Anti-Filipino Comments on Radio Station

[AngryABCGirl]

I got this from the Asian Pacific Listserv at my school and thought it should be shared with ya'll:

Hello all,

I'm appending an email from Liz Fenkell about the Mark
Williams show Wednesday night on KFBK 1530 am radio.

Williams closed the show by giving an "award" to the
Philippines for pulling out of Iraq. The piece
contained backgrounds sounds of crowing chickens and
insinuations that Filipinos were monkeys.

KFBK's evening and night signal reaches over the
entire western third of North and Central America with
a population of more than 100 million. It is broadcast
from a 50,000 watt station in Sacramento and also over
the Internet.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala


--- Liz Fenkell <LFENK@parks.ca.gov> wrote:

We need to flood our governor's office with calls
916/445-2841 or email to www.govmail.ca.gov

We need to call KFBK BUSINESS OFFICE 916/929-5325 and
let them know of the promotion of racism coming from
their Mark Williams.

We need to contact Mayor Heather Fargo at 916/264-5407
and let her know we are offended and disgusted by such
incidents by a local station making a racist radio
production and demand an apology to Filipinos.

We are Filipinos in America who have families in the
war risking their lives and dying too for our country
and all those fighting against terrorism. We do not
have to have ugly Americans raise the ugly head
of racism. No form of jest that is offensive is
excusable or acceptable.

Mark Williams of KFBK Radio 1530 AM needs to apologize
to the Filipino community and everyone offended by his
playing of chickens crowing and spoken words to the
effect of calling Filipinos monkeys during his"award"
to the Philippines for pulling out of Iraq in the last
few minutes before 10 pm last night.

Mark Williams shows his insensitivity to the American
Filipinos and as well as people in general in this
time of high tension and fear for our families in the
war zone and in our own homelands.


Liz Fenkell

[Hayie]

*throws her feces, then clocks Mark Williams in the head with a yoyo*

*koff* Anyway, with the Philippines pulling out of Iraq and al lthe slag they're getting for it seems ....not exactly "immature" but...ergh. Forget it, I can't quite articulate my sentiments on that. But the situation itself strikes me as a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" type. It looks like people are still being kidnapped whether or not the countries comply with the terrorists' demands.

But on the Philippines pulling out, I haven't heard if they let de la Cruz go yet. Have they?

[kasia]

i agree w/ liz fenkell. how bout also the secretary of state - since this is the sort of situation that they can handle? (i'm not sure arnold would really do anything.)

[AngryABCGirl]

Originally Posted by kasia

i agree w/ liz fenkell. how bout also the secretary of state - since this is the sort of situation that they can handle? (i'm not sure arnold would really do anything.)

good idea: http://www.ss.ca.gov/contacts.htm

[Danny]

I think what the guy did was fairly disgusting. You can state that you disgree with what they did, but to associate farm animal sounds and monkey sounds to the country and its people is disgusting. You can attack a country over their stance, but you should NOT under any circumstances attack the people of that country by associating them with animals. Would this jerkoff have done the same thing if it were a European nation that pulled out? DId he do it with the Spaniards?

[DragonKnight]

Sent my e-mail to the governor's office. I'm personally disgusted by Mark Williams actions and comments towards Filipinos in general. Especially coming from a country who's people fought and died alongside fellow Americans during WWII.

[mr. x]

and its like what 50 troops? i mean encouraging terrorism issues aside i dont think the pullout is gonna really affect much in the long run, just some people cant take no for an answer

[Danny]

Originally Posted by mr. x

and its like what 50 troops? i mean encouraging terrorism issues aside i dont think the pullout is gonna really affect much in the long run, just some people cant take no for an answer

It doesn't matter if it is 1 troop, or 100,000 troops, the radio announcer did an underhanded disgusting act by associating the people of the Philippines to farm animals and Monkeys.

[whatever]

I'd have to hear what he exactly said before I sense any outrage or disgust. As far as the "Chicken" remark, that seems appropriate, that is simply a way of saying that you believe the act to be cowardly or "chicken". Anybody who thinks he's associating filipinos with Farm Animals with that remark has a shallow grasp of the complexities of American Slang. Also since the Sari Manok is a Proud symbol of the Philippines What the heck is the matter. The Monkey remark might be a different matter but I'd still have to hear what the announcer said first rather than opinion about it to make up my mind, chances are that one is not acceptable.
So don't be chicken (scared) to give your opinion.

[Faithless]

Mark Williams sounds like a real idiot.
Link to an account doc of a meeting between members of the Filipino American Community and KFBK

...
The following community leaders were present: Tom Santos, Kathy Pflaum, Paul Manansala, Fred Aquino, Sorcy Apostol, Josie Patria, Memie Weitzenberg and Cynthia Bonta. Some of us also belong to member organizations of CAPITAL, namely, Filipino Community of Sacramento and Vicinity, Inc., Philippine National Day Association, Filipino Women's Club, and Filipino American State Employees Association. APAPA was also represented.

The main purpose of the meeting was to listen to the tape. Allan Eisenson, KFBK Program Manager played the tape. Towards the end of the three-hour program Mark Williams was heard to present his weekly Froggy Award to the "good people of the Philippines" followed by music and sounds made up of chicken clucking, monkeycalling (cheese-eating surrender monkeys), and the French National Anthem. Mark was also heard to mimic the clucking sound repeatedly.
The Filipinos in the meeting expressed their reactions and Jerry Del Core and Allan Eisenson provided their view of the program. They did not believe that the Froggy Award nor the background soundtrack containing chicken clucking, monkeycalling was directed to the Filipino people intentionally and to be racially demeaning. The tape left all of us Filipinos in the room offended, insulted, indignant, angry. The Froggy Award was presented to the "good people of the Philippines" then we were derided to be "chicken" and called "monkeys." Each one made their feelings felt in a reasonable manner. The following is a synthesis of the various points brought out:

- We understand Mr. William's political position and he has the right to it whether we agree or disagree with him, but we want him to realize that he cannot call a people or a nation "chicken." Filipinos in the Philippines have been protesting courageously to make their opinions heard by the Philippine government. There are Filipino Veterans in this country who have fought as allies of the United States and yet have been stripped of their rights and benefits twice over. Mark Williams may direct his mockery at the Philippine President or government and we will take that as his political position, but he cannot be so careless to direct it against a people. That oversteps the boundaries of free speech. It becomes a different matter altogether. It enters the realm of racist name calling when the Filipino people are referred to as monkeys. He is demeaning a people insensitively.

- To call Filipino people "monkeys" is very racist, derogatory, and demeaning. The Filipino people have been called monkeys, treated as monkeys, and thought to be monkeys historically in this country. As early as 1914, at a Trade Exposition in St. Louis, Missouri, Filipinos were exhibited as man-monkeys, racing Filipinos up a palm tree against monkeys. We have fought images like this found in high school social science textbooks and we have demandied that the State Board of Education remove them from the social science matrix. We continue to keep are vigilance at the way Filipinos and the Philippines are treated in media too. Filipinos still suffer from institutional racism in this country and whenever racism becomes blatant, we protest it for the sake of our children in our schools, Filipino soldiers in the battlefront, and the future generations of Filipino Americans living in this country.

- Ethnic jokes are not acceptable. Along the same direction of training the staff on obscenities and decency, staff can also benefit from cultural sensitivity training given that Sacramento is one, if not the most diverse city in the country. Often, however, cultures chosen are the Afro American and Hispanic cultures. The Filipino culture deserves just as much respect. Although we may be relatively small in number compared to other minorities and are often known to be quiet, we can be loud when we want to be heard. There are about 60,000 in the Sacramento area, a million in California, perhaps 3 million throughout the U.S.A. and another 68 million in the Philippines.

Whether Mark Williams was unaware, or not, of the loaded connotations of monkeycalling in connection with Filipinos, he is now given notice that it is seriously derogatory, demeaning and racist against

the Filipino people and that if he indeed did not mean to be derogatory, demeaning and racist , thent he should respond to our concerns with an apology during his program on the air.

Jerry Del Core and Allan Eisenson explained the context of the Froggy Award: that the MarK Williams Show is entertainment aimed at the right wing audience. It is patriotic and supports the War in Iraq. Each week he gives a mock award to someone he considers to be the most unpatriotic. Whenever he announces his Froggy Award each week, he plays his Froggy Award theme music which he himself, put together. He used a portion of the soundtrack from the TV Show, The Simpsons, and mixed it with the French National Anthem. The sound track from The Simpsons include sound of chicken clacking, taunting and monkeycalling. He plays the theme music each time he announces his Froggy Award, not just for this program in question. (He chose to give the award to the people of the Philippines because they succumbed to the terrorist threat and agreed to pull out Philippine security troops from Iraq, surrendering to the terrorists.)

We tossed ideas as to how far we were willing to take the issue to get our demands met. Many ideas were considered but tossed out. The one idea we decided to pursue along with getting an apology from Mark Williams was to elevate the local struggle to the national scene by getting in touch with Jon Melegrito, Information Officer and former Executive Director of the National Federation of Filipino American Associations, and sending Clear Channel a statement/letter of support from the NAFFAA president, Loida Nicolas Lewis.

Jerry Del Core was very open and willing to correct the wrong that was pointed out to him. Before he stepped out of the meeting, Jerry Del Core suggested that the group take some time among themselves to make sure all issues were addressed and to let him know if there were additional concerns. He assured the group that he would talk to Mark Williams and convey the concerns and feelings expressed at the meeting. He will then let us know how his meeting went with Mark Williams. We are now awaiting to hear from Jerry Del Core.

After we hear from Jerry Del Core and hear Mark William's apology, we will send him a letter thanking him for giving audience to our concerns, conveying our concerns to Mark Williams and in the process sensitizing Mark Williams successfully to the point of apologizing for offending the Filipino people.