Letter to the Editor of San Francisco Chronicle

To Whom It May Concern:

I recently read an article in a San Francisco periodical called Asian Week. “Why I hate Blacks”, written by journalist Kenneth Eng, was Eng’s honest explanation for why there is so much animosity among the Asian American and African American communities in the Bay Area. Through his own opinions and experiences, he attempted to sort through the unspoken hostility that exist between these two particular communities by lending his own mindset.

Of course I was outraged upon reading the article and rejected it message of hate and disdain. It did make me think, however, that many periodicals in the Bay Area gloss over the topic of race relations as if it were no problem at all. In a community as diverse as San Francisco there are bound to be race wars or unspoken belligerence among the different nations of the city. To pretend that those problems don’t exist here, as they do everywhere else in the world, is misleading and ridiculous.

I am glad that your publication chooses to celebrate the various cultures of our city. However, I wish that there were more occasions on which your newspaper discussed the cultural coexistence of the city. I feel that beyond race relation, there is the more important matter of human relation at stake here. This too should be addressed in your periodical as clearly as your many declarations of a multinational harmonious San Francisco. Racism is not over. We have a long way to go still and it is periodicals like yours that should lead the way to change and understanding by promoting cross cultural interactions and encouraging tolerance for all people around the city.