At this point, some racists' complaints about imagined, hypothetical reverse racism are becoming so ridiculous they're starting to seem like they have to be satire.
Like the one a Korean American news anchor recently received.
St. Louis journalist Michelle Li received a voicemail complaint from a White viewer because Li mentioned Koreans traditionally eat dumpling soup on New Year's Day.
Li shared it on Twitter.
Li's mention of dumpling soup came at the end of a brief segment on foods often eaten in America on New Year's Day—such as black-eyed peas, greens, cornbread and pork—and the traditions behind each one.
The viewer found this unacceptable because she claims a White reporter would never be allowed to specify what White people eat on New Year's.
As the caller put it:
“What if one of your White anchors said, ‘Well, White people eat this on New Year’s Day’?"
"I don’t think it was appropriate that she said that and she was being very Asian. And I don’t know, she can keep her Korean to herself.”
It did not seem to register to the woman during her rant the segment was about what many White people eat on New Year's, as Li pointed out on Twitter.
The woman went on to say she found Li's mention of dumplings annoying and even claimed a White anchor would be fired for making a similar comment.
The woman's complaint is bizarre, but no part of it had quite the shock value of the phrase "she was being very Asian."
Responding to the uproar, Li took the phrase and turned it onto its head, turning it into a statement of pride in her Korean heritage.
And as Li's videos went viral, so too did the hashtag #VeryAsian as people expressed pride in their own Asian identity.
And of course there was plenty of dunking on the woman's complaint.
No disrespect to the woman who complained, but it kind of seems like her rant had the opposite effect of what she intended.
Oops!
