Review of the Seattle Times

The Seattle Times, like all daily newspapers across this country, has a responsibility to provide objective, balanced reporting

This does not happen at Seattle's sole remaining daily.  The most glaring example was several weeks ago when several hundred Asian-Americans converged on Westlake Plaza in downtown to protest the conviction of Peter Liang, a New York City police officer who accidentally shot an African immigrant in a housing project.

The Seattle Times refused to cover this event, whereas when a few dozen Black protesters have marched (and blocked traffic for hours), the Times has covered it on their front page.

In the middle of the speeches, some African-Americans ran up to the podium and grabbed the microphone.  A struggle ensued, with the black protesters insisting that they had the right to make their views known.

Anyone who is fair-minded, open, and in touch with what is going on in this country will recall how Black Lives Matter protesters did the same thing to Bernie Sanders's last attempted rally in Westlake Plaza.  But the Seattle Times did cover that fiasco on their front page.

With what is happening as well to Donald Trump rallies--and I wholeheartedly despise the man and his views--, I see a pattern:  an intentional deprivation of the right of free speech, which is guaranteed by the First Amendment.

I ask others what would happen if at a Black Lives Matters Protest, if a group of white (or Asian or Hispanic or gay) protesters had attempted to storm the podium and grab the microphone away from the black speakers.

In the case of the Asian demonstration, their leaders had to eventually AGREE to allow the black protesters to come to the podium and broadcast their views to everyone there at the event.

The Seattle Times has the responsibility to stand up for equality for all, not just one group whose cause it has deep sympathy for and wishes to champoion.  Not covering the Asian-American protest was deeply unfair and irresponsible.

I urge a boycott of this newspaper, and I would certainly never consider a subscription to it.

The four rules of travel

There are four rules of travel to be mindful of all the time:


(1)  Keep your passport safe.

(2)  Don't lose or misplace your credit card.

(3)  Don't lose or misplace your I-pad or smartphone.

(4)  Get to the airport with plenty time to spare (don't miss your flight).


The rest--the jet-lag, fatigue, getting lost, having to wait in long line, dealing with rude people, not making "a good impression," wearing the "wrong" clothes (too hot, too cold), etc.--are secondary (or tertiary).

Maybe a fifth and sixth, as well:

(5) Don't sprain or fracture an ankle or foot.   Sometimes, it can't be prevented but commonsense is important, as well as having travel insurance.

(6) Pack your medications (and take them).

That's already a lot.


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My prediction for the outcome of the presidential election 2016: When things backfire

I am not a political scientist, but as a concerned, educated person of color, I will put my two cents in, anyway.


If Trump wins (and, as a social Democrat, I passionately hope he does not)

If Hillary Clinton, the presumed Democratic presidential candidate, loses to Donald Trump, the presumed Republican Party candidate, it will not be for lack of experience, intelligence, drive, hard will, or basic decency.

It will be because of the present day political racial climate, best exemplified by the New York Times, which demonizes white people and holds them responsible for all the ills besetting African-Americans, and, secondarily, Hispanics, while placing blacks on a pedestal, as revered martyrs and eternal victims of prejudice, violence, etc.

In some sense, it is the esteemed New York Times (whose recently appointed chief editor is an African-American) and other liberal institutions that will have made a major miscalculation.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/03/us/politics/hillary-clinton-voter-turnout.html

I believe that all races have a part to play in racial reconciliation and that African-Americans can and must take a greater responsibility for this than their leaders have, mistakenly, led them to believe they should.

There is no need to alienate working class white (males) by making them feel badly about themselves while ignoring the fact that not all the problems of blacks can be traced to racism and discrimination.  It is they who turn out in numbers, not necessarily because they are racist, stupid, "bad," or necessarily in agreement with all of Trump's far-fetched political agenda, but to protest against being demonized as "stupid white men" who have killed and oppressed people of color for so long, from John Calhoun C. to James Earl Ray to the voters of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

They are sick of hearing of it.   I am, and I'm not even white.

(It is like hearing a broken record).

Working class whites supported Hillary Clinton over Obama in 2012.  Will they turn to Trump four years later, and why?

The election of Donald Trump will, needless to say, be a setback for progressives.

But will many be even in partial agreement with these unorthodox ideas?

Undoubtedly, not.


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The inequality of racism in the United States (a review of the 89th Academy Awards)

The racism that is less important to so many people, even though more prevalent.

Let's face it:  Asians, and to a lesser extent perhaps Hispanics, just do not excite the deep loyalty, admiration, and love bordering on the seemingly hysteria*, that blacks do, the point that racist jokes about them reach the screens of over a billion people, without white or black people batting an eyelash.

Realistically speaking, whatever some people write or say about this phenomenon, it will not change within my lifetime or even within several generations.  No amount of rational self-examination is going to change this, although the number of Jeremy Lins, and at least one or two (living) Asian movie stars, can and would affect the perception in the U.S. of Asians.

Blacks had Sidney Poitier by the fifties and by the seventies, the number of A-list black movie stars had doubled or even tripled.  The number has since then at least quintupled (Will Smith, Denzel Washington, Eddie Murphy, Halle Berry, Morgan Freeman, Beyonce...).  There is not one A-list Asian-American movie star today.

Consumers across the globe Sunday night had to sit through an hour of commercials just to listen to a black celebrity interminably harangue white people for racial while at the same time he made racist marks about Asians.

I just dashed off a message to Cheryl Boone, the president of the Academy, a black woman:

The host of the Academy Award ceremonies Chris Rock insulted a quarter of the world's population in front of over a billion people.

I vehemently protest the racism against Asian-Americans that was part of the evening's ceremonies, which included having three young Asian children dressed up as Price-Waterhouse accountants as part of a tasteless skit while the host mocked them ("accurate, hard-working"). Late on he referred to Asian men and their "little dongs."

This is very racist humor at its worst. If the skit had had blacks in it and the host made fun of them, you can be sure, that would be "the end," i.e. massive protests.

What about a boycott by Asian-Americans, not just of the Oscars, of black movie stars, pop stars, athletes, and other entertainers until this kind of racism is properly addressed?

Unfortunately, in Hollywood as in the rest of the U.S., the kind of deep, widespread love that African-Americans inspire just isn't there for other minorities. Asians never get leading roles in films and rarely even supporting roles. This is true to a lesser extent for Hispanics. When cast in roles at all, other minorities have to speak with thick immigrant accents!

By the way, there have been plenty of African-Americans as hosts of the Oscars (Sammy Davis, Jr., Whoopi Goldberg (a four-time host), Richard Pryor Chris Rock...) but never an Asian or a Hispanic, or any other racial minority for that matter.

To be really "racially progressive," the Academy must make major changes that benefit not just black (when "people of color" is mentioned, it is invariably black people that the speaker has in mind) people but other minorities as well.

Please, no more Chris Rock.

At least Leonard diCaprio used his minute and a half not to make racist jokes but to make a case for the environment.




* In a country which places a premium on "action" and on assertiveness and/or aggression (the NFL is 75% African-American) as well as on a Judaeo-Christian sympathy for the underdog, maybe this should not be surprising at all.

Asian-American academics and civic leaders, as could be predicted from their culture of "not making waves," fall in line behind African-Americans, as "people of color," and "studiously" refrain from even minor criticism of African-Americans, either individually or collectively.

N.B:   In the past two years, two films about racism were chosen Best Picture by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences over arguably better films ("Crash" and "12 Years a Slave").  During the past two decades, African-Americans have made up 11.5% of the acting nominees (they are about 12% of the total U.S. population).   Asian-Americans have received 2 acting nominations, total, or 0.5%.