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sandra
11-14-2003, 09:24 AM
I got this through the email. Fortunately, we had an article on Banzai on our homepage and some of our members were speaking out against the show. Otherwise, we may have been included on this blacklist...or maybe we will be for not doing enough...? But hey, it's so easy to point fingers. And, similarly, we can ask this group making the complaints where they were during Kung Fool, Anna Guo, and Coble, no?

************************************************** ****


You rightly criticize the organizations - NAPALC, OCA, 80/20, etc.

NAPALC - official neutral position on Banzai.
OCA - no press release on Banzai

Shaq Issue:

NAPALC - no position
OCA - OCA Houston convinced to hold press conference before game, president
Wong spoke.
80/20 - "what athletes say doesn't matter; the glass ceiling is the real
issue." --S. B. Woo
(NAACP - obviously not an APA organization, as it refused to comment on the
award it gave Shaq around the time he sang his "ching chong" song)

Just about everything else insulting to Asian Americans, these organizations
do not even have an official neutral stance. They just express no opinion.

Of course, OCA put out a press release on Ghettopoly. They were right on
top of that. I guess they didn't want to look bad to their friends in the
"civil rights" community in DC.

I just wished OCA, NAPALC, and 80/20, and so forth cared as much about Asian
Americans as they did about their own image. Our dignity as both
individuals and as a group does not really matter to them.

A lot matters to them, and they do a lot of important and wonderful work,
but our dignity in the media and in the public square is not a big issue to
them.

NAPALC does an annual review of the media, and they did not even include
Banzai, as far as I know. That's what ED Karen Narasaki told me before the
press release. She bends over backward for these people to get slapped in
the face.

anyhow, you guys are the real organization, when it comes to the media.
Imagine, this racist shit is being broadcast throughout the world, teaching
even Asians in Asia that they are worth less than other races. That Asian
women are for sex, and Asian men are not.

You can see the effects of the images rippling across the sex industry,
across the crime scenes of America - shoot the husband, rape the pretty
wife. [San Antonio last year]

Import Filipino sex slaves, beat up Asian men on the street.

Okay. Enough.
ChinaLama
11-14-2003, 10:05 AM
Speaking from my personal viewpoint, I don't think it's realistic to expect an organization to take on EVERY issue that affects some people in our community. What if say some organizations had just never heard of Banzai? Or what if , say, OCA, just didn't feel Banzai was that big a deal?

Also, organizations are as strong as their supporters are. If YW, for instance, mounted a campaign against every issue in the "Get Involved" forum, would YW members actually back up YW leaders in every single instance? If not, then it just amounts to talk talk talk, which the other side can just ignore or openly mock. And if we can't come up w/ defenses against that, then well, our entire community is screwed because the other side will believe the Asian American community is just a bunch of big talkers and small doers.
ism
11-14-2003, 10:25 AM
Isn't it beneficial to those organizations to have critics that want a more aggressive stance? They can then use the existence of the critics to show that they are the moderate path, and can garner stronger support for their issues.
Emperor_Mike
11-14-2003, 10:48 AM
It remains a question of setting priorities actually. Some issues should receive more attention than others. It makes no sense to overwhelm an organisation's ability to execute effective campaigns by searching and taking on any cause that comes around. To think otherwise would be unreasonable, I think. Just like there are only twenty four hours in a day, there is only so much a group of people can do within a given time frame and with whatever resources they have at hand.
SunWuKong
11-14-2003, 11:08 AM
who the hell wrote that?
thaite
11-14-2003, 01:30 PM
If you take on every issue you will eventually spread yourself thin and not be effective. Personally, I think it's better to throw yourself into fewer issues and actually get something done. However, that does not preclude an organization from releasing a statement that decries the issue and supports the other organizations who have decided to take it on.
kitty
11-14-2003, 02:02 PM
I agree... there's no way for an activist to take on every issue. I think this person who wrote the email is just bitter.

that being said, I do think it would be helpful to have these different groups network frequently, so that different issues can be covered by different groups and there isn't overlap of effort and energy, leaving some areas less addressed than others.
achtungbaby
11-14-2003, 02:27 PM
Moving to Get Involved. This really shouldn't be a debate, but a discussion. *ahem*
nonamerasian
11-14-2003, 02:50 PM
I agree... there's no way for an activist to take on every issue. I think this person who wrote the email is just bitter.

that being said, I do think it would be helpful to have these different groups network frequently, so that different issues can be covered by different groups and there isn't overlap of effort and energy, leaving some areas less addressed than others.

Like fingers on a hand.