.
United States
U.S.
America
America
It's in @placeholder's operating system to welcome an immigrant who becomes a houseboy and to make it possible for that immigrant's grandson to hold high public office.
China
China
China
China
It's not so much in @placeholder's operating system to welcome an immigrant -- whether ethnic Chinese or not, however steeped in Chinese civilization -- and make it possible for her family to be seen as truly Chinese.
China
China
China
China
When operatives in @placeholder call Locke a banana, they assume, wrongly, that to be American is to be white.
China
China
China
China
But America is many times more diverse, intermingled, open and adaptive than @placeholder.