Following a recent retail transaction I received with my change a US quarter dollar coin dated 2022 with “Anna May Wong” on it and her physiognomy in relief.
I looked her up on the US Mint website, and here in part is what the United States government officially proclaims about Anna:
“Her career spanned motion pictures, television, and theater. She appeared in more than 60 movies, including silent films and one of the first movies made in Technicolor. Wong also became the first Asian American lead actor in a U.S. television show for her role in 'The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong' (1951).”
“After facing constant discrimination in Hollywood, Wong traveled to Europe and worked in English, German, and French films. She also appeared in productions on the London and New York stages.”
See any contradiction there?
Anna appeared in 60 movies. (60 more than me, by the way) She was the first “Asian American” lead actor on TV. But - says the US government - she faced “constant discrimination in Hollywood”?
You mean like James Woods, Gina Carano, and John Voight right now?
Seems to me Anna was hugely successful, internationally held in esteem, and a star in and out of Hollywood.
Did some terrible people look down on her for being “Asian”? (She was of Chinese ethnicity) Yes, I’m sure. There are terrible people.
Ask anybody who is successful in anything if they ever experienced prejudice or unfairness. Beautiful women, who are Hollywood goddesses, have written extensively about how their attractiveness was an obstacle in furthering their careers, which is counterintuitive to some.
Fat, old, skinny, Arabic, Appalachian, flat-chested, big-chested, tall, short, Negro, Scottish, albino, pimply, Eskimo, no diploma, cleft palate, blind, PTSD, etc etc etc – everybody has some sort of cross to bear as against somebody else’s prejudice.
Anna doesn’t sound like a “victim” to me. But someone who rose above and is to be credited and admired. An American success story writ large.
That the US Mint chose to cast her as a victim who had to scurry to Europe for acceptance seems to belie her success and acceptance in America.
But that’s the cool kid thing to do now, right? Poormouth your country. And do so as official US federal numismatic policy! Like CRT. Like school textbooks. Like 1619. Like Tik-Tok. Like Antifa. Like Nazis.
The Anna May Wong quarter reminds us that today's government scriptwriters will never win an Oscar for "Most Accurate American History".
We the people must preserve America and her history.
