[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

[WAC-list] Sign & Pass the Petition Against Racism towards Asian Americans!

Please take a moment and look at this petition. If you agree with the cause, please consider signing it, if you don't then feel free to delete this message. Thank you for taking a moment! 

Crystal S. Heckert

_________________________________________________________________
Get fast, reliable access with MSN 9 Dial-up. Click here for Special Offer! http://click.atdmt.com/AVE/go/onm00200361ave/direct/01/
--- Begin Message ---

-----Original Message-----
From: AnnaMarie H Vu [mailto:ahv204@nyu.edu]
Sent: Monday, February 23, 2004 4:28 PM
To: njyap14@yahoo.com; jona@2tongues.com; Daren.Mooko@pomona.edu;
liashigemura@hotmail.com; hzia1@usa.net; baophi@loft.org;
ishlepark@yahoo.com; diasporaflow@yahoo.com; haroldbyun@yahoo.com;
pradeepajm@yahoo.com; kidjondis@mindspring.com; patricktaba@hotmail.com;
jeffreytheliang@hotmail.com; dandiggity7@hotmail.com;
nhuvu19_@hotmail.com; ninjabee@earthlink.net; lypham@bu.edu;
johnf79@aol.com; modelminority@yahoo.com; boygaon@isangmahal.org;
npcsc@usstudents.org; napasc@usstudents.org; tpgee@uclink.berkeley.edu;
multicultural@unitedcouncil.net; lil@lilianachen.com;
gcc19@columbia.edu; llee@bevmedia.com; achaddha@arc.org;
prosal@gomarky.com
Subject: Sign & Pass the Petition Against Racism towards Asian
Americans!

Dear friends, activists, and scholars,
This is an email of great importance.  Once again, a business has
profited by conducting an immense atrocity against Asian Americans,
communities of color and women.  Saigoniste, a store in SOHO which sells
home accessories from Vietnam, purposefully utilizes racial stereotypes
to market their items with a character named, "HoChi Mama." 

In an animated video on Saigoniste's website, "HoChi Mama" is shown
chauffeuring famous New Yorkers to Saigoniste on her vespa.   Cynthia
Ashworth, who owns the store with Hugh Duthie, removed the video from
the Web site last month after learning that The New York Times planned
an article about it.

Saigoniste's storefront window declares, "Ho Chi Mama say spring is time
to put love in air and tropical color all over home."
http://monkey.org/~dugsong/tmp/saigoniste.jpg

The store owners refuse to remove "Ho Chi Mama" nor change the labels
and tags on the items which start with, "Mama say..."  Cynthia Ashworth
and Hugh Duthie even endorse the idea of French Colonized Vietnam:

"It goes without saying that we at Saigoniste love Vietnam longtime!
Even more, we love the name Cochinchine, the former French name for the
country when it was a colony of France. (Indochine, which most people
associate with Vietnam, was in fact the name for the entire region,
including Cambodia and Laos). If it weren't completely un-PC, we'd love
it if they rebranded the country Cochinchine to give it a bit of
retro-chic appeal." 

Please take 30 seconds out of your day to sign the petition protesting
Saigoniste's racist marketing and pass it on! 
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/hochima/petition.html

Thanks so much!

To read the full article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/22/nyregion/22saig.html
or
http://www.mamnon.org/multiculti/archive/0306/msg00000.html

Saigoniste made the mistake of assuming our communities would stay
silent when exploited in one of the most upscale shopping districts in
the world.  Let our voices of protest ring loud and clear.

In Strength and Solidarity,
AnnaMarie








Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
ADVERTISEMENT

Yahoo! Groups Links

--- End Message ---