The word “oriental” has been used in American culture to describe items from the Eastern world, but the term has also been used to offensively describe Asian people.
Milwaukee Film has been examining the use of this word and how it is associated with The Oriental Theatre. MKE Film purchased the theatre in 2018.
For the second year, as a part of this year’s Cultures and Communities Festival, MKE Film is hosting a conversation called Re-Orienting the Oriental Theatre. Where a historic preservation expert and local AAPI leaders will lead a conversation about the venue’s name. The talk will take place in-person on Saturday at 10 a.m. at the East Branch library in partnership with the AAPI Coalition of Wisconsin and the Japanese American Citizen League's Wisconsin chapter.
Ron Kuramoto is the president of the Japanese American Citizen Leagues Wisconsin chapter. "Oriental is actually a colonial term, 'oriental' stands for east ... but east of where?" he says.
From his perspective, the term continues to remain offensive towards Asian people. "It has more to do with the fact that Asian people are Asian people and other things such as oriental rugs are oriental or the Oriental Theatre."
Cara Ogburn, artistic director at Milwaukee Film, says over the years, they've heard a range of responses from community members. Some expressing that they will never step foot into the theater with the term 'oriental' still in the name, while others do not take offense.
Ogburn says, "And we've also heard, I think, most strikingly, that a lot of people in Milwaukee have never even thought about this name, or the decoration in the space as being possibly harmful to anyone." Milwaukee Film hopes that the ongoing conversations about the name will help shape the organization's next steps.
Last year as a part of the 2021 Cultures and Communities Festival, a similar conversation was held. Kuramoto attended the previous discussion. He says what stuck with him is remembering the power behind what a name means.
"It was just pointed out that there is significance in what you're called and everybody has or should have the ability to be called what they want to be," he says.
In these conversations, it was also pointed out that the statues in one of the theaters house Buddhas that maybe be culturally offensive to some Asian populations. And the upcoming conversation will cover the Oriental Theatre's architecture and design elements along with the term itself.
According to Ogburn, the potential to change the theater's name is on the table, but after doing some deep community critical thinking. "Some people think it's very clear, obvious direction. But I think for those of us who are kind of digging in and listening, it's a lot more complicated than it might seem on the surface," she says.
"It's important to us that we really include our full community, people who identify as Asian and Pacific Islander those who do not to really sort of come together and listen and, and hear different perspectives and kind of add those all together," Ogburn says.
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