Reviewing the new PBS documentary "The Chinese Exclusion Act," directed by Ric Burns and Li-Shin Yu, New York Times television critic Mike Hale writes:
You could reasonably ask why a non-Asian-American filmmaker like Mr. Burns should be the driving force in such a prominent telling of an Asian-American story. The answer, beyond the quality of the work, lies in the inevitable advantage that established figures like him and, in the case of "Becoming American," Bill Moyers have in raising money.
Some editor could have improved that first sentence by deleting the word "reasonably." Another possible answer is that the story of the Chinese Exclusion Act isn't exclusively "an Asian-American story" but that it is also an American story. And yet another possible answer is that while members of minority groups may have some advantages in telling stories about their own group, outsiders may also have advantages, such as a fresh perspective or an easier path to telling the story in a way that people outside the group can relate to. Bernard Lewis, for example, was a great historian of Islam without being a Muslim himself. It's not clear to me, at least, that it is a reasonable assumption that all prominent stories about minority groups need to exclude non-members of the minority group from participating as driving forces. I was glad to see Mr. Hale rebut the idea, but I think the word "reasonably" ceded too much ground.
As far as access to capital is concerned, some editor could have improved the second sentence by deleting the word "inevitable." Asian-American filmmakers may now have a harder time capital-raising than Ric Burns or Bill Moyers. But Ric Burns isn't as famous or established a fimmaker as his older, better-known brother Ken. And some day that situation may change. It's not "inevitable."