Obama says Asians are short…

By Jun | Monday, June 16, 2008 | 65 Comments

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“Obviously there are a lot of folk from Asian ancestry in Hawaii, generally the teams aren’t as tall…”
– Barack Obama

The quote begins at the 3:00 mark

Personally I don’t find this quote offensive at all. Despite the fact that he answered Kimmel’s question of “Can you dunk” with the response that Asians “aren’t as tall” — then saying thats why he “posted up,” thereby laying the groundwork that, in fact, he can’t dunk — I do find it disappointing. Duly noted, this is the Jimmy Kimmel Show, not Meet the Press but nevertheless, disappointing. Disappointing because he grew up around Asians as the Obama campaign has fully emphasized. His half sister is Asian and his brother-in-law even stated that Mr. Obama has been influenced by Asian culture, from views on family and faith to education and social welfare. But to me the most disappointing factor is that Barack Obama is a Black man and of all people he should know and understand the usage of sweeping generalizations when it comes to describing other cultures and ethnicities.

Note that this in no way should affect your vote, as it will have no affect on mine. I’m proud to say that the first vote for president I will cast ever as a legal-of-age citizen in the United States will be cast for Barack Obama, for the idea of HOPE and CHANGE that he has instilled inside my soul — not only with his words but with his overall demeanor, actions, and promises. For the 5% of the population of the U.S. who “aren’t as tall,” it’s hard to imagine a society where Asian jokes in the media and Hollywood are not taken so lightly; when we’re not being laughed at, but laughed with. It’s hard to imagine hope and change when it comes to that. But because of Barack Obama, I DO have hope that one day this will change, and that’s why his lighthearted joke to me was disappointing.

070314 jvbasketballl Obama says Asians are short...

On the flip side, damn, Obama was tall as hell back in high school. And, HEY! he’s the ONLY non-asian on the team! (Insert sarcasm when needed)

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http://www.thefighting44s.com jaehwan

I agree with you, dude. The joke was in poor taste, but it won’t change my vote. I was also disappointed when he responded to the 80/20 PAC. What can you do, though? He still does represent change, and his candidacy would be a step in the right direction.
http://www.thefighting44s.com jaehwan

I looked at it again. I don’t think he was trying to joke. I still stand by my original disappointment, but maybe it’s a Hawaii thing since they have different standards of discourse there.
Pingback: The Fighting 44s » Blog Archive » Obama says Asians are short
http://pretendingtobe.wordpress.com/ Jun

in reference to that whole 80/20 PAC thing although i agree in saying I was disappointed also in Obama, I do think the whole ‘Defeat Obama’ was a little off base, but I don’t know the complete story behind it so i may be wrong…
http://www.thefighting44s.com jaehwan

Sorry if I was unclear, I was disappointed in the other direction. In other words, I was disappointed in him because he DID respond in the end, not because he DIDN’T at first. I have a post about it over here:

http://www.thefighting44s.com/archives/2008/02/01/obama-signs-the-8020-questionnaire/

Anyway, I posted and linked to your article on our blog. Thanks for posting!
Jason

“But to me the most disappointing factor is that Barack Obama is a Black man and of all people he should know and understand the usage of sweeping generalizations when it comes to describing other cultures and ethnicities.”

Oh, come on. Don’t be so sensitive. Saying asians, in general, aren’t as tall as whites or African-Americans is completely different from a sweeping generalization like “all asian guys are good in math” or “all asian women are submissive”
Bo

Jun…what a great election to be your first. You always remember your first.
http://www.8asians.com John

On average, Asians and Asian Americans are shorter than Caucasians. I will have to listen to the YouTube posting at home. (I’m at work).
http://pretendingtobe.wordpress.com/ Jun

Jason: how are they completely different???… its true that Asians are on average not as tall as well as that Asians on average are do better in school… what separates the two??
DopeforChange

Can’t believe there are still people believe Obama will bring Change. What a bunch of dope!
ancient one

I don’t understand the disappointment as it’s true. Asian are typically typically shorter than white americans. Stats from China and the US CDC back that up. I’ve dealt with this height differentials between Asian Americans and white Americans a lot, having coached mostly Asian American volleyball and basketball teams. While there are regions of China (Shandong) where people are typically pretty tall, kids from those areas never seemed to play on my teams. Is there something that I am missing?
http://www.xanga.com/urb4n uRB4N

Oh, please.

Had McCain or any other Republican said this, he would be immediately chided and denounced as a racist with a racist agenda but since he’s Obama, he’s given a free pass. Personally, I wasn’t offended but the idea that we would treat both candidates in the same exact way had they uttered the same exact comment is a bold faced lie.

Also, I heard alot of “well, technically the stereotype isn’t wrong because Asians really are, on average, shorter than whites.” Why hold back? Let’s say that all stereotypes are based on some type of truth. Personally, most of the Asian women I’ve seen *are* submissive so there is a grain of truth to it. Most of the black people I’ve met at the firm are indeed lazy. Not to the point exaggeration but they take their time and they never seem to understand the concept of time table and urgency.

And no, I’m not just saying that. That has been my real life experiences. Are all Asian women and black men like this? Hell no but if you’re going to use the approach that “stereotypes are based on truth,” let’s not hold back and just say it’s all true and give up this holier-than-thou attitude we place on whites when they stereotype us.
CaliSTunna

So why are people talking about Caucasians/White being taller than Asian Americans? When the person who posted this blog is obviously upset that he said “people of Asian ancestry are short” which means it makes no difference if it’s Asians vs Caucasians, Asians vs Blacks, Asians vs Latinos, Asians vs Pacific Islanders, Asians vs Native Americans, Asians vs Middle-Easterns, etc. He said Asians are short…period.

However does this offend me? No. Is it ignorant? yes, but at the sametime there’s truth to it. It’s really dependent on how this person views Asians and how many Asians he encountered. Are Asians generally shorter as compared to perhaps African-Americans or Caucasian-Asians? I would say yes, but so are Mexicans and other groups. However, that’s not to say there aren’t tall Asians. Perhaps that’s what Obama forgot to say…or perhaps even the talent Obama faced when he played in Hawaii…the Asians were just short.

If people are really offended by what Barrack Obama said, I dare you to bring this attention to the media. I bet those republicans would love to attack Obama any chance they get, but good look with that since Mccain has openly used the racial slur “GOOKs”.
http://www.8asians.com/author/brian/ Brian

[From my original email response to Jun]:

And I’m sure the Asians loved having Barack on their basketball team because “”"African Americans”"” are good at running, shooting and stealing.

Bada-bing! Anyone laughing now?
Asian Guy

Okay, I re-listened to Barak again and he did not say anything offensive about asians. He said, the the teams have more players of asian ancestry, and then said the teams tended to be smaller. He did not say that asians are shorter or smaller. And no, it’s not just semantics in wording, the implications are different. An analogy would be if Barak had said that the high school he went to had a lot of asians students in it and also the school had higher than average SAT scores. That is not the same as saying asians are smarter than everyone else or better at the SAT. It would be overly sensitive of us to interpret Barak’s comments as offensive or racist. It’s not a generalization, it’s statistics!
joe

Saying Asians are short may be true, but it isnt right for Obama to make such generalizations as a candidate who espouses unity. I could say blacks are in general not as smart. Is it true? Some might say it is. But it’s still not right to say it, especially for someone trying to break down color barriers.
John

Height – height can be measured. Any physical attribute can be measured. I guess average and medium income, education, etc… can be too.

But I don’t think that given the facts, that saying Asians are generally shorter is a racist comment, especially in the context of talking about basketball, where height can be an advantage.

(On the other note, I did hear on the radio about a tall African American being asked all the time if he played basketball. But with Yao Ming in the NBA, I am sure any TALL Asian American or Asian guy gets asked that now).
http://yvespaul.blogspot.com Yvespaul

I don’t think he said “Asians are short”, he said “Generally, the teams are not as tall”. It’s very different. He was there, he played with those people, he knows how tall they were.

He’s speaking from his personal experience and his picture proved his point. Sure it was a funny observation and it’s strange that he’ll go through such length to make that observation that doesn’t have anything to do with “Can you dunk?”. But he didn’t say “The chinks I played with are short in every way, if you know what I’m saying. *wink* *wink*”

There IS a different.
http://www.minoritymilitant.blogspot.com Minority Militant

Obama said “generally aren’t as tall.” He didn’t blatantly say Asians are short. I actually watched that interview and no one even seemed to notice. Kimmel just went on to the next question. I don’t think people should be outraged and too insensitive about little things like this. I’m sure he knocked himself in the head when he got a call from his half sister after that Kimmel interview. So, I say it’s a slip that no one even noticed till the Asians got a little defensive. Really, there are other issues to be concerned about and this one won’t fly. Gotta pick your fights. But rants like this makes us look bitter.
Confuse-us

“Gotta pick your fights. But rants like this makes us look bitter.”

That’s very true – it’s like crying wolf. If we rise up in reactionary fury every time someone makes an innocuous comment like this then pretty soon we will find ourselves not being taken too seriously.
http://www.thefighting44s.com jaehwan

“If we rise up in reactionary fury every time someone makes an innocuous comment like this then pretty soon we will find ourselves not being taken too seriously.”

Who’s rising up in fury? I was just commenting, as were Jun, Joe, and urB4N. And why shouldn’t they take us seriously? If we have logical reasoning behind our opinions (which we do), there’s no reason for anyone not to take us seriously.

There’s clearly a double standard here. I think we need more dialogue, not less.
Jeff

Oops.
Good thing blacks can’t be racists, because if a white guy or a Republican had uttered that little (pathetic) attempt at humor, they would be called a racist and a bigot and have to kow-tow to the Asian equivalent of La Raza or the NAACP – I’m sure there must be an Asian Jesse Jackson out there pimping off of percieved slights, isn’t there?

This guy is an idiot when you unplug the teleprompter.
Confuse-us

“Who’s rising up in fury? I was just commenting…”

I’ll refrain from using so much license with my adjectives in future postings.
Jeff

Now that we can add Asians to the list of OOA’s (Obama Offended Americans) – along with typical white people, Pennsylvanians, Kentuckians, gun owners and Christians – we can look forward to other interview questions for Obama:

“Do you like the smell of fresh cut grass or a spring morning in the mountains?”
Obama: “Well – you know, my nose ain’t big like the Jews, but…”

“Do you plan to socialize dental medicine as well?”
Obama: “Well, our teeth aren’t as nasty as the British, but…”

“What is the biggest issue about Global Warming, in your opinion?”
Obama:” Well – if it gets too hot here in the US, nobody but them Mexicans will want to work, you know them Mexicans, they LOVE the heat!…”

Barack, a lot of movie stars are supporting you – who among them is your favorite?”
Obama: “Well, I gotta tell ya, I think Spike Lee is awesome – I love him… not in a gay sort of way, you know – I ain’t gay or nothin’ – I’m just sayin I love him – er – his work…”
Bo

I stand 5′ 8″ tall. I get a lot of “Wow, you’re tall for an asian female.” comments ALL THE TIME from asians, caucasians, blacks…practically everyone. How different is that comment from what Obama said? Should I get offended everytime someone makes a comment about my height and assume that person is saying something that overly stereotypes asian people? Of course not. Yes, I agree with what several people have said about how Obama should have known better…but in reality what he was saying was based on his own personal experience.

Sounds to me like most people’s discomfort with Obama’s comment isn’t so much related to the actual content or implications but the lack in judgement it demonstrated. Am I wrong?
Tom

The point is, that’s it’s inappropriate for a Presidential candidate to make comments about race in general manner, even if those comments are generally true. True Asians are on the whole shorter than Caucasians/Blacks. It’s also true that Blacks score lower on the SATs generally than other races. Does that justify me saying, “I was valedictorian, but it was at a predominantly black school so I had an easy time of it.”

Can you imagine him as President going to China and remarking on how short the people are? Not appropriate. Disappointing.
Dave

blah blah blah…. blah blah blah… complain complain…. oh dear those words hurt me…. *cry*

Either
a) treat him as you treat Imus
b) treat him as you treat Clinton
c) treat him as you treat Bush
d) this double standard giving people a pass because you like him is why you all fail ethics
e) treat him as you treat the comedians because politicians are about the same (laughs*)
z) and political correctness = hypocritical

I hate political correctness and I hope people never lose the right to say whatever they want. Toughen up, learn to listen in the face of adversity and discuss to overcome, instead of forcing people to shut up.

For all of you who are politically correct. I think you must hate Comedy Central and have little to no sense of humor, emotional security, and cultural diversity (includes humor across the cultures).

Oh and Obama’s speeches are good for those who listen to vague phrases. They are all phrases and one-liners without action. He (his speechwriters are) is good at making open-ended statements that are vague and call for vague action. For example (taken from an Obama speech);

“And so if we do not change our politics – if we do not fundamentally change the way Washington works – then the problems we’ve been talking about for the last generation will be the same ones that haunt us for generations to come.

We must find a way to come together in this country – to realize that the responsibility we have to one another as Americans is greater than the pursuit of any ideological agenda or corporate bottom line. Democrats of California, it’s time to turn the page.”

His speeches are fluff with pretty words. Have you ever listened to a speech from a scientist or a professional? They can tell you how they will do things, when they will do it, and what they expect. Nothing is vague, nothing is pretty, it is the simple 1+1=2. Whereas Obama’s speeches are 1+1=? MOREOVER, Bush is the same, uses fluff and patriotic vague statements.

You people are easily fooled. Then again, I am a fence sitter… It is somewhat hard for me to pick which politician is the lesser of evils. I hate politics in general…

The words and phrases Hypocrite, Double Standard, High Strung, and Vague come to mind…

/END rant…

Have a nice day everyone… toodles…

Hey kids… grow up… everyone sing with me now… “sticks and stone may break my bones but words will never hurt me…” It’s time people who cry foul over “words” go learn this lesson…
Journey

I just watched the clip. I think sometimes we are a little sensitive. He was just stating that on average asians are shorter and that’s true. It’s like saying black people are darker.
Anosh

Well, i heard what he said about people of asian ancestry not being as tall. i would have to say that statement is neutral. i did hear some people laughing maybe because they thought it was true or something. but here is my opinion. as an iraqi person, i dont really get the height problem too much for my people. especially since im 6 ft tall. i think it has to do with genetics first and diet second. the human race is divided into three categories which are caucasian, congoid, and mogoloid. people of caucasian origin, like white, european, middle eastern, and most indians, tend to be tall. so are people of congoid (black) origin. i havent really met too many tall asian most were average (about 5’5-5’8). asians aren’t as short as people think. its just that americans are tall due to their diet, which is pretty good compared to other countries. my family is on the tall side like im 6 ft my brother is 5’9 and my sister is 5’5. its surprsing to many cuz all three of us r taller than our parents (mom is 5 ft and dad is 5’5) my uncles are around 5’11 to 6’1. i have one thats is 5’8, which is short in my family. one my uncles is 6’5. and white and black people arent as tall as many think. i am generally taller than most white guys i see, black ppl seem to be a bit taller though by just a little though. when i was in iraq, i saw it too cuz we had many filipinos, japanese, and koreans around us. generally speaking, they stood out in the population because of their height cuz most iraqis were aorund 5’8-6ft tall. while the asians were around 5’5 for men and 5 ft for women. we would literally tower over them. its especially funny cuz i have an asian(filipina) girlfriend and she 5’2 i seem like a giant to her….lol….but i do tend to like shorter girls much better, also diet effects it. if you eat a lot of protein and healthy food u would start getting taller, but thats only before the age of 23 or so which is when u stop growing. i have seen some pretty short white, black, and yes middle eastern people. i’ve seen this guy in iraq that was around 5 ft tall. it wasnt a shock or anything but we do have short people also. i would say about 15-20% are short. and dont worry, asians today are growing bigger. did u see japanese men today? the average height for a japanese male now is 5’8. now thats tall. compared to before which was like 5’4 or so. and besides, white people r tall due mostly to diet. if u look at the pictures of the soldiers of WWII the average height for european soldiers was 5’5-5’6. now it is 5’9-5’10. so basically its diet and also medical caring they have available to them. asians are beautiful the way they are. no need to be angry about it just because obama says something stupid like that. i dont even think obama knows is gonna happend once he is in office. its gonna be a tough job for him. but hopefully he will find a way to get americans our of iraq. thanks man and i hope you don’t get offended too much by people cuz they can be ass holes sometimes with stereotypes just be cool about it. have a good day.
Kaptin Kirck

Old world asians are short. The younger generation is about the same height as any other race. People grow better when they have sufficient food. I would be offended if it weren’t true. Your race affects your culture and tradition, and is guided by your DNA. That can’t be changed. But the mind is unaffected by any of that. My only problem with all that is when people mix the inward and outward up. He was just talking about basketball, so I got no problem with that. But it is better said behind closed doors. Not because it matters, because it shouldn’t, but because most people don’t know how to react to a little chiding. Obama’s head is really small. Maybe that’s why he spoke so easily.
http://www.8asians.com/author/ancientone95131/ Jeff

@Kaptin Kirck: I don’t see that. While some of the Asian Americans kids born in the US are taller than their parents, not every one of them is taller and even the ones that are taller are not on average taller than kids of other ethnic backgrounds. I see the height disadvantage all the time with my kids volleyball and basketball teams, which are mostly Asian American. There are regions of Chinese where people are pretty tall, but kids with ancestry from those areas never seem to play on the same teams with my kids!
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