SM reader Janani rightly calls out some jerk who works at Star 98.7 in Los Angeles, via blog:
To Whom it May Concern:
I am a 2nd-generation East Indian American, and two nights ago, around 8-9 PM, I heard your nighttime deejay do a skit with a man pretending to be from India, named “Swami.”
…having your AMERICAN actor pretend (terribly, i might add) to be a man from India, complete with an exaggerated accent and a bumbling personality, turns the Asian immigrant into someone who should be LAUGHED AT. This is a sentiment that I would have expected 20 years ago – in fact, these are the same jokes I heard as a child on the school playground – but not now, when the Indian population has worked hard to earn a legitimate place in America’s ALLEGEDLY multicultural society. And FYI – Swami isn’t actually a name, but a title given to Indian spiritual leaders. So thanks for debasing Indian spirituality at the same time.
I don’t really expect anyone to read this, and if you do, I don’t know if you’ll understand my disgust or take the time to respond. But as someone actually invested in the idea of the United States as a land of opportunity for EVERYONE, I was severely disappointed that even in this small skit, your station revealed that society’s acceptance of all creeds, races, colors is often merely a facade. A parting shot of advice: if you can’t treat a culture or ethnicity with some degree of sensitivity, keep your mouths shut. We’ll all appreciate that much more.
So I went to Star 98.7’s site, and I was charmed by their openness to feedback:
If you have comments or suggestions we’d like to hear them…. so drop us a snail mail or email to share your thoughts with us.
BUSINESS LINE 818-559-2252
starprogramming@ClearChannel.com
Also, one of their main advertisers is Sona Med Spas & Laser Centers…which is run by one Dr. H. Shah. Interesting. If I were Dr. Shah, I’d be making a phone call…
you might already know this. clear channel’s management is very republican and ultra-conservative. they’re quick to censor anything but make exceptions for racist, sexist and homophobic “comedy”
lighten up. can dish it can’t take it?
well…. let us just say that anyone who goes by ‘anonymous’ is the kind who can dish it but not take it….
make up your mind, anonymous. should american greetings be sued for the Sikh greeting card? did law and order insult your culture with the drug smuggling via religious art episode? why did you hold those two positions? perhaps you should “lighten up” and recant them, to be consistent.
Common Redneck Head Coverings (PDF, 255 KB)
no comment…
Oh come on, as if “Common Redneck Headcoverings” was mean spirited. Heck, Jeff Foxworthy (who?) built a nationwide following and even got a TV show a decade ago with that sort of humor. Guess who turned out to see him? It wasn’t buppies. SuperJ’s teasing was good natured, and paralleled the official circular on “exotic others”.
Here’s the thing — I’ll bet most rural, white Americans would like SuperJ’s poster (and even find some of it accurate ;)), whereas most desis would find “Swami” offensive.
August, 31, 2005 To the guy from India: Sr. I think you are right, just about a week ago I heard this gal Jamie, make a really harmfull remark about a phone recording in spanish, she said: “When did we start doing that Crap? This is America!”. I felt really hurt because I like the music they play a lot. It’s really sad that some one who has the oportunity to talk to a city as great as Los Angeles waste the air time spreading such primitive and narrow minded ideas, and making a show out of ignorance. But what can we expect, she is just a voice with probably no brain to control it, so I say we listeners should pay attention only to the music and not to the crap. Bye bye