By George Tsai
In fact, many young people of various ethnicities still vent their anger in cyberspace over the distasteful lyrics with racial slurs and demand those responsible for the offensive piece be dismissed.So the show's host, Tarsha Nicole Jones, and her crew are perhaps not out of the woods yet, regardless of the station's apologies.As an Asian-American, I take my hat off to City Councilman John Liu (D-Flushing) for his courage and swift action to condemn the station that took advantage of a tragic incident to humiliate Asians in general and the Chinese in particular, with the words “little Chinamen” featured in the song, a parody of “We are the World.” I bow to Liu's colleagues and Queens' council members as well who have strongly decried the hate piece.The song, which was aired for four days, was unquestionably aimed at Asian listeners here.According to official statistics, Asians account for 10 percent of the Big Apple's population. More than a third are right here in Queens. Flushing is now a de facto Asian town. So any racist remarks about them could kick up a big fuss.Jones, the host of “Miss Jones in the morning,” and her top aide belong to minorities themselves. Why would they as journalists throw racial slurs at Asians? I cannot find any justification.Worse, the aide was alleged to have made a threat to shoot some Asians when an Asian colleague voiced her opposition to the choice of racist words in the song. Was it a joke or just his true feelings? He alone knows. It would be unconscionable if he meant it.It's appalling that the station would broadcast such a song to poke fun at the tsunami that claimed hundreds of thousands of human lives. The death toll grows with each passing day and may hit the 300,000 mark when the dust settles.This unprecedented disaster has stunned people around the world. We still feel its ripple effect emotionally. Many of us, rich and poor, continue to make all kinds of donations to tsunami-ravaged countries in Southeast Asia.Contrary to its intention, the city's No. 1 hip-hop station may have paid a price for racial epithets that apparently have whipped up racial disharmony in the world's largest melting pot.It was reported that Councilman Liu, together with some of his council colleagues and other politicians, called on sponsors to pull their ads from the station and surprisingly, some companies, including Coca-Cola, responded to their calls.Radio is a medium of mass communication. What it says reaches thousands of people. Racial slurs and disregard for human lives are intolerable in any civilized society. As I understand it, the word “Chinaman'' was coined for Chinese immigrants who came to the East Coast to seek a better life about 100 years ago. They were no dummies, but they could not find jobs because their rights were restricted. To Chinese Americans, it was and still is the most repugnant word because of its strong connotation of despicableness.When someone tells you that you don't have a Chinaman's chance, that means your life is doomed. Making matters worse is Hot 97 adding “little” to Chinamen. It's a double insult.Regrettably, generations later, some people are trying to reopen the old racial wounds. The WQHT's management people, it seems, live in an ivory tower and are losing touch with reality.Keep in mind, folks, ours is a nation of immigrants. But certain groups consider themselves superior than others. It's wrong. All people are created equal. Given a chance, people who work hard always reach the top of the success ladder, and the lazy ones always get stuck at its foot.Ours is the freest country in the world. You can get anything off your chest. But racism is a sensitive issue. Making fun of the racial background of any ethnic group is no laughing matter. Apparently the station has abused that freedom.To err is human. We all have learned something from this ugly incident. It is our hope that something like this will not happen again. We also hope that Miss Jones and her crew would make every effort to atone for what they did to our society and fellow Asians.
