By Daniel Johnson-Kim, Sports Editor
During World War II the U.S. government stripped Asian Americans of their rights.
While a war with Japan raged in the Pacific, hysteria and fear of Eastern spies at home fueled the infringement of the civil rights of not only Japanese Americans but also anyone who fit the profile. During this embarrassing period of American history, the U.S. government threw hoards of Asian Americans into internment camps, robbing these citizens of their rights and exposing the dangers of racial profiling.
But apparently Max Karson, columnist for the Colorado University Campus Press, slept through that lecture of his American History course. The college journalist, and I use the term loosely, posted a sad attempt at satire on Feb. 18 in the article, “If it’s war the Asians want.”
After a sour encounter with an Asian student at his university’s Rec Center, Karson was inspired to write a racially motivated attack on the Asian American community at CU. Although the article was meant to be satirical, Karson irresponsibly furthered racial stereotypes. Karson’s racist rant was a call to action to the CU community to round up the Asians at CU with giant butterfly nets and kidnap as many Asians as they could to rehabilitate and Americanize their Eastern neighbors.
“When I blow my whistle, we will scatter in every direction and catch as many Asians as possible,” Karson wrote. “. If you’re not sure if someone is an Asian, give them a calculus problem to do in their head. If they get it right, net ’em.”
Once all the Asians were captured, Karson wrote that they “.will be dragged to my apartment on the Hill and hog-tied.”
After the roundup, or “Phase 1,” as Karson called it, was complete the “Asian reformation” would begin. The rehabilitation of the Asians included a “100-round beer pong tournament,” while listening to “It’s a Small World,” forcing the Asians to eat “bad sushi” and shouting at them for not making enough Nintendo Wiis. Karson wrote the Asians would “be allowed to play ‘Dance Dance Revolution.’ However, the game will be rigged so that the Asians will receive no points, regardless of how robotically they dance.”
Then in “Phase 3” the Asians’ homes would be redecorated in “American style,” and Karson’s posse would “replace their rice cookers with George Foreman Grills, their green tea mochi with fried Snickers bars, and their rice rockets with Hummers. And booster seats.”
If you’re reading this with a dropped jaw or disgusted look on your face, you’re not alone. Karson’s hateful words caused an outcry by the CU student body and administration and even engendered a response by the Asian American Journalists Association.
Although the First Amendment rights of a free press and free speech protect Karson’s hateful words, and the paper and university issued apologies, his racist rhetoric is an example of ethnocentrism and insensitivity that have no place in higher education.
Rather than expose a social wrong, the true reason for satire, Karson chose to attack a significant sliver of society that helps makes the United States a multicultural nation.
As a proud American with Asian heritage, I was not only appalled by Karson’s words but saddened that any publication would give him a forum for his hate.
When we fail to learn from the mistakes of our past, the opportunity for racism exposes itself. Perhaps Karson should educate himself on the wrongs done to the Asian American community throughout history.
Cultural differences enrich our country; hate divides it.
