7.13.2008

racist remarks at the u.s. air guitar championships

The following email was sent to the organizers of the U.S. Air Guitar Championships by Francis Hsueh, who attended the Brooklyn Regional last week. Basically, it highlights some racist remarks made by one of the idiot judges at the competition. Read on for details:
Dear US Air Guitar Organizers:

Last night, a group of us attended the show in Williamsburg to watch our friend Jonathan Mendez perform in the competition. The Bee Gees metal band was amazing, and the opportunity to step back and enjoy a bygone era was fun and nostalgic.

It was a great time until the judges started talking.

Many of us were shocked and astounded that US Air Guitar would allow one of the judges (the man on the right) to spew racist comments about Asians (apparently referring to Japanese or other Asian contestants as "nips" and "riceballs"). The gist of his rant was that Americans had to defend their honor by not letting Asians dominate the competition, especially by not letting the Japanese, who "gave us Pearl Harbor", to continue dominating the competition. Ironically, there appear to be NO Japanese or Japanese-American contestants in the Hall of Fame. They have Korean or other Asian last names.

And yet, we can only imagine what would have happened if he had said something about African-Americans or any other race. Clearly US Air Guitar must be above this double-standard?

I myself am a guitarist and really looked forward to last night's show but I had to be reminded yet again that people like myself are not always welcomed at these events or in that world.

We only wanted to be able to rock out like everyone else and not be subjected to racist taunts for once. Is that too much to ask for?

Francis Hsueh
and
Steven Hahn
Jimmy Lee
Christine Lee
What the hell? It seems that anywhere you go, or whatever arena Asians are trying to make a difference in—even air guitar, where several Asian Americans have dominated—there's always going to some racist ass who has to shoot off his mouth like this. Never mind the fact that former champions David 'C-Diddy' Jung, MiRi 'Sonyk-Rok' Park, and Fatima 'Rockness Monster' Hoang are all indeed 100% American. That judge needs to get his head out of his ass. That's racist!

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