At the beginning of the book, Willis, the protagonist, introduces the character of “Generic Asian Man,” the role that all the Asian men who act on Black and White, a police procedural show, start out playing. Generic Asian Man—and all other Asian characters on the show, for that matter—is a stock character lacking in complexity and importance. It’s one of the many stereotypical characters that Willis plays over the course of his career; other such parts include “Background Oriental Male” and “Oriental Guy Making a Strange Face.”
Though slightly different in name, all these roles have a generic, dehumanizing…