Richard Lewis & Thea Mitchem
Power99 WUSL-FM
440 Domino Lane
Philadelphia, PA 19128
Dear Power99/Clear Channel/lowly radio intern,
How are you? I hope you are well rested and relaxed, that way the contents of this letter will be better absorbed. How am I? Why thank you for not asking! I’ll bluntly tell you; I am MAD.
Earlier this week, your prized morning “talent” Star thought it would be funny to call an Indian Customer Service agent for the sole purpose of threatening her with assault while verbally abusing her. His justification for this outrageous lack of decency was her race; she was foreign, "a rat-eater", potentially involved with outsourcing, and that made her okay to target.
Wrong.
This was inappropriate, disrespectful, violent and below you. It was below all of us. That didn’t stop you from publicizing a clip of Star’s verbal assault on your station’s website before hastily retracting it a few days ago.
Since you took the mp3 off of your site, you must be at least slightly aware that you were in trouble. Please allow me to dispel any confusion regarding this matter: you ARE in trouble. You are in trouble with me and every other good American.
Our soldiers are dying to protect our freedom and our values. Those values don’t include hate.
You can make amends.
You can take responsibility, and own your error in judgment.
You can reach out to the South Asian community and apologize for this unconscionable incident.
You can apologize to the woman that Star and his amoral crew harassed so wantonly.
You can discipline the DJ, as well as the staffers who perpetrated this revolting act.
You can clean up your own mess by airing PSAs that speak out against the ignorance and hate that YOUR programming may potentially incite.
I will conclude by stating that if you do not respond to this letter or its requests appropriately, you should consider yourself on notice: your unprincipled behavior will have social, public and fiscal ramifications and I swear to you, they will hurt. Stop the violence. Change starts with you.
With hope that you will do the right thing,
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listen: all you people who were or are moved by this bullshit situation, who think, "yeah...i should do something", right before you succumb to inertia and to-do lists and daily life...
that was for you.
you didn't even have to write a letter. i did it for you. now do something for me. do it for "steena" who suffered through Star's hatred for no reason. do it for your dad, because someone heckled him like that thirty-five years ago, when he came here to get rich for you. do it for your mom, who was afraid to wear indian things in new jersey, in 1987, for fear of attack from "dot-busters". do it for them all, i implore you.
however.
if you don't feel a familiar sadness whilst reading the paragraph i just wrote, if you are one of the lucky ones and you walk on streets paved with gold, and you live somewhere where it never rains, and you have always been accepted, respected and treated kindly...then may you always be so blessed. may one of us live in nirvana, where it is safe. may one of us not suffer the humiliation, the pain, the isolation that hatred brings. may one of us be so lucky.
so if you get some time in your golden, respect-laden nirvana, do it for those of us who aren't as fortunate.
do it for all of us.
in other words, do it for you.