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发帖数: 16 | 1 Speech at Houston’s Demonstration against ABC’s 10/16/13 Jimmy Kimmel
Children’s Table Show
November 9, 2011
by David Cao (曹青桦)
Ladies and gentlemen,
As we gather here, America is facing many challenges; one of them is the
increase of violence, especially the increase in the killings of
unsuspecting, innocent people in broad daylight in many of our cities and
towns.
Two days ago, last Thursday morning, CBS’s morning show shared alarming
statistics on active shooting situations, situations where lone attackers
target public places. Just in the last four years alone, the number of
people killed in those incidents jumped by 150%. Some of the shooters are
psychotics, but many are just people who are angry. The hosts of the show,
Charlie Rose and Norah O'Donnell, and special correspondent John Miller
engaged in a very brief but very thought-provoking discussion of what is
driving this increase in active shooting. Mr. Miller asked, does the media
have anything to do with it? The three journalists did not have an answer.
I do not have an answer either. But I do think, and I believe people agree,
that if the media suggests to the psychotics or the angry people, who cannot
control themselves like a reasonable person, that they can solve their
problems by killing other people, (guess what?), some of them will do it. If
the media plants in children a dangerous idea that they can eliminate their
debt by killing their creditors, (guess what?), one day, some of them will
do it. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the media’s suggestion, or implicit
recommendation, of killing can lead to real killings, and making such a vile
suggestion is exactly what ABC did on the night of October 16, 2013!
That day, on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Children’s Table show, Mr. Kimmel had a
discussion about America’s debt with four children. When a boy suggested
that we should eliminate our debt by killing everyone in China, Mr. Kimmel
said with a chuckle, “That’s an interesting idea.” Yes, he told the
children it is an interesting idea to kill everyone in China so as not to
pay our debt. Ladies and gentlemen, under today’s dire situation of
increased violence, especially shootings on our campuses, if a boy suggested
solving any problem by killing people, in any school, a teacher would
immediately correct him; in any church, a pastor would immediately correct
him; in any house, a parent would immediately correct him; in any place
where children are under adult supervision, a responsible adult would
immediately correct him. But on October 16, Mr. Kimmel, the only adult on
the show, characterized the idea of killing as an “interesting idea.” And
hours later, ABC aired this show. Why did ABC do that? What message was ABC
sending to our children? Did ABC forget the killings in Columbine High? Did
ABC forget the killings in Virginia Tech? Has this country had not enough
victims of campus shootings? Just days ago, in Sparks, Nevada, a 12-year-old
shot and killed his teacher. His teacher. Yet ABC aired a show that tells
children they can choose to kill in order not to pay their debt. ABC, how
many more children do you want killed? How many more teachers do you want
killed? ABC: Shame on you!
Ladies and gentlemen, as you can see on the signs carried by our
demonstrators, by airing the Jimmy Kimmel Kid’s Table show on October 16,
2013, ABC implicitly taught children to kill. That is the scale of our
outrage! That is why we are so concerned, that is why we are so disturbed,
and that is why we are so offended! But, until today, notwithstanding the
public outrage, ABC has not publicly admitted its wrong doing, much less has
it publicly apologized. Let us tell ABC, you owe our children an apology,
you owe our teachers an apology, you owe our parents an apology, you owe the
campus shooting victims and their families an apology, you owe America an
apology!
There is another vicious suggestion in the Jimmy Kimmel Kid’s Table show
that ABC aired on October 16, which is no less troubling than its implicit
endorsement, if not promotion, of violence. That is the indication that
certain people have the right or authority to eliminate the Chinese
ethnicity. Seconds after he had characterized the idea of killing as “
interesting,” Mr. Kimmel asked the children: “Should we allow the Chinese
to live?” The same child answered “NO!” The other three answered “yes.”
I was shocked. I was shocked, not by how this question was answered, but by
the very fact that someone would even ask this question. Who in this world
has the right, or the authority, to allow or disallow an entire ethnicity to
live? No one. The only being that is entitled to making such a call is God
himself. The only men who thought they had the authority to eradicate a
whole ethnicity are Hitler and his gang. But by asking the children this
question, Mr. Kimmel was in effect suggesting to the children that they have
the right not to let live the Chinese ethnicity. That suggestion is as
deeply wounding to the Chinese as it is dangerously poisonous to the
children. What a horrible, malicious suggestion ABC made to our children.
ABC: shame on you!
Let no one downplay the gravity of this incident. Let no one say it is
simply a joke, because it is not. America is a great country, but we do have
wounds and scars from our history that still hurt even today. In America’s
history, there was enslavement of African Americans; there was the Chinese
Exclusion Act that deprived Chinese Americans many freedoms just because
they were Chinese; there was the internment of Japanese Americans that
relocated and incarcerated thousands of Japanese Americans just because they
were Japanese. These injustices have been redressed, but their
repercussions still exist, especially when the ghost of bigotry from these
historical injustices, though to a much lesser extent, still haunts this
country. I deeply appreciate the majority Americans’ righteousness in their
support of the minorities’ fight for their rights; I deeply appreciate the
fact that the majority Americans are so caring about, and so sensitive to,
the feelings of the minorities who were historically subjected to injustice
and discrimination. People condemn the use of racial slurs, people do not
use language that opens the wounds that will hurt people. People do not use
language that echoes the remote and faded howling of discrimination and
bigotry, not even in jokes. But, on October 16, 2013, ABC did exactly the
opposite to the Chinese community. I ask ABC, why did you do this?
Like all other minorities in America, the Chinese are hardworking, law-
abiding, and friendly and respectful to their neighbors. But historically
the Chinese have not been vocal enough in asserting their rights. Is this
why ABC picked on the Chinese? Is this why the executives of ABC still
refuse to publicly apologize to the Chinese? Executives of ABC: as you may
have seen the demonstrations today in twenty cities nationwide, we will
defend our rights, we will fight with all our means for justice. And we will
win! We will win, not just because we will fight hard, but because this is
America! This is America where racial intolerance is not tolerated! This is
America, where, by God’s will, liberty and justice are equally afforded
everyone. Executives of ABC, let me say this to you: as the helmsmen of one
of America’s largest media groups, with your due responsibility to the
American society as well as to ABC, do the right thing! Admit your wrong
doing in airing the Jimmy Kimmel Kid’s Table Show on October 16, 2013,
investigate why and how such an offensive, crass skit was scripted and aired
, and duly discipline those responsible; implement measures to ensure such
incidents do not happen again; and last but not least, apologize to the
Chinese community, apologize to our children and their parents, apologize to
our teachers, apologize to the campus shooting victims and their families,
apologize to our police officers, apologize to your viewers, apologize to
America! Executives of ABC, act like Americans! |
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