Something so simple has turned into something so divisive. I get it, but I don’t like it! People within Asian-American culture are divided in some aspects and people of the predominant white American culture are divided as well.
The initial intent of the discussion regarding the marketing/packaging of Deadly Viper Character Assassins was to make known how this was insensitive to Asian-American culture. It was to help stop the perpetual pain of Orientalism and respect our culture in a relevant context. However, the way the situation has been handled has continued to bring about pain. However, now it’s not just the Asian-American community, but it is also the culture of fans of the Deadly Viper Character Assassins book. Where’s the intelligence in that?
From day one the biggest misstep in all of this has been communication. Unfortunately, for those of you looking to blame Asian-Americans for being at fault you are completely wrong. Gross errors in communication have occurred on both sides. Some communication has taken place, but it’s been inappropriate in many instances.
The latest communication error in my opinion is in the way Mike Foster & Jud Wilhite have emerged as the victims. If you go to their website, deadlyviper.org all you’ll find is this note:
To our Friends and Family:
Due to an unfortunate conflict that arose around our use of Asian American themes, we have decided to close this chapter of Deadly Viper Character Assassins. This decision has been a very difficult one for us and one that we did not take lightly.
For the past 2 years we have had the honor to be part of an incredible movement of advocating for radical integrity and grace. We have been deeply humbled hearing your stories of how Deadly Viper has impacted your life, family, and relationships.
We and our team will continue to commit our lives to the message of integrity, grace, and most of all becoming People Of The Second Chance.
We thank you for your prayers, support, and kindness through this season.
We love you.
Mike Foster and Jud Wilhite
At a glance, this seems reasonable. However, I get red flags from just the first sentence:
Due to an unfortunate conflict that arose around our use of Asian American themes, we have decided to close this chapter of Deadly Viper Character Assassins.
The reason I have an issue with this is because it solely places blame on Asian-Americans as the reason why the website was shut down. First of all, lets get something straight. When you come out initially and say that you used Asian imagery in the promotion of the book not realizing that it would be deemed insensitive and that out of respect to the error you are withdrawing the Asian themes from your website and other media how can that now be expressed as an “unfortunate conflict?” In reality, the “unfortunate” aspect of this whole fiasco was using the imagery in a non-relevant way in the first place. Know that because I found the wording of the letter to be unfortunate, I reached out to Mike Foster and asked if he’d take a few minutes to converse with me about why he chose those words. We have several mutual friends, but none of the channels I operated through (both direct & in-direct) worked and I never received a response from him. In my opinion, shutting down everything and not explaining it in better words has caused confusion and resentment. It’s being viewed by many as a passive-aggressive action that really is uncalled for if the intent really is to better-understand the issue and reach out to those that were offended.
Secondly, the final word on the matter on deadlyviper.org is that the total shutdown of their work was in direct response to the conflict with the Asian-American community. For whatever reason people haven’t gotten this so far, let me clarify it for you as simply and as succinctly as I can: No one in the Asian-American community attacked Mike Foster or Jud Wilhite personally. Most of us went out of our way to preface our comments by saying that we respected and appreciated Foster & Wilhite and their ministries (a few examples from: me, Eugene Cho, David Park, Laurence Tom, Daniel So). Yes, many Asian-Americans felt hurt by the insensitive use of the Asian imagery in the book, but it was never compared to the other ministry of Deadly Viper. Ultimately the issue was placed on Zondervan to withdraw the book in its current form and re-release it with the insensitive materials removed. Zondervan responded by agreeing to swiftly remove the book from stores. So, when deadlyviper.org gets unexpectedly shutdown, most of us in the Asian-American community are scratching our heads just like the fans of Deadly Viper. None of us had issues with the Man Cave sessions, the blog, or any of the other ministries launched from that site. Those could have continued on without any feedback from those offended by the packaging of the book. So, to blame Asian-Americans for seeing the site taken down was something I see as an attempt to increase the divisiveness and make it an “us against them” issue which it was never intended to be. In fact, one of the amazing things I got to witness by being at The Idea Camp in Portland, OR this past weekend was seeing Eugene Cho, one of the guys invited into the discussion with Zondervan, wearing a People Of The Second Chance shirt on stage. He never once commented on the issue, but his shirt spoke volumes as to how his issue was never with Mike Foster or Jud Wilhite personally.
As I wrote in a previous blog post, the issue isn’t really just the use of Asian imagery being used inappropriately to market and package a book. It’s about a deeper issue of racial insensitivity that has continued for generations because Asian-Americans just quietly deal with it. A generation is finally coming forward to say that it’s wrong and the heart of the matter needs to be addressed. We’re not looking for our Rosa Parks or organizing boycotts or anything like that. We’re simply asking to be respected for our cultural diversity and our relevance in society. None of us are demanding equality or favoritism. However, each one of us looking at how this has escalated have all either thought or expressed how something like this in the context of an African-American issue would have never happened. First, proper precautions would have been taken to make sure it wasn’t deemed offensive to the African-American community, but even of greater importance is that it would have never even been pitched in the first place. Had it flown through all the checkpoints and actually been published, it would have caused an uproar and not only would books have been pulled, but amends would have been swift and apologetic and hands would have been outstretched to heal the pain caused to the African-American community. We would have all expected to see that happen. However, when it comes up in an Asian-American context, many in the predominant American culture have wondered what the big deal was all about.
I’m not here to assassinate anyone’s character or judge them for being racists. However, this whole incident has had racist undertones for some and it had triggered an angry response both by those on the offensive and defensive sides. Regardless of how things have transpired, if you harbor ill-will towards the Asian-American community for causing the beloved Deadly Viper to come crashing to its knees, you’d better look elsewhere because we don’t deserve that criticism.
I’ve been seeing a lot of promotion for another ministry of Mike & Jud: People Of The Second Chance. Unfortunately, details for that were taken down along with the Deadly Viper stuff so I can’t link to any of it, but it’s an awesome work full of grace and extending open hands to people. If more of what was behind that ministry was exemplified in the Deadly Viper issue, things would not have escalated and misunderstandings would have been quickly squashed.
We in the Asian-American community just want to see some ongoing dialog of reconciliation occur. We’re not interested in drawing unnecessary attention to ourselves, nor are we out to win any fights. We have a story and a history in your nation and in all honesty, it’s you who miss out when you are indifferent to that. As my friend Charles Lee tweeted recently, “Reconciliation is better than closure.” May it be reconciliation that is declared the winner someday in all of this.
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dave: fwiw, i wasn’t wearing a shirt but i had a sticker on my sweater. and yes, i wore it with intent. like many others, i’m a supporter of mike & jud and look forward to the re-emergence of the book, website, and POSTC.
Pastor Cho, it was obvious that you were wearing a sticker, but as it was present on your sweater I just generically referred to it as a shirt. Thanks for clarifying.
Hoping to add some more clarity to the majority position of the Asian-American community as it relates to Mike & Jud and the Deadly Viper Character Assassins book, which are two wholly independent issues that should stand apart.
Hooray for The People Of The Second Chance and for people like you that operate under grace and continue to reach out an open hand!
Dave,
Don’t you think Zondervan shut it down? My guess is that they own the rights. Big companies just cut their losses and hope the criticism goes away.
Matt, the problem now becomes all we can do is speculate. You are thinking Zondervan shut them down, but I am thinking that Jud & Mike shut it down. If there was clear communication we wouldn’t have the chance to speculate, nor the desire to do so.
Even if Zondervan shut down deadlyviper.org, knowing that there were other ministries such as The People of The Second Chance connected there, Mike has the resources and opportunity at Plain Joe Studios to revamp and still operate the other stuff. Choosing to shut everything down has caused a negative backlash that now has people resenting Asian-Americans as the cause and nothing is being done by Mike & Jud to set the record straight.
If you read into the language, you clearly see that it is a conflict Asian-Americans that caused the shutdown. If they can blame Asian-Americans they could have easily added a statement including Zondervan forcing them to shut down too.
The intent (from Asian-Americans) was never to see deadlyviper.org shutdown. It’s as if Mike & Jud have simply said, “If you don’t like the way we play we’ll take our toys to another sandbox.” when we were simply asking them to engage in some dialog and move toward reconciliation of the matter and subsequent unity.
As for Zondervan, while their moments in silence were a bit disconcerting for many, they came out with a reasonable response. You stated that big companies just want to shut things down and hope they die quietly, Zondervan has changed it’s leadership and informed the public that it has added channels to help avoid issues like this from happening in the future. Initially they reacted, but now they seem to be very proactive. Zondervan’s closing letter left little doubt and communicated their position clearly. They are taking the lead in this matter and it seems to be a very satisfactory resolution with eyes to the future. If you haven’t read their letter, you can do so by clicking here.
Hey Dave,
I too was disheartened by the first sentence of the DV closing statement–primarily for the use of the phrase “unfortunate conflict.” Although I do not believe this phrase was specifically targeted at the Asian-American community, I do believe it has the potential to cause additional hurt.
My concern is that I do not believe this conflict was/is “unfortunate.” Implying that it was, places blame on others; not cool and gives the impression that Mike and Jud (or Zondervan) are not taking responsibility for the hurt.
A lot of people tend to think that “conflict is bad, thus conflict is unfortunate.” This is simply not true. I came across a Canadian study (link below) that argues where conflict is managed properly, it can actually benefit an organization and be a catalyst for better solutions, innovations, increased motivation and other workplace benefits.
As much heartache as this conflict has caused, it has brought about the following positive results, of which I am confident there is a great potential for more:
• Forgiveness (may we all continue to strive for and live here)
• Eased the hurt and begun the healing process for our Asian-American brothers and sisters
• Educated many in the Body of Christ on the pain of Orientalism
• Brought about a leadership change at Zondervan to help avoid future ethnic and cultural insensitivity
Anytime conflict can help us remove insensitive material and language from our culture, it’s a good thing. Growth can be difficult and filled with pain, but if it leads us towards true reconciliation, it is a very fortunate thing.
May the Spirit of Christ continue to unite his people.
Link to Canadian Study: http://www.prlog.org/10177343-warring-egos-toxic-individuals-feeble-leadership.html
Josh, thanks for your input here as it is well-written and much-needed! While I do see some additional stuff reflecting negativity towards Asian-Americans in the initial sentence of the dv.org letter, I am with you 100% on the rest of your commentary.
As I learned from Steven Furtick, it’s not the making mistakes that’s a problem, but it’s how one moves forward that becomes the issue. It seems like mistakes are being repeated in this process and it is continuing the conflict rather than the resolution. Hoping that through all of the positives we have already witnessed, that the ultimate goal of sitting at the same table and communicating openly in the direction of reconciliation and unity can emerge. Thanks again Pastor Josh!
dave – i know you know i respect you greatly and *heart* you, brother, even though we both stand convicted on different grounds regarding this issue.
“Due to an unfortunate conflict that arose around our use of Asian American themes, we have decided to close this chapter of Deadly Viper Character Assassins.”
i can sort of see why you can read into that… but (IMO) that’s reading a LOT into it. what they wrote was fact. the book was ultimately pulled because of zondervan (no speculation here)… not the AA community OR the DV team… but it WAS because of THEIR use (which they take ownership of) of AA themes. i am choosing to assume the best out of everyone in the situation.
as to mike not getting back to you, have you thought maybe it’s just time for them to lay low? their ‘baby’ just got pulled off the shelves. yes… we didn’t ‘attack’ jud or mike, but we sure did put their ‘baby’ on trial. whether we purposely chose to attack them or not, don’t you think they felt attacked?
i HAVE had some contact with them and all i can say is that things are not always as they seem. they needed to grieve, and they needed to NOT say anything more because no matter what they say/write, people are reading INTO what they were saying… just like this instance.
in their quietness, DV fans came to their defense. you are right… some of how they defended was more like an attack on the AA community. but can’t you say that happened in BOTH camps?
this whole thing is just sad. and though everyone DESIRES reconciliation and conversation, i’m not sure it can happen so soon in the aftermath.
my prayer is that it WILL happen though.
Hey Jenni, I *heart* you too :) I can see how you can say that I am reading into the initial statement on deadlyviper.org, but seriously I see confirmation of this playing itself out everywhere. There is a huge resentment against Asian-Americans because fans of Deadly Viper are blaming Asians for taking away their ministry that has forever changed their lives. It just perpetuates the internal thoughts many have had already and lends justification to the prejudice.
Had Mike & Jud made a disclaimer like, “Due to the conflict that arose from Deadly Viper Character Assassins we have decided to take down the offensive content and come back with a new look and new name.” That would have gone miles to help avoid speculation and fuel prejudices and slanderous comments.
I agree that communication from both sides of the issue was less-than ideal, but throwing up a snippet like that and then retreating really doesn’t help the cause of reconciliation. Mike & jud are taking the road that most people (such as Matt Payne) have thought Zondervan would take. Zondervan has taken the high road and left the door open. Mike & Jud have shut down everything and are looking to resurrect themselves under something new hoping the issue will just go away.
If Mike wants to step back and deal with some pain, I totally understand that. He had no obligation to reply to my inquiry. However, had the letter on deadlyviper.org been worded better, I wouldn’t have been compelled to ask his position and if he really meant what I read from the words of the letter.
Lastly, Mike & jud (and you) can assume that the book being pulled was a personal attack against them, but in essence it really wasn’t. Most of us in the Asian community have rallied support for Mike & Jud and honored their integrity and ministry throughout the whole ordeal. Even Zondervan has disclosed that they will work towards the future, which indicates they aren’t shutting down the book. I truly believe it will be re-packaged if the authors approve of the new presentation. However, my suspicion is that it will get scrapped in lieu of doing something under the People Of The Second Chance branding.
The worst thing to come out of all of this, regardless of what your position is, is that when you don’t share much on how or why the material could be viewed as offensive or insensitive as a preface to your comments on your personal blog, then it kind of lends credibility to other views and aids the hostility towards Asians. I don’t want to go there, but for example if some African-American guys are bantering back and forth and using the n-word, then we who are not African-American feel it should give us license to use the same word. When we get slammed for using it when they used it first, we get confused.
I know that through th resurrection of Mike & Jud under the new campaign of People Of The Second Chance, a lot of support will be shown and positive forms of grace will be revealed. However, the issue has always been deeper than what came out from the Deadly Viper issue and that is the core of the problem that needs to be reconciled. In honor of those that have walked before me, especially my mom who experienced hatred and racism because of her appearance and broken English, I just can’t side with those that think expressing stereotypes for the sake of humor should be accepted culture, especially within the Asian-American community.
Thanks for taking the time to share your perspective and for your grace towards Mike & Jud :)
Just a quick shout-out to say this is a fantastic post, Dave, and I agree with you 100%. Just now catching up with you in Google Reader. :^D