Systems of Oppression in "Occult Racism"

"Occult Racism" by Louisa Schein and Va-Megn Thoj is one of the best readings from this class so far. While it is disturbing, it includes many thought-provoking insights on race, namely how institutions in America like our legal system and media are set up against people of color. What sets it apart from other articles is the tragic but mind-bending case of life-imitating-art-imitating-life. 

"Occult Racism" investigates the extensive reach of systemic oppression. For example, as cited in the article, Chai Vang was set up for failure because he was tried in the U.S.: "it's just an all-white jury, but the defense attorney's got to explain how a person of a minority culture in this country can feel that the majority culture doesn't value their life" (427). In the same way, Chai Vang felt that his life was not valued by the hunters who harassed him. This goes to show how bias works on both an individual and a cultural level.

Steve McQueen directing Mangrove


There are many great examples of this in cinema, such as Steve McQueen's Mangrove, which follows a trial of nine black protestors who are tried under British law for inciting a riot. Mangrove depicts the far-reaching experience of oppression in a system set up against them, which carries from policing to the law process to representation in the jury. One of the most interesting parts of the film comes when their lawyer tries to get an all-black jury because a white jury could not understand their experiences with injustice. In a similar vain is Spielberg's Amistad, which raises the question of why a slave (Joseph Cinque, who led a revolt on the slave ship the Amistad) forcibly brought to the United States should be tried under American law at all. Clint Eastwood's Richard Jewell is another effective indictment of American institutional media culture and the court of public opinion. While I'm mentioning titles, one of my favorite books on this very theme is The Trial by Franz Kafka, and Orson Welles' film adaptation is excellent as well. These latter examples do not deal with race, but rather the sense that the legal system that does not care about individual rights, which is something that I think everyone can relate to to some degree.

Being made to feel small in the courtroom, from Welles' The Trial


I found "Occult Racism" extremely valuable as a means to shift my perspective on race and representation.  Our news media is largely white-owned, and therefore mainstream media sentiments are expressed from white perspectives. As said during coverage of Chai Vang's trial: "they didn't have perhaps the same regard for human life that our culture has, who knows?" (436). This is a totally ignorant and racist statement that was made in 2005, within all of our lifetimes. It is entirely possible that audience members unfamiliar with Hmong culture would internalize this bigoted assertion simply because it was made on television. The New York Times, which has over 7 million subscribers today, wrote of Hmong immigrants as having "no English and little education or urban job skills" (436). What is the point of this generalization? It is another racist assertion, and another case of the media trying not only Chai Vang but the Hmong people as a whole with no due process. 

The most fascinating part of the essay is the intersection between Thoj's unmade film, Die By Night, and the true story of Chai Vang. It is a literal textbook example of life-imitating-art-imitating-life; Thoj was inspired by real-life experiences with racism, but the film could not have been made because of the controversy of Chai Vang's story. As posited by Schein: "the screenplay once again strangely anticipates the Chai Vang case in suggesting that a person of color can never kill whites and get away with it" (448). While Thoj had nothing to do with Chai Vang's story, of course, the irony of Thoj's screenplay speaks to how acutely the effects of racism are felt. Thoj created a character for white racists, "masking" them into a monolith, and James Nichols did his best to confirm Thoj's assertion by committing a hate crime on a Hmong hunter in 2007.

IHRTLUHC

Comments

  1. Nina AustriaFebruary 21, 2021 at 3:32 PM

    I agree that the reading was extremely thought-provoking, and the Fred Graham quote you pulled out ("they didn't have perhaps the same regard for human life that our culture has, who knows?") stood out to me too as being incredibly ignorant. As the article says, "it's so telling that at the same time this black woman is telling the Court TV anchor that the situation of being minority in the United States is that you feel that your life is not as valued as others" (436). It is unfortunate that, as you point out, mainstream media sentiments are largely "expressed from white perspectives."

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  2. Tida RFebruary 21, 2021 at 6:30 PM

    The reading was definitely thought-provoking, as both you and Nina are saying, and it's incredibly unfortunate how it's been marginalized people's job to explain the racial dynamic, as well as make systemic racism more visible to non-marginalized people. I also agree with your point of how once a person of minority is placed into a bad light, their group as a whole is affected.

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  3. AmyMarch 21, 2021 at 1:34 PM

    I think that its interesting to consider Thoj's piece in relationship to the PBS series Asian Americans. In its attempts to tell a complete story of the Asian American population it fails to capture some of the nuances of citizenship and belonging that Thoj's piece does. Steve McQueen is one of the best directors to capture the nuances of oppression. I think that his film Hunger is one of the best films on the problems of incarceration.

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