Blowback of COVID: Asian Discrimination

written by 20618 Lee Seo Ahn 

Even though Asian discrimination is something that shouldn’t happen, it does take place. 

One example of Asian discrimination I would like to introduce is Kim’s Convenience, a Canadian sitcom based on a Korean-Canadian family who runs a convenience store in Toronto, Canada. 

The show, which was aired on CBC, was praised for portraying family dynamics, immigrant experiences and exploration of themes around race and identity.

However, a TV show that was well-known for representing the Asian community also had a dark side.

Jean Yoon, who played the Kim matriarch, tweeted on June 6th, 2021, “We discovered storylines that were OVERTLY RACIST, and so extremely culturally inaccurate, that the cast came together and expressed concerns collectively.”

She also added that the main problem was the lack of diversity in the writers room, which was filled with white writers. 

Yoon said this lack of diversity led to inaccurate information in the show’s script. “If I hadn’t spoken up, all the Korean food in the show would have been WRONG,” Yoon wrote on Twitter. 

“No one else in the writers room was Korean, and THEY HAD NO KOREAN CULTURAL RESOURCES IN THE WRITERS ROOM AT ALL.”

Studies have shown that people of color are often underrepresented behind the scenes and face bias and discrimination more often than their peers. 

When problems like this get resolved, then Western media will be able to put content that more accurately represents a minority group. Thus, when the media accurately portrays minorities, people’s misconceptions will change, and discrimination can decrease.

This is the third part in a six-part series that the Opinion department of the PRESS explore the issue in detail.