Hating the Beautiful
by Emil Guillermo

Racism is so subtle these days- so there's nothing like the Jasper story to remind us just how ugly ugly can get. I've been through East Texas before. So I know about chicken-fried towns like Jasper, where you can find guys like John William King, Shawn Berry and Lawrence Brewer. The Trio, all white ex-cons, are suspected of belonging to the KKK and the Confederate Knights of America. All three are charged in the death of James Byrd, a disabled black man who was beaten, kicked, then chained by the ankles to the back of a pickup truck and dragged to death for a least a mile. This would be considered a departure from your standard lynching. But certainly no improvement. Though King and Brewer have been stone-faced, berry has pretty much admitted to the crime. What will King and Brewer do in court? Ask for traffic school? In the case, the crime is so off the scale, the legal process is a mere formality. That's the nice thing about unsubtle forms of slam-dunk racism. All you can do is hang your head in collective shame. You don't need debate after Jasper. Only prayer. Ah, so where is this week's debatable transgression?

It's the case of Esther Hwang, a beautiful, sexy Asian American woman, and if you doubt it, check out her Web site at www.esther.com. She's a former Miss Asian America, and knowing how the Pan Asian community loves its beauty queens, it's safe to say she's steeped in our cultural traditions, especially in high heels. This week a prominent Bay Area newspaper let everyone know about Esther and her attributes. Then the wires picked it up. Soon every paper was following suit. All because on the front page of the regional section, a headline bellowed: "Talk of S.F.. City Hall- Willie Brown's secretary promotes herself with racy photos on Internet" And, of course, as a public service, leaving no stone unturned, the San Francisco Chronicle prints three photos from the Website, all of them above the fold as they say in he newspaper game.

One is Esther in bra and panties, in a slanted pose, neck crooked, lips pursed, belly button exposed, not one hair out of place. Another is Esther in a lace teddy, hands on hips, hair up in a tousled bun, alone strand hooking off her face, an invitation to.... a budget meeting? The third shot is more conventional, a tiara-ed, bejeweled, and sleeveless Asian American beauty queen. Frankly, the pictures seemed tame compared to the paper's department store bra and panty ads that can easily pass for soft porn and so often take up a sizable portion of what would be considered the "main news" section. But call a bra and panties news and watch it spread.

Unfortunately, the story reveals no hanky panky of untoward dealings with the mayor, no comments on how Ms. Hwang does her job, or how she got her job as a $40,951- a year special assistant to Brown. The story did point out that she is a graduate of UC Berkeley, so if anything, she's overqualified for her role as scheduling assistant. Aside from that, the story has no meat. Except for that which the newspaper gleefully provides: Esther in her bra and panties, teddy and tiara. If it was meant to embarrass Willie Brown, it didn't. It's not like Brown is turning City Hall into Baywatch. I've seen the City Channel. But what, after all, was Esther Hwang's great crime? That she's smart enough and savvy enough to use the Web to market herself as an aspiring model? That she's a young, beautiful Asian American woman? When people start hating beauty, boy, are we all in trouble. In the old days, the top office holder of the city might have had a buxom blonde secretary who really know how to touch type. That would have raised a titter or two. That's acceptable "bimboism," my word for discrimination based on a person's physical beauty. It's an offshoot of sexism, only it's even more rarefied. The victim has to have finished in the Top 10 of an officially sanctioned Miss Universe event.

Nowadays, in our multicultural world, the definition has expanded. Bimboism no longer targets just blondes. Anyone beautiful becomes a target for the truly ugly bimboist. In our hyper-competitive world of diminishing resources, people are compelled to point a finger at unfair advantage. The mere thought that someone could get a job because of beauty! Why, that's criminal! That's worse than affirmative action ever was! And besides, where does skin color end and beauty begin? As a guy in the TV business, I know what it's like on both sides. As an Asian American male who's anchored on TV, I know what like to be a "pretty boy" among the acne-scarred. But I also know what its like to be passed up for a job promotion in favor of a pretty, young Asian American woman who thinks condoms are covered by the Fair Housing Act.

So I harbor no special bias toward Miss. Hwang. In fact, I'm apt to join e uglies who resent her. But by all accounts, Hwang is a smart, competent UC grad who happens to be beautiful and Asian American. Cyber-savvy, ambitious and bright too. So why aren't we celebrating her ambition? Why does she get points off for beauty and chutzpah? That's why the newspaper story falls into a weird category: a speedball mixture of cultural envy that's somewhat sexist, bimboist, racist, even. But at least no one is dragged for a country mile.

Emil Guillermo, former host of NPR's All Things Considered, is an independent syndicated columnist. He is host/executive producer of NCM: New California Media, Thursdays, 6p.m. and Sunday 6:30p.m on KCSM-TV60 (PBS).