Cleaning Up a Chinese Laundry (In the Name of Love 2)

“No Tickee No Shirtee.”

I was stunned. Does that sign say what I think it says? I looked closer.

“No Tickee No Shirtee.”

Yes, there it was, scrawled on a wooden sign on the back wall of the Wing Lee Laundry exhibit at Knott’s Berry Farm.

I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe that in the incredibly diverse megalopolis that surrounds Los Angeles, in progressive California, in the 21st century, such a racially offensive sign would be displayed in a popular amusement park. Fueling my angst further was the fact that my family and I love Knott’s Berry Farm! We’re big fans of the little-kid rides, the Charlie Brown-themed shows, and the price of season passes. (One year at Knott’s costs less than one day at nearby Disneyland!)

We also appreciate how Knott’s promotes the study of Old West history. You can ride a horse-drawn stagecoach and authentic 19th-century locomotives. You can visit a schoolhouse building from the period, or watch the work of a real blacksmith. There are even a few “peek-in” displays that you can’t enter but can look into, in order to view a scene recreating 1850s life. The Wing Lee Laundry display, representing the ubiquitous Chinese-owned laundry shops of that era, is one such “peek-in.”

But, I wondered, how can I continue to enjoy Knott’s, knowing the “No Tickee No Shirtee” sign is hanging in that display?

My wife and I discussed our options. We could ignore the sign and tell ourselves it was just a small sign in a small display in a huge park. Or we could just stop taking our girls to Knott’s.

But doesn’t raising Asian American daughters require me to confront racism in their world until they can do it themselves?

After asking for some advice from Lisa Lee, co-founder of ThickDumplingSkin.com and former publisher of Hyphen Magazine, and spending some personal time in prayer, I called the Knott’s business office and asked to speak with a manager.

Over the ensuing weeks, I engaged in several conversations with upper management. I explained why my family loved the park, and how “No Tickee No Shirtee” was used from the late 1800s onward to denigrate Chinese Americans. Knott’s lead manager in these discussions was receptive to my concerns, and revealed that this was the first time a complaint about the sign had ever been brought to the management’s attention. He assured me that park founder Walter Knott meant no offense with the phrase when he oversaw design of the display in the 1940s, and that current management certainly meant no offense, either. He went further, saying that though he never before realized that “No Tickee No Shirtee” was a racially offensive phrase, he understood that now. I asked that Knott’s remove the sign; he said he would take the matter to his superiors.

I then learned of a second racial problem with the display. Retired Long Beach State professor Dr. John Jung, whose own parents ran a laundry store in Georgia when he was a child, told me that the exhibit plays an audio recording, which I hadn’t previously heard. It’s of a man portraying Wing Lee, singing several songs in what sounds like a foreign language. But when we listened to the recording, neither Dr. Jung nor I could understand it, nor could friends and relatives fluent in Mandarin, Cantonese, and Toisan. We all found the songs to be unintelligble.

To me, this was an even bigger issue than the sign. It really brought to mind the mocking “ching chong, ting tong, ding dong” phrase that almost every Chinese kid hears while growing up in America. When I brought this up to the park manager, he said that the recording was also made in the 1940s, and it represented an attempt at Pidgin English that a Chinese immigrant could have used in the Old West. I explained to him that it didn’t sound like Pidgin English, and that the songs would likely remind many Chinese Americans of their being bullied with “ching chong, ting tong, ding dong.” I asked that Knott’s also remove the recording; he said he would also discuss it with his superiors.

A couple of days later, he called me back with the final decision. He informed me that he had approval from the general manager (who also serves as one of the vice presidents of Knott’s parent corporation) to replace both the “No Tickee No Shirtee” sign and the audio recording! It was a very exciting moment.

He continued by asking for suggestions as to how to replace those aspects of the exhibit. For the sign, I suggested “Wash’ng & Iron’g,” which was the phrase on the front of San Francisco’s first Chinese-owned laundry, established in 1851. For the recording, I offered to find someone who could sing the same songs in Cantonese or Toisan. The park manager very much liked the alternative signage idea, and he invited whatever vocalist I found to use the park’s own sound studio to record the songs in real Chinese.

I was touched to the point of tears. I’m not naïve; I know corporations have an interest in minimizing their bad publicity. But I also believe there was a genuine desire on the part of Knott’s management to do right by the Asian American community. It especially stands in contrast to the Disneyland Resort’s treatment of two Muslim employees in recent years. (One woman, an intern, was only permitted to wear her hijab at work after the Council on American-Islamic Relations got involved. Another woman, also desiring to wear her hijab on the job, is currently engaged in a lawsuit against Disney.)

I’m glad to report that Knott’s Berry Farm is following through. Earlier this spring, the sign was replaced. And I’m currently working with Knott’s to complete a new audio recording, with an agreed-upon target date of the end of June. Knott’s and its parent corporation, Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, deserve a lot of credit for their handling of this situation. In my view, they deserve our patronage as well.

Through this process, I have benefited much from the wisdom and encouragement offered by Lisa Lee and Dr. John Jung. Please check out some of their current endeavors – Lisa’s Thick Dumpling Skin, which wonderfully supports Asian Americans who struggle with body image and disordered eating issues, and Dr. Jung’s blog, Chinese Laundries, which delves deeply into the history of – what else – Chinese-owned laundries!