WFNY (93.3 Free FM), a radio station under CBS, had a show called Dog House Pranks with a segment called Chinese Food. It harassed the female and male hosts in a Chinese restaurant with insults, sexual slurs, and other provocations. Yesterday, the Fujianese community held a meeting to urge the victimized Chinese restaurant to come forward and use legal actions against the radio show.
Yesterday afternoon, members of restaurant associations and the Fujianese community met to discuss the issue. They believed that WFNY caused great damage to Chinese people and encouraged the targeted Chinese restaurant to courageously come forward and sue the radio station for discrimination, racism, and sexual harassment.
According to one community member, CW 11’s discrimination against Chinese restaurants had yet to be resolved when another harassment against the Chinese food industry occurred. He said that in the past, Chinese in America had to endure discrimination. But things are different now; Chinese organizations need to unite and learn how to fight for civil rights like the African Americans. He pointed out that at this point, it was still unknown which Chinese restaurant was targeted, so he urged the particular Chinese restaurant employees to courageously come forward.
Heuk-Chiang Wang, president of the Restaurants Against Violence Coalition, said that his organization would be willing to pay for the legal fees needed to sue WFNY in criminal and civil courts. Furthermore, the different ethnic associations will hold a round table meeting to discuss how to resist the discrimination against the Chinese community. He hoped that both recently arrived and established Chinese community members will build a consensus.
He believed that some American mainstream media had often conducted irresponsible reports against Chinese Americans, such as the CW11’s report on Chinese food. Another example was the tragedy at Virginia Tech. Some media, without doing thorough investigation, immediately claimed that the killer was Chinese.
He emphasized that the Chinese people must unite to solve problems. He urged the various community ethnic organizations to participate at the round table discussion to show that others cannot take advantage of the Chinese community.
