Chow Fun Food Group Petition

http://www.petitiononline.com/providen/

In the month of February 2008, the Chow Fun Food Group ran an advertisement for "Chinese Laundry" in Providence Monthly that featured a black and white image of a nude female torso with traditional Chinese characters tattooed down the side of her body, and a black banner containing the text "see what you are missing" across her breasts. A bar of text across the top of the advertisement read, "good things come to those who wait." In March 2008, the advertisement was again printed in Providence Monthly, this time with the words, "the wait is over." We the undersigned find the advertisement and subsequent marketing of "Chinese Laundry" objectionable for its dehumanization and commodification of the female form, and its exoticism of Asian cuisine and culture. While we recognize that "sex sells" is a common marketing tactic, this particular image evokes racist stereotypes of Asian women as hypersexual, submissive and "foreign."

We the undersigned also object to the name of the restaurant, "Chinese Laundry," which disregards the discriminatory practices of late 19th and early 20th century America that forced Asian American immigrants into these forms of domestic and servile work.

The Inquirer

Thought I'd share a letter written by my friend in response to an article titled Taiwanese Banker Baffled By Pounds.

To 'The Letterman',

While you might believe that your audience is composed primarily of a single demographic, the internet has done wonders to expose your writings to the rest of the world (North America). Having said that, you should try and keep your W.A.S.P. jokes to yourself, or to your buddies at your 'exclusive' country club. Being of Asian decent I find your childish joke on r's and l's in the word, 'dollar', to be offensive. Humour takes many forms - and being a racist isn't one of them, especially if you deal in the world of gadgets, most of them being produced in Asian countries.

Sincerely, J. Leong

Oprah

As I sit here grading speeches the TV is on and Oprah is having a "townhall" about the Imus issue. This is great to bring attention to issues of race. I applaud Oprah. But where was she when the Tsunami Song about "screaming chinks" came out, or when Adam Corolla did his "ching chong" parody of the Asian Excellence Awards? How about when JR Gach did the piece about slant-eyed gooks? How about that part in the movie Dodgeball with the opium smoking Chinese people throwing human heads? Why are all her panelists either black or white? Why is this sounding like it's never happened before? Or that it only happens to black people? Racism is an issue that is not just black and white and this Imus incident is not the first.

Imus

I'm pleased to see that Imus got fired over his racist comments ("nappy headed hos") about the Rutger women's basketball team. Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and Oprah Winfrey were quick to offer their criticism of the radio host. My question is, where were these high profile folks and the national news media when the Tsunami Song came out, or when Adam Corolla went on the air to parody the Asian Excellence Awards? When do Asian Americans count? Why are we fair game for racist insults when the same insults directed at blacks are not tolerated?

MTA

repost from an email from Jun Zuniga

http://www.petitiononline.com/mtahate1/petition.html

Condemn anti-Asian hate crimes and hold MTA accountable! On March 16, 2007 the New York Post reported that 17 year old Asian high school student, Marie Stefanie Martinez was assaulted in New York by a group of teenagers on a MTA B82 bus due to their perception that she looked “Chinese” even though she is of Filipino descent. Ms. Martinez was punched, kicked, and subjected to slurs in what can be categorized as a hate crime based on her attackers animus towards her perceived ethnicity. Reportedly, the MTA bus operator who witnessed the assault did nothing to intervene during the course of the assault on Ms. Martinez and neglected his moral and ethical duty to ensure the safety of MTA riders and punctuated his negligent conduct by allegedly advising Ms. Martinez, who was still wearing her Ctholic school uniform, to "go talk to a priest" after the assault.This petition seeks the following:1) The MTA and NYPD conduct a vigorous full and complete investigation into the incident ensuring that any violations found of any applicable hate crimes statutes are fully applied.2) The bus operator be subjected to discipline commensurate to the action of permitting riders to commit a hate crime on a MTA rider. If the bus operator is found to have permitted the assault to have taken place and informed Ms. Martinez to “go talk to a priest”, MTA should subject the bus operator to termination from his position.By signing this petition, you state that you agree with the aforementioned two points.Let this serve as notice that the Asian American community remembers the hate crimes perpetrated on Fermin Tobera, Vincent Chin, Thong H. Huynh, An Pech, Ly Yung Cheung, Navroze Mody, Raphanor Or, Ram Chun, Sokhim An, Thuy Tran, Oeun Lim, Ming Hai "Jim" Loo, Heng Lim, Hung Truong, the Nakashima Famil, Luyen Phan Nguyen, Sam Nhang Nhem, Thanh Mai, Eddy Wu, Thien Minh Ly, Kanu Patel, Mukesh Patek, Naoki Kamijima, Won-Joon Yoon, Joseph Ileto, Sandip Patel, Theo Pham, Ji-ye Sun, Anil Thakur, Thung Phetakoune, Kenny Chiu, Balbir Singh Sodhi, Waqar Hasan, Mijanaur Rahman, Mohammed Sakawat, Vasudev Patel, Lili Wang, Bang Mai, Charlotte Colton, Ze Fairchild, Maleka Higgins, Nicola Grant, Guadalupe Swartz, Dexter Shannon, Beverly Graham, Song Sun Lee, Stephen Kam Yan Li, and the countless other Asians and Asian Americans who have suffered the ultimate price due to racial hatred aimed at the Asian/Asian American community. We will not tolerate hate crimes and will vigorously act to ensure justice in our communities.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/03182007/news/regionalnews/girls_bloody_beating_regionalnews_dan_mangan________and_leela_de_kretser.htm
http://www.nypost.com/seven/03212007/news/regionalnews/girl__14__nabbed_in_student_bus_beating_regionalnews_erika_martinez_and_leela_de_kretser.htm

Eng

If you want to read a good blog entry on how the hell Kenneth Eng got to be the racist shame-to-all-Asians that he is, check out http://www.thewilyfilipino.com/blog/ There is also a scan of the AsianWeek article there.

Whatever dysfunction led to his being doesn't excuse AsianWeek's decision to publish that crap. Yep, another case that lends evidence to the saying "you can't stuff the shit back in the horse." You can fire Eng who was only a freelancer anyway but this one will be tough to forget.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/03/01/HATE.TMP

I just hope Eng's career ends here. Bitter, deranged, racist people should not be writing anything that is broadcast to anyone.

Chinese food

What is with this fascination with Asian people eating dogs and cats? This contribution comes from my student Catrina.

http://jflores.com/jokes/chowmein.htm

We are not pet eating savages and we are not hiding other people's pets in the food you consume at Chinese restaurants. Quit depicting us as the unassimilable foreigner already.