<p>kenshi –</p>
<p>You do realize that most of the preconceptions that Asians in Asia have of blacks come from Hollywood and the American music industry (hip-hop and rap).</p>
<p>And it’s not that simple. Asian countries, particularly ones as homogeneous as Korea and Japan have discriminated against everybody (the Japanese even against indigenous populations such as the Ainu and Okinawans).</p>
<p>The Japanese have long discriminated against non-Japanese Asians such as Korean-Japanese who have been living in Japan for generations. </p>
<p>It has only been with the rising popularity of K-pop in Japan that some of these attitudes have changed (somewhat) – shows the influence of the media.</p>
<p>Along these lines – the Japanese home run king, Sadaharu Oh, had to hide his half-Taiwanese heritage (just like Ted Williams hid his Mexican heritage).</p>
<p>In Korea – bi-racial children of white and Korean parents have also long been discriminated against, so it’s not just a bias against children of part-African ancestry (tho, yes, children of part-African ancestry have had it worse).</p>
<p>But unfortunately, this bias against blacks is seen pretty much everywhere.</p>
<p>In the Caribbean, Central/South America and Mexico – blacks are seen at the bottom of the totem pole – so much so that Hispanics with black or partial-African heritage don’t consider themselves to be “black” (note that in Latin media, all of the stars are white Hispanics and the only roles that darker Hispanics get are those of maids, etc.).</p>
<p>Also, note how (former) President Fox and the Mexican media defended the American outcry over the issuing of “sambo” stamps which portray blacks in a rather demeaning manner.</p>
<p>And this stuff also happens in “enlightened” Europe. Black futball players have long been harassed with monkey/ape noises and the throwing of banana peels onto the field of play. American DaMarcus Beasley recently was recently the victim of such racist taunts.</p>
<p>And let’s not forget that Hines Ward also suffered from racism here – he was taunted so much about his Asian features that he one day told his mother that he was “ashamed to be Korean” (years later, he tearfully apologized to her for that). Ward has even been taunted by opposing DBs (during NFL games) who have called him “chink”, etc.</p>
<p>Hapa stars such as Daniel Henney are a new thing in Korea (btw, one of the biggest k-pop stars is half-black) and are pretty rare – hapa celebs have been much bigger in SE Asian (such as Thailand with the “leuk kreung”). </p>
<p>The irony here is that Henney had to go to Korea to get a career as an actor and he didn’t speak a lick of Korean (btw, Henney, who also grew up with racist taunts, nevertheless, considered himself white – it was only when he visited Asia during his career as a model that he discovered the other half of his heritage).</p>
<p>Henney has subsequently been contacted by Hollywood, but for parts he has no interest in playing (since they just happen to be the same 'ol stereotypical Asian roles).</p>