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Jackson Wang, Chungha backer 88rising slammed for using 'racist' yellow squares in the name of Asian activism

88rising posted the yellow square saying: 'Enough is enough. Heartbroken with the disgusting and senseless violence in Georgia tonight,' and added 'Violence against the Asian community has to stop...'

88rising, the American mass media company with a number of Asian artists including Jackson Wang, Chungha and more is currently getting criticism for posting ‘Yellow square’ in the name of Asian Activism amid the rise of Anti-Asian hate crimes. The record label and hybrid management company, home of many K-pop artists posted the yellow squares in order to show solidarity after the horrific killings of Georgia took place on March 16. Netizens slammed the company saying equalizing yellow squares as Asian Activism is problematic as it is not only performative but excludes a large part of Asia which is not represented with the color yellow.

88rising posted the yellow square with the caption: “Enough is enough. Heartbroken with the disgusting and senseless violence in Georgia tonight,” and added “Violence against the Asian community has to stop. Let's protect each other and stand against hate.” The post was later taken down after the heavy criticism faced by the company as they posted an apology writing ‘Thank you to our community for sharing your comments and critiques with us. It was never our intention to cause harm but we recognize the effects of our action and apologize.”

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What’s wrong with posting yellow squares?

While posting a color box to support activism instead of sharing resources and other means of information is seen as performative criticism, there is a more problematic notion attached to concluding yellow square as the representation of Asians which are a combination of a lot of diverse communities. The ‘yellow peril’ term first came from a racist painting named ‘The Yellow Terror in all His Glory’ (1989) where the color has been used as a racist metaphor to depict East Asian peoples as an existential danger to the Western world.

After the 88rising posted the updates, users took it to social media to educate the media label of its implication of posting yellow squares. A user posted, “Posting a yellow square to show your “support for asians” is both performative and offensive so please don't do that? the “yellow peril” was a racist colour metaphor that westerners created to emphasise their xenophobia towards asians. asia is diverse in skin tones too???” Another noted, "It doesnt sit right with me that 88 rising posts a yellow square as an act to tackle the issue at hand when most of their artists are asian ppl of different ethnicities and skin colour, like if ur thought is “oh asian activism = yellow square” then u might be the problem." Another stated, "Not to mention how the media and the west always regarded south east asians with the the color yellow, so far to even calling them that and associate it with them." A user shared, "Yellow squares are racist. and to double that, the black square shit that you're mimicking with this (so a dash of anti-black co-opting too???) has been talked about as performative and useless since yall did it the first time stop."

Users have also urged organizations to use their platforms to share sources and information. A user pointed out, "You have an entire platform to spread awareness and gather support on. a simple link is the least you can do." Another user said, "Instead of trying to make a trend by copying something else, post organizations, tag AAPI activists etc. Find out if there will be vigils for the people who died. It’s rather simple."