‘Racist!’: Metapragmatic regimentation of racist discourse by Asian American youth

Abstract

This study illustrates how Asian American youth participate in the ongoing formation of linguistic and racial ideologies in the USA through the metapragmatic regimentation of racist discourse (Silverstein, 1993). After presenting examples of crying ‘racist’ in US politics and entertainment, this article examines ethnographic and discourse data in which Korean American boys ‘decode’ (Hill, 2009) certain uses of the term ‘black’ as ‘racist’.The analysis illustrates how the regimentation of racist discourse relies on the indexical construal of broader oppositions that link ‘black’ to negative racialized qualities, including deviance, violence, and insults. This article argues that ‘racist’ cries by Asian American youth challenge language ideologies of referentialism and personalism and racial ideologies of colorblindness and postrace. Crying ‘racist’ becomes a rich resource for achieving a number of interactional effects that renegotiate the position of Asian American youth with respect to the range of racial categories that circulate throughout US society.