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Asian Newspaper Under Fire for 'I Hate Blacks' Column
Tuesday , February 27, 2007
San Francisco's Asian community is up in arms over a newspaper column titled "Why I Hate Blacks" that appeared last week in a weekly newspaper geared to Asian Americans, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Tuesday.
In Kenneth Eng's column for AsianWeek, a paper that bills itself as "The Voice of Asian Americans," the self-described "Asian supremacist" goes through his list of "reasons" why he believes discrimination against African Americans is OK.
"The publication of these racist statements is completely irresponsible and damaging to all our communities," said Gen Fujioka, program director of the Asian Law Caucus. "Not only should there be a retraction but a serious effort to repair the harm caused."
The Chronicle reported that the offensive column has been removed from the paper's Web site, though copies of the paper were still available in the city's news boxes on Monday.
The paper "sincerely regrets any offense caused by the one opinion piece which reflected that author's personal views," according to a statement printed in the Chronicle. "We apologize for any harm or hurt this has caused the African American community. AsianWeek has great respect for all that the African American community has done for Asian Pacific Americans."
Eng, who is in his early 20s, has written a regular column called "God of the Universe" for the newspaper since November.
Asian paper's 'I Hate Blacks' column assailed
Leslie Fulbright, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
A San Francisco weekly newspaper that bills itself as "The Voice of Asian America" is facing harsh criticism from that very community for publishing a column Friday titled "Why I Hate Blacks."
In the column, AsianWeek regular contributor Kenneth Eng listed "reasons" to discriminate against African Americans. The piece has been pulled from the newspaper's Web site, but the print edition of the free paper, owned by the politically influential Fang family, was still available in news racks Monday.
Eng called himself an "Asian supremacist" in January in another installment of the column, which runs under the label "God of the Universe."
Prominent Asian Americans immediately condemned Eng's current column.
"The hate is based on ignorance and is very similar to the rationales that the KKK uses against African Americans," said Henry Der, director for 22 years of Chinese for Affirmative Action and the former state administrator for Emeryville's schools.
"What gives me the greatest concern was AsianWeek's judgment in printing such a piece out of context," Der said. "It is so trite and hateful, it doesn't speak well for the publication."
San Francisco NAACP President Amos Brown, who heard about the column from a Chronicle reporter, was speechless at first.
"I can't believe this," Brown then said. "I am surprised the Fangs, who have supposedly been involved in interracial-understanding issues, would publish something like this. I am flabbergasted. We can't afford for these kind of racist flames to be fueled in that kind of setting."
AsianWeek issued a statement regretting "any offense caused by the one opinion piece," and Editor in Chief Samson Wong declined further comment.
Editor at large Ted Fang did not return phone calls seeking comment. Members of his family, who are Chinese American, have owned a number of local publications, including AsianWeek and the Independent. They bought the Examiner in 2000 and sold it in 2004.
Ted Fang's brother James, who is president of the paper, has spent more than a decade on the BART Board of Directors and previously worked as international trade director for former San Francisco Mayor Frank Jordan.
Eng's "reasons" for hating black people include:
-- "Blacks hate us. Every Asian who has ever come across them knows that they take almost every opportunity to hurl racist remarks at us."
-- "Contrary to media depictions, I would argue that blacks are weak-willed. They are the only race that has been enslaved for 300 years."
-- "Blacks are easy to coerce. This is proven by the fact that so many of them, including the Rev. Al Sharpton, tend to be Christians."
Eng, who is in his early 20s, according to material on the Internet promoting his science fiction writing, started at AsianWeek in November after moving from the East Coast. In 2004, for an online magazine called Down in the Dirt, he wrote about experiencing racism as an Asian American student at New York University after he "expressed my negative views on America, religion and African Americans."
Other AsianWeek columns of Eng's -- including "Proof That Whites Inherently Hate Us" and "Why I Hate Asians" -- have resulted in criticism. In the first, he complained about the scarcity of Asian heroes in the media. In the second, he described Asian Americans as apathetic, brown-nosing and lacking in cultural pride.
Eng could not be reached for comment Monday.
Leaders of the Asian Law Caucus, Asian American Justice Center, Chinese for Affirmative Action and other groups and individuals began circulating a petition Friday calling for the paper to apologize, terminate its relationship with Eng, print an editorial refuting the column and review its editorial policy. The leaders' statement, issued in Washington, D.C., called the piece "irresponsible journalism, blatantly racist, replete with stereotypes and deeply hurtful to African Americans."
In its statement, AsianWeek, which has a circulation of 48,505, said it "sincerely regrets any offense caused by the one opinion piece which reflected that author's personal views. We apologize for any harm or hurt this has caused the African American community. AsianWeek has great respect for all that the African American community has done for Asian Pacific Americans."
David Lee of the Chinese American Voters Education Committee said Eng's statement echoes the feelings of some Asian Americans. He said that rather than condemning the paper, black and Asian people should participate in a town hall-style meeting to address tension he said exists between the two communities.
"There is a segment that feels the way Eng does, but the sentiment is underground and not brought to the surface," Lee said. "If you don't have a discussion, then I think it allows these types of views to fester and turn into something much more negative. Rather than refute and bury this, we should be calling for a community dialogue to address this."
The paper said it will announce in this Friday's edition plans to co-sponsor a town hall-style meeting with the Willie L. Brown Jr. Institute on Politics & Public Service.
"What this controversy points out is the lack of community leadership in addressing the critical and difficult issues of race relations, particularly between Asian Pacific Americans and African Americans," the paper's statement said.
San Francisco writer Claire Light, one of several bloggers who wrote about the column over the weekend, said the newspaper in general -- and especially Eng's column -- makes her embarrassed to be Asian. She said that "most Asian Americans have never even heard of AsianWeek, much less agree with its editorial decision making."
Der said the column was offensive not only to African Americans but to everyone -- and especially because it was published during Black History Month.
"It is pretty despicable that the piece would do that at this time," he said. "If we are to talk about race and issues, then there should be a thoughtful presentation of the diverse views on this topic. If they had done that, however offensive, we would at least understand it in the context in the larger community."
Ling-chi Wang, retired chairman of the ethnic studies department at UC Berkeley, said there is an urgent need for Asian Americans to be aware of the history of this country and know that Asian American gains have come largely as a result of the efforts of black people.
"Personal experiences cannot be generalized," Wang said. "It is really sad to see the racism sentiment being expressed so publicly. I can't believe Ted Fang would allow such a column to go to print. It is really offensive and damaging and is not one that contributes to a better understanding of diversity.
"I was very disappointed to see it published, and I'm glad there are people protesting."
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The usual suspects on teh right who think that just because something has been legislated means that it is over at the point in time that legislation is signed into law....
February 27,2007 | WASHINGTON -- The FBI has reopened investigations of about a dozen decades-old suspicious deaths, officials said Tuesday amid a Justice Department focus on cracking unsolved cases from the nation's civil rights era.
The high-priority cases, which FBI Director Robert S. Mueller described as numbering between 10 and 12, are among an estimated 100 that investigators nationwide are looking at as possible civil rights-related murders.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales acknowledged that many of the cases may be beyond the boundaries of what the federal government can legally prosecute. But they "remain on our radar," he said.
"Much time has passed on these crimes," Gonzales told reporters in Washington. "The wounds they left are deep, and still many of them have not healed. But we are committed to re-examining these cases and doing all we can to bring justice to the criminals who may have avoided punishment for so long."
Addressing civil rights violators, Gonzales said: "You have not gotten away with anything -- we are still on your trail."
Officials declined to release details about which cases have been reopened, or where, but said that nearly all are located in 14 states in the South. Investigators later confirmed, for example, that the unsolved 1946 lynching of four sharecroppers on Moore's Ford Bridge near Monroe, Ga., was among those being investigated.
But they declined to comment on whether another high-profile case was being included -- that of Maceo Snipes, a black World War II veteran who in 1946 was shot in the back by four white men a day after he voted for the first time. No one was ever arrested in that killing in rural Georgia, about 90 miles south of Atlanta, and there is no evidence a criminal probe in the case was ever opened.
Many of the FBI's cases are also included on a list of 76 homicides suspected of being racially motivated that was compiled by the Southern Poverty Law Center, based in Montgomery, Ala. Center president Richard Cohen said the government's renewed focus on the cold cases could help uncover what he called "a few burning embers."
"There are a lot of stones to turn over," Cohen said. "I think it would be wrong to give families false hope, but I think it would be right to say that people still care."
Mueller said the FBI began re-examining its old case files over a year ago amid of spate of civil rights cases that investigators and prosecutors successfully solved.
Most recently, the Justice Department brought kidnapping and conspiracy charges last month against James Ford Seale, 71, in the 1964 abductions and murders of Charles Eddie Moore and Henry Hezekiah Dee in southwest Mississippi. Seale has pleaded not guilty and is due for trial in April.
Horace Harned, 86, a former Mississippi legislator and member of the segregationist Sovereignty Commission, said he'd prefer that authorities leave the past in the past and not reopen the cases, but "I don't think there's anything we can do to stop it."
"I think we shouldn't dig up too much of these things," Harned said.
He added: "We'll have to let justice prevail. I believe in the jury system. As long as the jury system is maintained properly, we should go to it and let justice prevail."
And you wanna propose that this stuff doesn't matter anymore?
Eng, who is in his early 20s, according to material on the Internet promoting his science fiction writing, started at AsianWeek in November after moving from the East Coast. In 2004, for an online magazine called Down in the Dirt, he wrote about experiencing racism as an Asian American student at New York University after he "expressed my negative views on America, religion and African Americans."
I doubt it was racism you experienced, bud - more like EVERYONE reacting negatively to your hateful message. If I said the exact same things as a white person, people would not like me as well.
....he wrote about experiencing racism as an Asian American student at New York University after he "expressed my negative views on America, religion and African Americans."
The usual suspects on teh right who think that just because something has been legislated means that it is over at the point in time that legislation is signed into law....
First, I doubt anybody on here believes there is no racism left. Secondly, I for one believe that just because something still exists does not mean we need to continue reverse-descrimination racism.
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Thank you for breaking the circle of suck, Bidwill--Stout, December 7 2008.
It was when I went to Hawaii, which is predominantly Asian and Pacific Islander, that I learned what racism was. I was hated because I was white and REALLY hated because I was a soldier. My black friends used to tell me "Now imagine this all your life"
It was when I went to Hawaii, which is predominantly Asian and Pacific Islander, that I learned what racism was. I was hated because I was white and REALLY hated because I was a soldier. My black friends used to tell me "Now imagine this all your life"
I would like you to show me one black guy that is treated that way every day of his life in this country?
I have many many many black friends and know not a one that has been treated the way that the islanders treat people every single day of their life or even close. Maybe in certain areas of the south still? Maybe in a few remote areas of this country? Maybe the occasional barb or racist comment here and there in most major cities? But to say they are treated like that on a daily basis? I call major foul! If it was 1950 or 60's maybe. Today no way!
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“They said the road comes through Seattle. We came through here and took care of business.” Anquan Boldin
I would like you to show me one black guy that is treated that way every day of his life in this country?
I have many many many black friends and know not a one that has been treated the way that the islanders treat people every single day of their life or even close. Maybe in certain areas of the south still? Maybe in a few remote areas of this country? Maybe the occasional barb or racist comment here and there in most major cities? But to say they are treated like that on a daily basis? I call major foul! If it was 1950 or 60's maybe. Today no way!
These guys were all from the backwoods of Louisaina and Georgia. I never doubted they were exaggerating because they had no motive to. We were all soldiers and all cool together.
You may not understand it, but you never walked in their shoes.
No doubt that racism exists today. And it always will because racism, at the heart of the issue, is seeing one's self as better than others. That is classic indwelling sin at it's best. The human race will never get beyond it.
All these things comes right out of the hearts of men. It is part of each and everyone of us because at some level, we can all believe that we are better than someone else.
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The greatest lies are told before a marriage, after a hunt and during an election - Count Bismark
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