The Hotlanta River Expo, a circuit party aimed at gay men, takes 
place in Atlanta annually.  This year HRE has appropriated Asian 
culture to provide the theme "Year of the Dragon".  The 
weekend includes a "China Doll" drag pageant, "Tsunami" river 
race, and "Fried Rice" closing party.  I find this cooptation of 
Asian culture offensive, racist, and just plain wrong.  

HOW YOU CAN HELP 

It is time to send a message saying that it is not acceptable to 
exoticize different cultures, use a culture for a theme or mascot, or 
reinforce negative cultural stereotypes. 

Attached you will find a letter from the Ad Hoc Committee for Racial 
Justice.  This letter to the Hotlanta River Expo expresses why we are 
outraged by their damaging and racist theme: "Year of the 
Dragon". Please read the letter and sign it, including your info as
listed below.  I encourage you not only to sign as an individual, but to
also ASK A COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION of which you are a member or leader 
TO SIGN ON WITH THEIR SUPPORT.  The letter will be signed by 
supporting organizations AND individuals.   

Name (please list supporting individuals) 
Title 
Organization 
City, State 

To lend your support, email the above information to 
4racialjustice@onebox.com. Please sign up as many supporters as 
possible before Wednesday, July 26 at 12:00 noon, as the Committee 
meets with HRE that evening. 

At the bottom of this email was a letter addressed to the HRE board and to be signed by those opposing this year's HRE theme:

Organizers of the Hotlanta River Expo: 

We are writing as concerned citizens from diverse 
backgrounds in response to the chosen theme for 
this year's Hotlanta River Expo, "Year of the Dragon." 

AIDS service organizations such as AID Atlanta have 
been fortunate to receive financial support from the 
tens of thousands who attend the Hotlanta River Expo 
every year.  Without this support, HIV-positive 
Atlantans would be without a valuable resource. Those 
of us in the LGBT community who are conscientious of 
racial injustice are torn when we must choose between 
supporting an AIDS benefit, or speaking out against 
culturally insensitive attitudes.  As little as we care 
for drawing negative attention to such a popular and 
well-intentioned community event, we are compelled 
to speak out against HRE 2000's theme and sub-themes 
thereof. 

In U.S. society, Asian Americans have been exploited, 
stereotyped, and often denied the rights and privileges 
of citizenship.  In the early part of the twentieth 
century, large numbers of East Asian male immigrants 
were pushed into work in laundries and domestic services 
(as "houseboys"), often due to stereotypes of Asian 
men as being feminine and inferior.  Chinese men died 
building the railroads of America, exploited as expendable 
cheap labor.  Many East Asian female immigrants were 
kidnapped into prostitution, often based on stereotypes 
of Asian women as submissive, deviant, and sexually 
available to white men.  For decades, Asians were 
unable to vote, own land or property, attend public 
schools, testify in courts, or become naturalized 
as citizens.  During World War II, the U.S. government 
forced more than 120,000 Japanese Americans from their 
homes and confined them in concentration camps due to 
racist hysteria.  Groups such as the Asiatic Exclusion 
League and the Ku Klux Klan have brutalized and killed 
hundreds of Asian Americans. 

Adding insult to injury, as actual histories and 
experiences of minorities continue to be overlooked, 
pieces of cultures are appropriated by dominant groups 
for amusement.  HRE 2000's theme, "Year of the Dragon," 
trivializes and reduces Asian cultures to narrow, 
demeaning caricatures.  The organization chose to
include uninspired, mainstream American perceptions 
in naming individual events.  The name of the first 
event is "CHINA DOLL," a stereotype that gained popularity 
from the 1960 movie "The World of Suzy Wong." "China doll" 
is a label long used to dehumanize Asian women to exotic 
novelties, and on this occasion used to showcase
drag performers.  The second event is titled "SHOGUN," 
an image popularized by the 1980 television mini-series 
of the same title.  The last two themes are "HAPPY FAMILY" 
and "FRIED RICE," popular Chinese-American restaurant 
dishes.  The official HRE"Year of the Dragon" Kick Off 
Weekend is entitled "FORTUNE COOKIE," featuring the 
$40 "CHOP STICK" weekend pass.  These crude and shallow 
themes, drawn primarily from menus and movies, demonstrate 
exactly how ignorant HRE's organizers are of Asian culture.  
However, ignorance is not an excuse for thoughtless 
misappropriation. 

The "Year of the Dragon" theme also lumps different 
Asian cultures into one.  Shogun and tsunami are 
Japanese words, while "China Doll" and "Year of the 
Dragon" refer to the Chinese.  This mismatch reinforces 
yet another notion, that all Asians look alike, indeed, 
that they are interchangeable.  Not only are Asian 
Americans of distinct cultural and ethnic backgrounds, 
but there exist long histories of political, economic, 
and cultural strife between and among Asian nations.  
It is insensitive to arbitrarily group them together 
without consideration. 

One would hope that gay men understand the frustration 
of being continuously misrepresented and devalued.  
It is unlikely that it would be considered harmless or 
humorous if a heterosexual organization planned a theme 
party centered around gay culture and experience and 
took such a simplistic and hackneyed approach. Such 
misuse, however well-intentioned, has serious and 
damaging repercussions for the group (mis)represented. 

Asian Americans are real, living, breathing human 
beings, with histories, cultural values, and beliefs.  
In Atlanta's community, they are often rendered 
invisible or seen as providing some diversity to an 
otherwise (ostensibly) homogeneous population.  
We feel HRE 2000's theme sends a message that 
authentic Asian-American experiences are not 
recognized or welcomed in gay culture, and that 
gays are insensitive to cultural differences. 

  In order to change its image to one of inclusivity 
and racial tolerance rather than racism and ignorance, 
we ask that HRE abandon the theme "Year of the Dragon" 
and its offensive sub-themes. We request that HRE pulls 
its full-page color advertising and replace it with 
comparable public apologies for its racial and cultural insensitivity. 

Until HRE incorporates these changes we 
will continue to boycott HRE 2000 sponsors, and continue 
to raise awareness about racism within the GLBTQ community.  

Ad Hoc Committee for Racial Justice