He was calm, rational, and insightful. We can hardly applaud the practice of yellowface
1 with which the character has become associated, but we can at least separate him from the grotesque Asian villains generated by the Yellow Peril. He was a pop-culture hero to North American audiences in an era when the western mass media vilified people of Asian descent and the laws excluded them from public life. And, despite his broken English and love of fortune cookieaphorisms, the character did not speak pidgin, as has often been stated by those critiquing the character.
He is Charlie Chan, and he has been celebrated and reviled since 1925.
This week s Local Motion is a 420 special featuring Kate Redmond s interview of attorney Brian Vicente and Gavin Dahl s interview of journalist Leland Rucker.
Nine years ago Vicente co-authored Amendment 64 which legalized marijuana and set up a framework for retail in Colorado. Rucker talks about his reporting for The News Station on evolving views of public officials and voters over the years, a study on the impacts of cannabis use on job performance, new legalization efforts in states like New Mexico, and his pop up book Dimensional Cannabis.
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