Image provided by Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour Jr.
“The tragic or highly romanticized single-story narratives about Black Japanese people are dangerous because they deny us the wonderful range of who we can be.”
-Dr. Mitzi Uehara Carter
JASH and Japan Society in New York came together on June 25th for a live screening and panel discussion of the short film, Born With It.
The film tells the story of a half Japanese half Ghanian boy on his first day of school in a small Japanese town, while he tries to prove to his new classmates that his dark skin is not a disease.
Director Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour Jr., author and activist Baye Mcneil, author, singer/songwriter Michael Yano, and cultural anthropologist and writer Dr. Mitzi Uehara Carter followed the screening with a meaningful conversation on race and racism.
RESOURCES
BOOKS
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FACEBOOK GROUPS FOR MIXED RACE ISSUES
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MEET THE PANELISTS
WEBSITE: https://www.emmanuelok.com/
Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour, Jr.
Emmanuel is an award-winning writer-director born and raised in Houston, Texas. He started his career in Japan where he developed a passion for telling authentic, sensitive human-centered stories.
His films have screened and won awards at over 50 film festivals internationally including Cannes, Toronto, Palm Springs, the NBC Short Film Festival, Pan African Film Festival, and more. As a commercial director, his work for brands such as Mitsubishi, Phillips 66 and Tenaris has garnered 6 Addy Awards.
He received his B.A. in Film Studies from Stanford University and completed his Masters of Fine Arts in Film at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. Emmanuel is a Disney-ABC TV Directing Program alumnus and is currently finishing up his first feature film produced by Amazon Studios.
WEBSITE: https://www.bayemcneil.com/
EMAIL: baye@bayemcneil.com
TWITTER: @bayemcneil
INSTAGRAM: @locohama
Baye McNeil
Baye is an author, columnist and activist from Brooklyn, NY, who moved to Japan in 2004.
He is the author of two critically-acclaimed books on life in Japan: “Hi! My Name is Loco and I am a Racist” and “Loco in Yokohama”. His monthly column, “Black Eye”, featured in The Japan Times, raises awareness of issues related to “blackness” in Japan.
In 2015, Baye spearheaded a successful campaign against the airing of a blackface minstrel show on Japanese TV. His activism in Japan has garnered global attention, featured on the BBC, in The New York Times, Huffington Post, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, etc.
He also conducts workshops and seminars at companies and universities across the country on human rights and race issues, in his continuing effort to help Japan achieve its desired and inevitable goal of greater inclusiveness and diversity.
Michael Yano
Michael Yano is one-third of the vocal unit The Yano Brothers.
Melding Japanese lyrics with a lively African rhythm, the trio of brothers of Ghanaian and Japanese descent is known for creating “Jafrican” music born of a fusion of genres.
Identified by Mainichi News as the face of a changing Japan in the “Heisei Transformation,” the Yano Brothers have embraced their role by turning their experiences with prejudice and racism into songs.
The brothers were born in a small village in Ghana to a Ghanaian mother and a Japanese father. Their father, an architect, was in Ghana to build the Noguchi Hideo Memorial when he met their mother. After spending 6 years in Ghana, they moved to Tokyo. However, due to difficulties adjusting to their new life in Japan, the Yano parents divorced, and the boys spent the next 8 years in orphanage school.
Eldest brother Michael became a pioneer in the sport of soccer as the first Japanese professional soccer J-League player with African roots. Following an early retirement and a career in professional mixed martial arts limited by health issues, Michael turned to music. He quickly rose to fame upon winning TV Tokyo’s first ever “RYUHA-R” (流派-R) Battle. Since, the rapper, singer and songwriter has been featured in songs by Aki Yashiro (矢代亜紀) and MAX, and has written songs for Hiroshi Tamaki (玉木宏), Maki Goto (後藤真希), Korean Boy Bands 2PM and U KISS, sports celebrities, tv dramas and more.
TWITTER: @gritsnsushi
Mitzi Uehara Carter, Ph.D.
Dr. Mitzi Uehara Carter is a Cultural Anthropologist and freelance writer.
A committed advocate of social justice work, Uehara Carter enjoys applying her academic knowledge to real life issues, particularly in the field of social change.
Uehara Carter served as a Fellow at the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science and conducted extensive research and field work collecting personal stories of Okinawan families. Her work on ethnographic methodology and mixed-race Okinawans has been published in numerous books and journals. She also contributed to the documentary Nuchi Du Takara: Tales of the “Battle of Okinawa” Survivors in California.
Uehara Carter received her B.A. in Cultural Anthropology from Duke University and her M.A. and Ph.D. in Anthropology from UC Berkeley.
She currently teaches East Asian Studies and Anthropology in at Florida International University. Uehara Carter also serves as an executive board member of Hapa Japan, an organization based at the University of Southern California.