New The View host Whoopi Goldberg took the plunge into ethnic stereotyping by comparing football star Michael Vick’s cultural upbringing with dog fighting to the Chinese and eating cats.
Some might say her comments are ignorant and even racist. I would lean more toward the ignorant because it’s true that the Chinese eat cat. And dog. I’ve been to restaurants in China where both are served and tried dog.
The stereotype is based on fact. I don’t know exactly how common it is to eat dog and cat China, but it’s not an everyday thing. And certainly few if any are being consumed in the United States by Chinese Americans or anyone else. The problem is when the eating cat and dog stereotype becomes the only image that is conjured up when talking about Chinese or Asian Americans.
This post can also be found on Hyphen magazine’s blog.