Is Black Talk Radio Weak Voiced?
Bridges - Ethnic Media Digest
NCM, News Digest, Compiled and Edited by Pueng Vongs, Posted: May 16, 2003
"Bridges" is a weekly report on news and views from the ethnic press and communities.
- Is Black Talk Radio Weak Voiced?
- Asian Seniors Face Eviction
- Korean Aliens Caught at Canadian Border
- A Mixed Reception for Blacks in Military
- Consular IDs Courtesy of Karl Rove?
As federal deregulation of the broadcasting industry threatens to reduce black ownership of radio outlets, an expert on economic empowerment urges the black community to make better use of their radio forums, reports the weekly San Francisco Sun Reporter.
James E. Clingman, author of “Economic Empowerment or Economic Enslavement – We Have a Choice,” criticized black talk radio programs and says they should be used more aggressively by the community to share ideas and establish relationships to build economic power.
“While others are busy capturing the minds of our children, and many of our adults by gobbling up as many radio stations as possible, we are on black radio often complaining about what someone said on a white-owned station or, even worse, castigating one another,” said Clingman.
“Air time is precious,” he continued, “and the capability of speaking to thousands of our people via a black talk radio program should, at every opportunity, call for and move our people to responsive action.”
Clingman argues that ownership and control of income-producing assets are essential to building a positive economic future for Blacks. Clingman urged blacks to weigh in at public hearings on deregulation held by the Federal Communications Commission.
Asian Seniors Face Eviction
Caught in a dispute between a wealthy real estate owner and the city of Oakland, a group of mostly low-income Asian immigrant seniors are facing eviction, reports the Chinese-language Sing Tao Daily. This latest incident sheds light on the plight of older immigrants which frequently passes under the public’s radar.
Some 50 tenants of the Pacific Renaissance Plaza in Oakland’s Chinatown must relocate by July 30 after an Oakland Redevelopment Agency housing subsidy expires.
Lawrence Chan, a Hong Kong businessman who owns the building -- as well as high-profile hotel properties including the Oakland City Center Marriott Hotel, the San Jose Marriott, and the Renaissance Parc 55 Hotel in San Francisco -- told the Sing Tao that he had sent numerous letters to Oakland agencies beginning well over a year ago about the expiring contract. He said he was not informed of a decision that the city government would not continue to subsidize the housing until this past March.
Many community members criticize Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown who had promised to make Oakland an affordable place to live for working people. Deputy Mayor Nancy Nadel said that Chan should let the tenants stay longer.
Many of the senior residents have been living alone and do not speak much English, and they worry about their chances of finding adequate housing. One 90-year-old resident who is in a wheelchair is afraid he will be unable to find housing that has an elevator. He has also come to depend on the convenience of the neighborhood, which is close to restaurants, banks and pharmacies.
Korean Aliens Caught at Canadian Border
Twelve Koreans were arrested on May 2 by the U.S. Border Patrol in Blaine, Washington while attempting to illegally cross the Canadian border into the United States, reports the daily Korea Times in Seattle. Illegal Korean aliens who have frequently made their way into the United States via Canada -- especially after Canada and South Korea adopted a no visa requirement in 1993 -- are feeling the sting of tighter border control following Sept. 11.
The group picked up on May 2 included four men, seven women and one child from South Korea. They were riding in a stolen car driven by a Canadian resident and heading towards Los Angeles.
The number of illegal Korean aliens who were arrested at the Canadian border reached a high of 120 in 2000, when Korea’s hobbled economy was put under the control of the International Monetary Fund.
A Mixed Reception for Blacks in Military
The National Newspapers Publishers Association, a black newswire, reported that black soldiers still fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan must still endure racism.
A Gulf War veteran, Jared Ball said he witnessed several racist incidents during his tour of duty. “My first week on board the ship, our supervising officer, a white man from Georgia, told us he didn’t like black people but wouldn’t use his rank to abuse us.” Ball was shocked that none of the other black officers called the officer out on his remark.
Ball said it was common to see Klan lettering on the bathroom walls and some officers passed out Klan literature as well.
In a related report, George E. Curry wrote that when Brig. Gen. Vincent K. Brooks, the deputy director of operations in Iraq and spokesperson for the media, was selected First Captain of the Corps of Cadets in 1979, the highest cadet honor, he received hate mail addressing him as “Regimental Coon” and telling him to “go back to Africa.”
Vincent said, “It [the hate mail] was a reminder then as it remains a reminder now that the work is not done that causes people to just be measured by the content of their character, not by the color of their skin.”
Consular IDs Courtesy of Karl Rove?
Groups that seek to restrict immigration into the United States, including the Washington D.C.-based Project USA, worry that President Bush’s chief political strategist, Karl Rove, is working behind the scenes in support of federal acceptance of the matricula consular, the identification card issued by Mexican consulates to its citizens living in the United States.
In its weekly e-mail newsletter of May 11, Project USA said that Rove is intent on winning the Hispanic vote for President Bush in the 2004 presidential campaign, and sees support for the matricula as important for gaining Latino votes.
Many municipal and county governments, hospitals and major U.S. banks, such as Wells Fargo, already accept matriculas, often used by undocumented immigrants who lack any other identification. Immigrant rights groups and the Mexican government say the cards protect Mexicans from abuse and allow them to access services.
Project USA said that a new set of federal regulations – which are being developed in Washington as guidelines on the acceptance of foreign identification cards – are not tough enough on the matriculas.
For example, Project USA said Rove’s staff is collaborating with the U.S. Treasury Department in devising guidelines that would allow U.S. banks to continue to decide on their own whether or not to accept the matriculas. “It is crucial that the new federal regulations completely shut down illegal alien I.D. cards,” because the cards tend to legitimize illegal immigrants and encourage illegal immigration, the newsletter said.
Donal Brown, Kapson Lee and Kai Lui contributed to this report.
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