Column calls blacks "weak-willed" for being enslaved for 300 years
• Asian petition: Column is irresponsible, hurtful, racist, replete with stereotypes
• Petition: Cut ties with author, apologize, refute column in print, punish editors
• Newspaper's editor at large calls decision to publish "a mistake"
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SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) -- Asian-American leaders are calling on a weekly newspaper to apologize and cut ties with a writer who penned a column titled "Why I Hate Blacks."
In the piece, which appeared in the February 23 edition of San Francisco-based AsianWeek, contributor Kenneth Eng lists reasons why he supports discrimination against blacks, writing, among other things, "I would argue that blacks are weak-willed. They are the only race that has been enslaved for 300 years."
An official at the nationally circulated paper apologized and called the column's publication a mistake.
Leaders at the Asian American Justice Center, Chinese for Affirmative Action, Coalition for Asian Pacific Americans and other groups are circulating a petition denouncing the piece as "irresponsible journalism, blatantly racist, replete with stereotypes, and deeply hurtful to African Americans."
The petition calls on AsianWeek to cut ties with Eng, issue an apology, print an editorial refuting the column, and fire or demote the editors who published it.
"Something like this should never have been printed," said Vincent Eng, deputy director of the Asian American Justice Center in Washington, who is not related to the columnist. "Deliberate action needs to be taken to make sure this type of hate speech doesn't continue."
AsianWeek, with a circulation of 48,505, issued a statement apologizing for "any harm or hurt this has caused the African American community."
The newspaper plans to hold a news conference with NAACP leaders in San Francisco on Wednesday to discuss how the Asian and black communities "can be different and yet get along and work together," said Ted Fang, the paper's editor at large.
"The newspaper is sorry that this got published, and I am personally sorry that this got published," Fang told The Associated Press. "The views in that opinion piece do not in any way reflect the views of AsianWeek."
The paper plans to review its policies to "understand how this happened and make sure it doesn't happen again," Fang said, calling the decision to publish Eng's piece a "mistake."
Fang's family publishes AsianWeek, along with a local newspaper called the Independent, and owned the San Francisco Examiner between 2000 and 2004. AsianWeek calls itself "The Voice of Asian America."
The column was among several written by Kenneth Eng, who has described himself as an "Asian Supremacist." Previous columns have been titled "Proof That Whites Inherently Hate Us" and "Why I Hate Asians."
A telephone listing for Eng could not be located.
Sophie Maxwell, one of the city's top black officials and a member of the city's board of supervisors, said she doesn't believe Eng's column will hurt relations between blacks and Asians in San Francisco. She has co-sponsored a city resolution condemning the article and AsianWeek's decision to publish it.
"This man clearly is very ignorant of African-American history and his own history, and he's very angry," said Maxwell, who represents a district with large black and Asian populations.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
