My guys, what are we doing here?
Aren't journalists the worst?
There's a new drama that looks pretty awesome called "Shogun" which is about Japan in the 1600s. So, of course, woke journalists are asking the real question, "Where are all the black people?"
Okay, I'm going to be fair to this journalist and look at the story. Giving him the click he so desperately longs for, to hear out the argument.
I don't ask out of a desire to see representation when it wasn't historically accurate. I inquire because there were Black people in Japan in 1600 and before, though Japan could teach Florida a thing or two about rewriting history.
They had to insert a DeSantis derangement black history dig into this article didn't they? I mean, sure he's saying the Japanese are EVEN MORE RACIST than DeSantis, but Florida Man Bad still.
According to multiple sources, one of the early real-life Shoguns, Sakanoue no Tamuramaro (758 - 811), was Black, though denied by others. There is a consensus he was something other than pure Japanese, and he is often considered descended from the Ainu, the darker-skinned indigenous people of northern Japan who were subjected to forced assimilation and colonization.
His entire argument to include black people in a show about Japan is that there MAY HAVE been ONE black person who was a Shogun. Although no one knows if he was really black or if he was just dark-skinned. But since a black person MAY have existed in 1600 Japan they HAVE to be inserted into the show.
Because he's just trying to be historically accurate, after all.
Historian Mark Hyman described a statue in honor of Tamuramaro in his book.
"As seen in the temple where he has was honored, Maro's statue was taller than his fellow contributors," wrote Hyman "His hair was curly and tight; his eyes were large and wide-set and brown. His nostrils were flared, his forehead wider, his jaws thick and slightly protruded."
Umm, am I crazy, or is assuming that this describes a black man incredibly racist according to the woke Left? Like, saying he had curly hair and big nostrils so he's obviously black seems SUPER sketchy.
If anyone else said that...
Not only is this guy arguing that black people should be in the show, if they want to be historically accurate, but they should probably include black SLAVE OWNERS as well.
A group of Rotterdam merchants that pre-dated the Dutch East India Company commissioned five ships on the expedition to Japan, of which only one landed with 25 survivors. While the Dutch East India Company would have used Black crew members, I have no evidence that Adams (or Blackthorne) would have had Black crewmen. They would likely have existed among the contingents of Portuguese missionaries appearing thus far in the series.
Historian John G. Russell wrote a paper, "Excluded Presence: Shoguns, Minstrels, Bodyguards, and Japan's Encounters with the Black Other." He documented the arrival of Black people in Japan in several capacities and that some Black people even owned Japanese servants and enslaved people.
If Shogun featured black people who were slave owners wouldn't that be considered racist? Black people being the bad guys? Clearly, the white people in the show are there to be the bad guy colonists. So, according to this opinion writer, William Spivey, they should have some black bad guys as well.
How does he think that would have played out on FX and Hulu?
The "representation" crowd is totally annoying.
Everything is racist. No matter what.
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