The Problem with Apu Page #3

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of Southasian-Americans

in this country.

I spent the first nine years

of my life

in Jackson Heights, Queens --

the most diverse part

of the most diverse borough

of the most diverse city

in the world.

It is my favorite place

and every white supremacist's

nightmare.

I grew up near 74th Street

in what's called "Little India."

But to be fair, this isn't

actually Little India.

It's more Little Southasia

'cause you have people

from all over the region here,

whether that be India

or Pakistan

or Sri Lanka,

Bangladesh, Nepal,

Buton, or the Maldives,

and sometimes

Tibet and Afghanistan.

The borders kind of change

depending on political reasons

or who the U.S. is bombing

at that particular moment.

Afghanistan has since been

moved to the Middle East.

But all these countries have

different make ups, right?

They have different languages

and cultures and religions.

But when you grow up

in this country,

it doesn't really matter

'cause you're still

gonna be called Apu.

Well, look! It is Mr. Homer,

my favorite customer.

Please, feel free to paw

through my Playdudes

and tell me to go back

to some country

I am not actually from.

He sort of does

the stand-in work

for a lot of different

kinds of issues

related

to immigration and race.

Every time there was

a certain kind of focus

on Apu's character

in relationship

to some kind

of universal norm,

the way in which they talked

about it was usually

in a particular

stereotypical way.

If there was an episode

that was on marriage,

Apu, of course, had to have

the arranged marriage.

Then it is agreed.

Your third daughter

will marry our first son.

If there was an episode

on having children,

then Apu had to have

eight children.

My whaaaat?

Stereotypes

have a long half-life.

They tend to last

for a while

unless we are committed to

and good at telling

our own story.

Is it weird that we're talking

about Indian stereotypes

and you're

an Indian doctor?

Is that strange

in the slightest to you?

But getting an honest story

into the mainstream

is incredibly difficult.

Good morning...

It's Wednesday!

Or Hump Day, according

to Jizzy and the Wiz

on 102.7, "The Octopus,"

Rancho Cucamonga's number-one

all-'80s rock station!

This is

a father-son story.

This is really about how you

dealt with these two cultures --

this Indian household

that were living in

and this American culture that

you were now a part of.

We were in a meeting

at Fox one day,

and everybody had

to stand up

and say what their role was

on the pilot.

So, "Hi, I'm so-and-so.

I'm Executive Producer."

"Hi, I'm so-and-so.

I'm the script supervisor."

I stood up and I go, "Hi,

Rohitash Rao, and I'm Indian."

That's all I had to say,

'cause I was the only one

in the room

that could say that.

Ooh.

And I looked around

the room and I'm like,

"What are we getting into?

How are we making

an Indian show right now?"

Like, "How are we together?

How is this gonna work?"

And from that moment, I'm like,

"I think we're"

There's this idea that,

okay, well,

if there's four white people,

anybody will watch it.

That's mainstream.

That's accessible.

Right.

But if it's four Asian people

or four black people,

it becomes like,

"Oh, this is a black show,"

or, "This is a black movie."

I guess it just boils down

to, like, why is it that

when there's a show

full of white people,

that's considered

okay and mainstream?

Right.

If it's

funny and interesting,

I don't really care

who's in it, you know.

We watch animated movies

that are about fish.

Right.

What bothered me most about Apu

was the way he stood in

for my parents,

replacing their real stories,

their real struggles,

and their really

complicated lives

with a accent.

My dad was an English major,

so his command

of the English language

was ridiculous.

And so he wanted to

be a writer.

My dad wrote,

sent in his application,

and, you know,

they see "Eric Peters"

and they read it

and how well written it is,

They're like, "Oh, perfect.

Let's bring this guy in."

My dad walked in.

My dad looked very

much like you.

They're like, "Sorry, sir.

The job's been filled."

And then he just had to take

a job as a meat inspector

for the rest of his life,

you know.

My mom, who grew up

in a middle-class family,

but that was very --

in a society

that was very

male-dominated in India

and about what it took for her

to get her own education.

When I was growing up,

I found it really embarrassing

that my dad wanted to spend

so much time with us

to the point

where my dad became

the baseball coach

of my little league team.

My dad didn't know baseball.

He knew cricket.

So, he would teach us

how to play cricket.

So, we're trying

to swing a bat

like a golf club,

you know?

Telling the pitcher

to bounce the ball over.

Yeah, look back,

and I realize it was only

because it was

out of love.

He wanted to spend time

with his son.

That's why he did it.

At the same time, I should say,

we were a pretty good team

because we could catch

with our bare hands.

Like,

we got to be pretty good.

Our parents are heroes.

And there are millions

of other immigrants like them

how came over in the face

of incredible uncertainty,

taking incredible risk,

to build a life

in a new country.

Racist depictions

of minority groups

is as American as...racism.

From advertising

to political cartoons

to vaudeville to...

Meet me at the zoo

in the morning at 9:00.

Yeah, with the rest

of the monkeys?

With the rest

of the monkeys.

Yeah, I'll bring

my grandpa with me.

Dear God!

I decided I needed to talk

to an expert on the matter,

someone with an EGOT.

Can you define minstrelsy

and briefly discuss,

like, the history

of minstrelsy?

Minstrel shows began

when white people decided

they wanted to be able

to do the cake walk.

Because there were not

black folks on stage,

so white people dressed

as black people

and put on

the blackface.

I wanted to ask you

about your collection

of black Americana.

You have a very

large personal collection.

I call it Negrobilia.

A lot of racist imagery.

Mm-hmm.

It's blackface.

Yeah.

It's clearly stuff that was made

to mock black people.

I don't even think

it was that deep.

Really?

Yeah.

I have this thing

from the Coon Chicken Inn.

That was the name

of a restaurant.

I don't think

they were thinking,

"Oh, we gonna get 'em now!"

I think they were like,

"That's funny."

What else

is in the collection?

One of my favorite

is a German postcard.

There's a little white girl,

a little white boy,

and this other little blackface

is in the middle.

And she says to him,

"Lick him

and see if he's chocolate."

If you've never

seen black people...

we look chocolate.

So, you're telling me

there might've been

an epidemic at some point,

where people were

licking black people to see

if they tasted like chocolate?

Yeah.

And if you

played your cards right,

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