II. For Dignity and Against Discrimination
| Date
of Call to Action |
Purpose
(PP) & Method (MD) |
Date
Result(s) Achieved |
| April 25th, 2005: 101.5 FM's "Jersey Guys" radio talkshow hosts call Asian-Americans "Damn Orientals and Indians" and a "foreign group", and they should not have influence in American elections. 80-20 works with New Jersey
Coalition for Asian American Civil Rights, including 80-20's NJ chapter,
to achieve our goals. The coalition successfully persuades Hyundai,
Cingular, and Bank of America to pull their ads from 101.5 FM. |
PP: To aid the New
Jersey Asian-American community in getting 101.5 FM to meet their
demands. MD: On May
19th, 80-20 sends out a mass e-mail urging supporters to e-mail
the 3 largest national sponsors of 101.5 FM-- Verizon, Comcast and
Dish Network, demanding these companies withdraw their sponsorship
or face boycotts.
.
|
3 days after 80-20's mass e-mail, 101.5 FM agrees
to invite Jun Choi, the principle target of the talkshow's slurs,
to the show and issues a public apology. Comcast replies that they
no longer advertise on "Jersey Guys" and will meet with
101.5 FM management.
|
| January 20, 2004, 4:15 pm: 80-20
asks TNT to call back regarding Yao Ming being called "7'6"
Chinaman" by Steve Kerr on a TNT broadcast the night before. |
PP:
To get a sincere apology.
MD: Using the established
reputation of 80-20 as a tough but fair organization helping the
AsAm community to win equal opportunity. |
3 hours later, Steve Kerr
and TNT Senior VP Jeff Banky calls to relay a very sincere apology
through 80-20 to APAs with a letter from Mr. Kerr.
|
| April 17, 2002: Asian Pacific American college
students and young professionals email 80-20, asking it to take action.
They are outraged because Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F), an upscale
retailer, put out a new line of 4 T-shirts with derogatory portrayals
of Asians. |
PP: To have A&F
remove the t-shirts and apologize to the APA community.
MD: April 18, 2002, 10:50
am: 80-20 president, S.B. Woo, calls Michael Jeffries,
Chairman and CEO of A&F. Mr. Jefferies is out of his office,
so Woo leaves a message expressing the wish for A&F to withdraw
the products. He also requests a call back.
|
April 18, 2002, 1:12 pm: (within two hours
of 80-20's call) Mr. Seth Johnson, A&F C.O.O., calls back. He
says that he calls on behalf of Mr. Jeffries who is not in town.
He says that the products have been pulled off the market. An A&F
spokesman in a press conference announces the withdrawal of the
T-shirts. |
February 22, 2002: After the
figure skating finals of this year's Olympics, the Seattle Times headlined
on February 22:
"Hughes good as gold: American outshines
Kwan, Slutskaya in skating surprise"
|
PP:
To have the Seattle Times apologize for the offensive implications
of its headline. The Seattle Times, on February 23, 2002, retracts
the headline with an apology for the "misunderstanding."
MD: March 1, 2002:
80-20 publicizes the headline in an email to its 410,000 supporters.
|
March 3, 2002: The
Seattle Times issues its SECOND apology. It is drastically different
in content, tone, style and length from its first apology. Seattle
Times Executive Editor Mike Fancher specifically addresses the offensive
implications of the headline, and adds his personal apology.
|
| May 10, 2003: 80-20 learns that 5 Chinese-American
teachers and artists from the NYC Chinese Cultural Center were turned
away from their contracted jobs at a Vineland, NJ school because some
parents had complained that the 5 might have SARS. The school knew,
however, that the 5 had not been to a SARS-affected area in at least
2 years. |
PP: To prevent
the spread of SARS hysteria by obtaining a public apology to the
5, compensation for their jobs, reinstitution of the cancelled program
this or next semester, and an educational program for the entire
school district to prevent SARS hysteria
MD: May 13, 2003:
80-20 uses the "carrot-or-stick" strategy with the Vineland
School District to induce the results listed above. |
May 15, 2003, 10:30 am: A conference call between
Woo and the Superintendent and his Assistant Superintendent takes
place. A win-win situation is created. The results are announced
in a press release that praises the Superintendent.
|
September 6, 2003: The Historic
Luncheon with Howard Dean Keynoting, a pro-active empowering program.
Since it is not reactive, we do not issue a "call for action."
|
PP:
To induce Presidential candidates to address APA concerns.
MD: 80-20 invites
the top 4 Democratic Presidential candidates and Pres. Bush to an
80-20 fundraiser. The first to respond is Gov. Howard Dean. |
1) Inviting the leading Presidential candidates
to attend a fundraiser for an APA organization. Such is common in
mainstream groups but unprecedented in the APA community.
2) Gov. Davis initiated a request to attend our event. |
| October 27, 2000 |
PP: To have the
infamous “daisy TV ad,” which perpetrated “yellow
peril” fear mongering, taken off the air.
MD: a) Massive electronic
protest, threats to vote against Bush, and b) great support from
mainstream reporters asking why such a spot was permitted by Bush. |
Oct. 28, 2000: The ad is pulled off the air. To
our knowledge, 80-20 was the only organization in the nation that
called for the pulling of the ad. |
December 16, 2002, 11:00 am:
80-20 calls on Republican leaders to hold a re-vote on the incoming
Senate Majority leader Trent Lott, who applauded Sen. Strom Thurmond
for his segregation platform in a 1948 presidential campaign.
80-20 and others believe Sen. Lott might attempt to turn back the
clock on civil rights.
|
PP:
Talk can lead to action. By severely punishing politicians who make
pro-segregationist statements, 80-20 ensures that segregation does
not return to America.
MD: December
16, 2002, 11:00 am: 80-20 President, S.B. Woo, faxes a
letter to key Republican leaders calling for a re-vote. He mentions
that 80-20 can reach 500,000 APA voters in one day. 80-20 also issues
a press release and an email to supporters urging them to fax Republican
leaders as well. |
Same day! The decision by
the Republican Caucus to re-vote is achieved only 5 hours later,
December 16, 2002, 4pm.
The real result, the severe punishment of a politician who makes
such a statement, is achieved 4 days later, on December 20, 2002,
when Sen. Lott resigns as Senate Majority Leader.
|
