AsianWeek Removes Its Editor-in-Chief

And now, my Fellow Citizens of Blogland, allow me to take a moment to hold high the scalp of the judgment-challenged editor who oversaw the unhinged racist hate columns of Kenneth "Asshat" Eng. From dontspeakfor.us:

Leaders of the civil rights organizations that initiated the protest against AsianWeek’s publication of a hate speech column against African Americans today noted the newspaper’s decision to remove Samson Wong as editor-in-chief.

The masthead of the newspaper’s March 30 issue shows that former editor-in-chief Samson Wong’s title is now “Senior Editorial Consultant.”

“We asked AsianWeek to hold the editor responsible for publishing the piece accountable,” said Gen Fujioka, program director at the Asian Law Caucus. “Though the community still needs to hear directly from AsianWeek, we hope this indicates a step towards healing the hurt caused both to African Americans and also the vast majority of Asian Americans who abhor the racism expressed by the previous article.”

“From the start, this has not been just an issue of hate speech, but an issue of journalistic judgment and responsibility,” said Vincent Pan, executive director of Chinese for Affirmative Action. “All communities must be vigilant against bigots and racists, as well as those who hand them microphones.”

After initially denying any wrongdoing, AsianWeek issued an apology and fired Kenneth Eng, the writer of a column titled “Why I Hate Blacks” that advocated discriminating against African Americans.

Immediately after the column was published, a national coalition of APA and civil rights organizations called on AsianWeek to, among other things, review its editorial policy and process and hold those responsible for the decision to publish the Eng piece accountable.

Comments

[I'd Know]

Samson Wong was not "removed." His title was changed.

[Kai]

I'd Know, thank you for your tremendous insight, which readers surely would not have been able to figure out without your assistance. Most kind of you.

By the way, just so you know, changing one's title from "editor-in-chief" to something else "removes" a person from the position of "editor-in-chief".

Cheers.

[Vox]

That's good news! This is a good news day, it looks like.

[Sylvia]

I think the universe is trying to make up for the travesty that was/is MC Rove. And I ain't complainin'! Yes! :D

[Kai]

Vox, actually it does kind of feel like a nice way to end the week, doesn't it? It's important to chalk up victories here and there in the progressive struggle, which sometimes seems so steeply uphill; so yes, this is a good news day. Thanks for your comment!

Sylvia, oh man I still haven't recovered from seeing that clip...so unright. But yeah, if the universe is making up for that, I'm all for it! :-)

[I'd Know]

Touche, Kai, and I suppose you could say they removed Ted Fang, as his title has changed, too -- but that's obviously not the case.

[Kai]

I'd Know, yeah, I'm pretty sure Ted Fang isn't going anywhere.