FOR IMMEDIATE PRESS RELEASE
December 10, 2001
Waltham, Massachusetts
Today, concerned students staged a rally in front of the Usdan Student Center from noon to 2 pm, spurred by recent harassment targeting Asian-American women on Brandeis University campus.
The rally, aptly named "Speak Out!", is intended to provide a safe space for students voices to be heard, and to provide solidarity in the fight against all forms of intolerance and discrimination.
The specific incidents of harassment which predate today's rally include a November 20, 2001, incident where WBRS 100.1 FM, a Brandeis community radio organization funded by the student union, broadcasted an overtly offensive radio show run by 5 Brandeis students, called "the Men's Room". The hosts of the show made sexist and racist remarks over the air specifically targeting Asian-Americans. Words like "Chink" and "Gook" were used as "synonyms for Asians", and they continued to laugh though a song they improvised on the subject of Asian strippers. They made a pun of the word "slanted", mocking the almond-shaped eyes distinctive to people of East Asian descent. They continued with a verse stating, "I once was in China. wanted to see some vagina"; the offensive verses continued with "I love when strippers give me licks, too my dick / I said babe, touch my chopstick..." and "she said 'me love you long time'", referring to the stereotyped line in reference to Asian women's submissiveness and sexual objectification. They then sang about an Asian woman who was "hot" and "Yellow", and who had shown them her "tits", undermining the integrity and humanity of all Asian-American women. After this unacceptable verbal attack on the Asian American community was brought to the attention of the administration, all that has so far been enacted to respond has been an "open forum" on racism, aired on WBRS, where the hosts were present. The show has since been canceled, though participating members remain on the radio stations executive board.
However, less than a week after the forum intended to promote awareness, another act of hate was committed against several Asian-American women. Two separate student housing rooms had been vandalized with the phrases "me love you long time," "black dicks too big," and "me fuck you long time," seemingly as backlash for the way many Asian-American women on campus had stood up for themselves in the face of their public degradation.
President Jehudah Reinharz has stated that if the perpetrator(s) to this hate crime are caught, they will be appropriately penalized, as well as has issued a general statement decrying acts of intolerance , such as the racism evident on the radio show.
The Intercultural Center Programming Board at Brandeis has released a statement responding with, "we would be comforted by an Administrative response that will speak to the specific insensitivities that were manifested in this recent broadcast, and not a generic response that has no real meaning to us as minority students." The statement included larger community concerns, "with such ignorance evident on this campus, we cannot feel at home at this University until our senior leadership shows a genuine disdain for the event that has caused our most recent pains." Still, there remains a disempowered, silenced group of Asian-American women who have been warned against speaking out, with consequences of community ostracism, and terrorized with concerns of racial as well as sexual harassment.
Organizers hope this rally will give a voice to those students who have be silenced by fear, as well as impress upon the administration the urgency to take immediate action to restore a safe campus environment, where diversity is welcome and hate crimes are not tolerated.
A group of concerned students is planning on attending a community meeting following the rally, were they will present specific demands to the administration, in order to prevents incidents of biased harassment for Asian American students, as well as all marginalized groups in the future. They will demand that the University create new positions of two senior administrators who will have the specific duty of addressing the concerns of diversity within the makeup of the student body, faculty, staff, and other administration, whose responsibilities would include being a centralized location for the confidential reporting of homophobic, sexist, and racist incidents, creating a safe space for students of minority groups to discuss issues of concern. These funded administrators will also implement programs of sensitivity training for students and faculty to include concern for issues of difference within gender, race, class, age, disability, religion, nationality, and ethnicity.
For further information, contact Michelle Lowinger (646-242-3567)
[posted 12/16/01]
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