Aki Leonard Gonzales Aleong
Assing “Aki” Aleong is a Trinidad and Tobago-born American actor residing in California. During his acting career, he was type-casted into playing Asian characters of various nationalities. However, he is multicultural. He grew up with an African American mother and a Chinese father. From a young age, he was always interested in acting, and his first important role was in the 1957 movie No Down Payment, which starred Joanne Woodward and Jeffrey Hunter.
Shortly after, he quit acting due to Hollywood’s racial bias towards White characters. Watch the interview here.
Aleong discussed his reason for quitting acting in 1967. During that year, he featured in an episode of ‘The Virginian,’ and he expected the episode to be about a Chinese man persevering against racial discrimination. To his surprise, the final version featured a white hero instead. Aleong went on to join the National Board of Screen Actors Guild and joined a media coalition to pressure TV networks to represent diversity more accurately. His main aim was to create diverse roles and wider stories for minority actors.
Lack of Diversity
Aleong’s interview highlights the lack of opportunities for him and other minority people to shine. It was hard for Aleong to represent African American and Asian people because of people’s perception of his race because of his appearance. Even if a person wanted to identify themselves as biracial, it wouldn’t be possible because the U.S. Census didn’t allow a person to choose their race until 1960. The U.S. Census also didn’t have an option for people to identify with more than one race until 2000. Despite people’s perception, he still worked on featuring people of color to contradict stereotypes and criticize the tendency to limit people of color to certain plots and genres.
Multicultural Asian Americans in Children Picture Books
A study conducted by Wee, Kanae, and Sohyun, focuses on studying how multiracial Asian American children are portrayed and illustrated in children picture books and focus on racial identity development. Picture books are a resource to help children “recognize, understand, and develop their identities by associating with characters and stories that are similar to their own existence and experiences” (par. 6). There is limited information provided on the multicultural characters in these books because these characters are not as discussed in the media or in children literature awards.
- Critical Race Theory (CRT): Examines society and culture (focuses on race, power, structure). It is based on everyday life experiences, and can examine how multiracial individuals are seen and treated in children’s picture books.
The study contained:
- 19 sample books collected
- Targeted for children under 8 years-old
- Written in English or native languages
- Books available in the U.S.
Central Topics of the Sample Books:
- Multiracial Asian American (MAA) children’s racial identity issues (6 books)
- Cultural diversity or differences (4 books)
- Universal children’s experiences or activities (8 books)
- Adoption (1 book)
The number of multiracial Asian American children continues to increase. However, there are still limited books that can represent and bring awareness to racial identities and who is present in this racial identity development for MAA children. Some examples include, depicting realistic stories and illustrations that reflect current ideologies, customs, and everyday life of mixed-race Asian American children. Some children use picture books to recognize, understand, and develop their identities by connecting their experiences to the characters in these books.