i stopped listening to the radio today. i heard something that stole my breath, it was so despicable. painfully, it came from the radio station in new york city that i once loved most, a radio station that i will never listen to again, if mocking world-changing tragedy in south and southeast asia is their idea of appropriate entertainment.
on this one-month death anniversary of almost three-hundred-thousand people, i ask for your attention, your compassion and your outrage.
go ahead, click that first link if you're somewhere where it's safe to listen. it's depraved, craven and unacceptable. that's exactly why you NEED to hear it. i will not let you be ostriches; not when it's this important. you are well within your rights to write off certain anti-indian shock-jock antics as obnoxious or juvenile, but using the humanitarian aid song "we are the world" to attack people who have suffered in ways we will never know, because of the tsunami...that's some next-level evil.
have you heard enough hatred? i have. and i have HAD IT.
i wouldn't stay with a boyfriend who called me "bitch" or otherwise disrespected me, so why on earth would i bruise my ears with the filth and degradation that seems to be far too ubiquitous lately? i don't care what you say, there is no difference, the situations are beyond analogous.
my late father once told me to "shake the dust" from my shoes and take nothing from an unwelcome town with me. those words are on an infinite loop in my head, as i stare at the list of companies that sponsored hate:
Sprint/Sprint PCS
Media Contact:
James Fisher, 202-585-1947
james.w.fisher@mail.sprint.com
Popeyes
http://popeyes.com/corp_comm.asp
Popeye's parent company:
mconlon@afce.com
Reebok
Lisa Bartlett
lisa.bartlett@reebok.com
Jennifer Hawkins
jennifer@stenderhawkins.com
Reebok International Ltd.
PO Box 1060
Ronks, PA 17573
OR
Corporate Headquarters
Reebok International Ltd.
1895 J. W. Foster Boulevard
Canton, MA 02021
781-401-5000
ask for David Pace (atty) or Paul Fireman (CEO)
McDonald's
http://mcdonalds.com/contact/contact_us.html
Coca Cola:
The Coca-Cola Company
P.O. Box 1734
Atlanta, GA USA 30301
http://www.coke.net/webapps/pubinquiry/PublicInquiry
1-800-438-2653
Toyota
800-331-4331
800-443-4999 for TDD
6:00 AM - 6:00 PM Pacific Time, Monday - Friday
For calls originating outside the United States: 310-468-4000
7:00 AM - 5:30 PM Pacific Time, Monday - Friday
http://toyota.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/toyota.cfg/php/enduser/ask.php?
many of those names make my stomach hurt; i'm not lovin' it. when i think of every indian family that owns a toyota camry, corolla or a lexus anything, the bile begins to ascend. how many millions of dollars did we give toyota, before people who shared our DNA were ravaged by a natural disaster?
i can already see the words you want to fill my comments section with: it's not like toyota composed or sanctioned that "song", etc etc. not quite, but i haven't heard their apologies. i have not seen the obligatory statements that would distance them from this outrageous incident. like that email forward about the holocaust that went 'round the world enough times to end up in my inbox thrice, if you didn't speak up when you had the chance, if you didn't stand up for what is right, you are partially complicit.
i studied PR and campaign management. i know how this system works; they have no excuse. i've given them enough time. i didn't jump on this the moment it dropped, like i did with other notable shock-jock-idiocy.
if this were a song about black people, i'd have a list of press releases to link, from vice presidents who'd want to assure the public that their companies believe in "diversity". diversity doesn't protect other shades of brown, though, does it? that's the blunt, bullshit truth. gosh "miss jones", it's okay to hate on us b/c we think we're "superior", that's how this works, right? that's how you justify your relentless bigotry?
MLK fashioned his vision around the ideas of one small brown man, clad in homespun fabric. what would he say if he saw that his dream had disintegrated, the notion of "equality" has become crass and commercialized, a hallmark'd cliche to be thought of in terms of duty and not justice. what would he think when the epiphany levelled him--he wouldn't have a dream, today.
my inner cynic wonders if miss jones et al were jealous of star and bucwild's "triumphant" return to nyc radio, via Power105. they must have been so envious of all that negative, rat-eatin' publicity. well. hot97 sure showed us! wow, what a way to prove that skits could aim even lower.
my admiration for the sole asian-american staffer on hot 97's morning show, "miss info", knows no limit. i am proud of her poise and composure in the face of an attack from the perpetrators of this horrendous act (you'll hear it if you listen to the link), and i am even prouder that she stood up to the shitty mob-mentality that was so pervasive in the studio that day ("i'm gonna start shootin' asians", 3 mins 37 secs in). in my fecund mind, she resembles one of the most famous pictures of the twentieth century; one woman courageously blocking a tank of hatred with nothing else but an unbreakable belief in what's right. i wouldn't have been so calm, if someone wanted to play this song on my watch.
one of my friends bitterly disparaged our community last night, when i told him that around two-hundred-thousand desis were millionaires and that our buying power was estimated at $20 billion...
"so? what good is it? indians just don't get it. they can never get over themselves sufficiently to realise that as a block, we'd be formidable. all that buying power means shit if we're not willing to make a concerted effort to be heard."
so true.
the victims of the tsunami were culled from every race, creed and part of the world. it should be more than just indians opting for burger king over mickey d's, honda over toyota and new balance over reebok. but my blog doesn't cry out to the world, it screams to you, and based on some very unscientific methods, i'm fairly sure you're brown. and while i address all desis who read my blog as if we are one giant entity, i wish to make clear that the entire black race is not responsible for this hate.
we do not fight hate with more of the same.
maybe you haven't fought yet. fine, maybe you could forgive star for abusing an indian call center worker, maybe that didn't break your heart. maybe you love howard stern and the first amendment...but this?
mocking the tsunami is funny? a good portion of the victims were children, too tiny to withstand the horrendous torrents that dashed them against anything and everything until they were not. the children who miraculously survived may suffer even worse fates.
if this doesn't make your stomach hurt, you and i don't breathe the same air.
innocent children, no bigger than your own precious nieces and nephews, whom you cuddle so sweetly at family functions, will be stolen, commodified and then forced to spread their legs for vile pedophiles who salivate at such debauchery. they will get AIDS, do drugs, feel their souls dissolve and die. but that's hilarious.
what am i going on about? if you didn't click that first link to the MP3 (and if you are at work, i don't blame you), let me spell it out for you-
..All at once you could hear the screaming ch*nks and no one was safe from the wave there were africans drowning, little chinamen swept away you could hear god laughing, "swim you bitches swim"So now you're screwed, it's the Tsunami you better run or kiss your ass away, go find your mommy I just saw her float by, a tree went through her head and now the children will be sold to child slavery...
so let me see if i comprehend this: child slavery is funny?
mothers being decapitated are a worthy subject for parody?
and if you're one of my straight-edged Mallu readers, then surely you are horrified that not only was G-d's name taken in vain, but it was sullied by the amoral voices who created this travesty.
i have faith in you; i know that something about this unconscionable stunt sickens you.
i know that you are good and honourable, and that you will follow miss info's example of bravery in the face of a culture that thinks this kind of disrespect is "cool".
i know that your hearts have not been encased in jade.
please, do something.
the "apologies" that have been offered aren't worth the memory i've expended on them. the radio station thought it had its shit straight when it announced that each person involved in this reprehensible crime against decency would donate a week's salary to tsunami aid. cursory, perfunctory, blase apologies were uttered twice by the bitch who started this drama and an obligatory taped message from management played hourly during the morning show. after these token, farcical maneuvers, it was business as usual, a sense of , "well that's taken care of!" permeated the air.
what is the price of a south/southeast asian life? a week's salary? a month's? a year's? can you quantify such a concept? i can't. i won't.
you cannot purchase my silence, my approval or my satisfaction.
don't believe the hype.
don't cave in to resigned hopelessness, ruthless to-do lists or worst of all, indifference.
don't drink coke. don't walk under golden arches. don't wear reeboks. don't buy a toyota. hang up your sprint phone.
until those companies denounce the actions of an unbelievably, undeservedly popular new york radio show, resist. and make sure you tell them about it.*
:+:
* do NOT use the word "tsunami" ANYWHERE in your email. don't make it easy for them to filter your voice straight to the "delete" folder...
UPDATE: CNN's American Morning just announced that they are going to play the clip within minutes, condemned the station, will discuss. 7:03am anyone have a clip?
