Vol. 71/No. 19      May 14, 2007

Militant/Martín Koppel

April 27 protest at CBS in Manhattan, called by Organization of Chinese Americans, over anti-Chinese program.

The Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA), which initiated the protest, demanded the firing of the two radio hosts and producer of CBS-owned WFNY’s “The DogHouse with JV and Elvis.” In response to the initial outcry the station had suspended hosts Jeff Vandergrift (JV) and Dan Lay (Elvis) three days earlier.

“Fire JV and Elvis now!” and “Racist radio must go!” demonstrators chanted. “JV and Elvis=Imus,” said one sign, referring to radio host Don Imus, who was fired after he made racist and sexist remarks about the Rutgers women’s basketball team.

The program was first broadcast April 5. Protesters noted that it was replayed April 19, after CBS had fired Imus.

In the prank call, several unsuspecting workers at a Chinese restaurant are subjected to abusive remarks. The caller tells a worker, “I would love to have lots of Asian food, son of a bitch.” He then tells a female worker, “Should I come to your restaurant so I can see you naked” and, “That way I can see your hot, Asian, spicy ass.” He tells another worker he wants to order “flied lice” but not “old dung” and refers to the part of a male worker’s body as a “tiny egg roll.”

“I am here to protest the disparaging things they said against women,” Wang Kuirong, a sewing-machine operator, told the Militant, speaking in Chinese with translation to English by a fellow demonstrator. “They don’t care what Chinese people think, but we will not let them get away with saying these things.” Half a dozen workers from Manhattan garment factories, sporting their UNITE HERE union caps, took part in the rally.

“They think Asian Americans will stay quiet, no matter what they say,” said Bo Fuld, a young woman from Queens. “It’s important to let people know we are not quiet.”

“There is lots of discrimination against Asians. We can’t stand for that,” said Jamie Li, a Columbia University student active in the New York Asian Women’s Center. She objected to stereotypes “portraying us as not standing up for our rights.”

“They think Asian Americans are fair targets,” said OCA-NY president Vicki Shu Smolin, but anti-Asian “jokes” are “unacceptable.”

An OCA press release noted that JV and Elvis have a history of mocking Asian Americans, “including mimicking in a fake Korean accent the confessional of the student responsible for the Virginia Tech killings.” The organization has called on companies to pull their advertising from the radio station.

Several demonstrators said the media had “a double standard” in responding to controversies over racist incidents. “There is an uproar over discrimination against some, but you don’t get the same response when the target is Asian Pacific Americans,” said Laura Chen-Schultz, deputy director of the Asian Pacific American Studies Institute at New York University.

“This is no different from Imus,” said Mei-Hua Ru, a representative of city councilman John Liu.

“Asian men are portrayed as lowly coolies or wild men, and Asian women as exotic sex objects. These are stereotypes that perpetuate hatred. We are American and deserve respect,” said Leo Lee, from the Coalition Against Hate Media.

A dozen rightist counterdemonstrators yelled at the largely Asian American protesters, calling them “communists.” They held up signs saying “Support free speech” in defense of JV and Elvis. This prompted the demonstrators to chant more loudly, “Fire them! Fire them!”

Among the protesters were members of the United Chinese Association of Brooklyn (UCA). According to Jian-Feng Xu, the organization, based in the rapidly growing Chinese community in Bensonhurst, was born out of protests in 2002 against anti-Asian violence. Last February the UCA organized a rally by 200 Chinese American youth and others in front of Lafayette High School. They opposed plans to close the school and replace it with three small schools that, unlike Lafayette, will not offer bilingual classes.
 
 
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