At first glance, the most prominent word of the show Asian Excellence Awards appears to be the word Asian because it’s the word that stands out the most in social, cultural, and personal meaning to most audiences. Most people, even Asians and Asian Pacific Americans, have the impression that this event is a by Asians for Asians only affair and that all you’ll see during the show is the in-crowd Asians patting each other on the back.

The reality is that this show is not and should not be about genetically determined Asians. Though many individuals of Asian heritage were highlighted and honored, this event’s true nature is not that of exclusive genetic snobbery but rather of a coalition of disparate and diverse people who have come together to celebrate what Asian means to them. The key word of the night was actually excellence, and there was no shortage of talent, charisma, and inspiration.

Indeed, not a single person in the massive Royce Hall at UCLA on Wednesday night, April 23, 2008 was pure anything.

Take a look at the red carpet pictures to see the diversity in just the celebrity attendance alone:

Celebrity Attendance at Asian Excellence Awards

Nevertheless, the issue of who’s Asian and who’s not was a source of tension throughout.

Sharon Leal of Dreamgirls and This Christmas who won Outstanding Film Actress made the comment that when she came on the red carpet last year, people were asking her, “What’s the deal?” In physical appearances, Leal fits most people’s conceptions of what African-Americans should look like but she is also of Filipino descent as well. While onstage, she explained that her mother had remarried when she was young and that she had grown up in a completely Asian culture household. The Dreamgirl ended her acceptance speech with a charming impression of her mother’s adorable Tagalog-flavored English.

When Steven Seagal took to the stage, he started with “I was raised in Asia, and I am raising my kids in Asia.” He also made a rather awkward comment about Asians and filial piety.

As Lindsay Price of Lipstick Jungle accepted her award for Outstanding Television Actress, she pointed out that she was half Korean and half German-Irish along with her heartfelt personal speech to her mother who had been an orphan in Korea. Even Ian Ziering, best known for his role as Steve Sanders on hit teen show Beverly Hills 90210 made the jocular comment “I’m part Asian” when it was his turn to present an award. I’m pretty sure he’s not part Asian, so he might have been poking fun at the need to legitimize being there, but hey, aren’t we all from the same amoebic ancestors anyways?

The real issue here, however, is why is there a need to prove that you are Asian in order to legitimate being on the red carpet, receiving a reward, or even attending the event?

The tone of the Asian Excellence Awards show itself, on the other hand, did not reflect limiting conceptions of what it means to celebrate Asian excellence, and with tongue in cheek they pushed the limits of the audience’s conceptions with their programming. This was most evident when Queintin Tarantino and Verne Troyer presented the Half Asian Award to Rob Schneider who is of both Jewish and Filipino descent. Tarantino kicked off the segment with some ‘half’ jokes including the words ‘half-hearted’ and ‘half-baked.’ In his acceptance speech, Schneider made a slew of Jewish/Filipino jokes and even poked fun at the Asian Excellence Awards itself calling it the “Only Asians On TV Awards.”

I think the ‘racial tension’ at the awards, the need to legitimize being a part of this event through genetic claims, comes from people in general being not quite sure how to conceptualize the complex nature of ‘race.’ My suggested solution is to reframe and reword our ‘legitimizing’ of participation in the Asian Excellence Awards, changing it from a ‘biological legitimacy’ to a ‘social legitimacy.’

Using myself as an example, I did not attend the Asian Excellence Awards because “I am of Taiwanese/Chinese descent (biological legitimacy),” I attended because “I live my life placed meaningfully in the Asian category by myself and by others, and Asian represents lifestyles, cultures, and philosophies that I have built my life around (social legitimacy).”

Based on this, I’d say Steven Seagal pulled upon a “social legitimacy” the most, though I’d have to say he tried a little too hard. He had as much of a right to be there as anybody in that room and needed no more legitimizing than the rest of us, and all I think he needed to say was “Asian means…to me.”

To me,

Asian means Taiwanese, Chinese, Tagalog, Japanese, Korean, Indonesian, Hindi…

Asian means dan bing, beef caldereta, bibimbap, palak paneer, soba, roti canai, pho, boba milk tea, star fruit, Hainam chicken…

Asian means Kuan Yin, Devi, Siddhartha Gautama, Amaterasu, Avalokitesvara, Lao Tzu…

Asian means Tai Qi, Drunken Master II, Princess Mononoke, Tao Yao, Liang Zhu…

Everyone’s lists are different, but there is a commonality in the connection to the word “Asian” which legitimizes a coalition under those five pesky letters. I propose that reframing participation in terms of ’social legitimacy’ can reduce ‘racial tensions’ and open the door for participation of a wider audience as well as a deeper understanding of the nature of ‘race’ as a socially constructed phenomenon.

On a lighter note, the Asian Excellence Awards was a great show. Performances from Jabbawockeez and Kaba Modern alone are worth catching this production on E! Entertainment May 1^st at 6pm ET/PT.

Grammy nominee Tia Carrere, best known as Cassandra from Wayne’s World, performed Hawaiian music, and I tell ya, this girl can definitely sing.

The awarding of the Half Asian Award was just too awesome, and there were many heartfelt acceptance speeches worth catching.

The MVP of the night was comedian Russell Peters who served as backstage host. He filled in the gaps with his quirky observations and even came out on stage for a short stand up session that brought me to tears from laughter. His best bit that night was when he asked the audience to stay in their seats during a lull and ended it with an ad hoc “Yo Momma.”

The Asian Excellence Awards was not as much an award show as it was a showcase of all the amazing talents found in the community of people who find meaning in the word Asian. As it launches to a national audience on E! Entertainment May 1, symbolically the first day of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, it’s definitely a show of excellence worth catching on the tube.