A ‘Slanted’ Perspective Understanding the drive to fight for free speech
by Emma Ross photography/ Ella Choi
That boy was Simon Tam, founder of The Slants, an all Asian American dance-rock band, and the winning party in Matal v. Tam, a First Amendment Supreme Court case that resulted in a provision of the Lanham
28 | fall 2019
Act being ruled unconstitutional. This provision prevented the registration of any trademarks that were seen as disparaging toward an individual or group. In this particular case, it had been used to prevent The Slants from registering a trademark for their name due to the racist connotation with the word “slants.” Tam’s band chose the name The Slants as a way to reclaim the term — to take the word back from those that used it in a derogatory manner. He was not the only one with that idea though. The Asian community had already been reclaiming the word “slants” on its own for decades, Tam said. He was honoring the work of the
activists that came before him. For example, Melissa Hung, the founding editor of Hyphen, an Asian American culture magazine, established the Slant Film Festival in 2001 to showcase the world of emerging Asian American artists. There are also the directors and production teams behind “The Slanted Screen,” Slant TV and Slant Magazine. Every racial slur against Asian Americans was already a registered trademark, according to Tam. But whenever Asian Americans would apply for these trademarks themselves, they were denied. “We were told that we were too Asian,
design/Christine Kim
A
boy sits on the couch. The movie playing on the TV is Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill.” As the boy watches, a scene starts up. It’s the moment when O-Ren Ishii, leader of a Tokyo crime organization, enters a restaurant. She’s dressed in all white contrasting the black ensembles that her clan wears as they follow behind her. All of the actors are Asian or Asian American. It is the first time the boy has ever seen Asians portrayed as cool, sexy and confident.
