ABC’s Favorite Ethnic Community
Dear friends,
When she was mayor of San Francisco, Dianne Feinstein used to tell her close friends that her favorite ethnic group was the Filipino community. While other ethnic groups would badger her and demand appointments to major commissions and funding for their community programs, the Filipinos, she said, would be satisfied with just getting a little attention, having their photos taken with her. It took take very little to satisfy the Filipino community. Mababaw ang kaligayahan natin.
More than 25 years later, we still haven’t changed. We ask for little and we get what we ask for, little. We ask for an apology and we get an apology, a three sentence boilerplate apology issued by ABC’s PR hack. Do we even get a peep of an “I’m sorry” from Mark Cherry, the creator, producer and head script writer of “Desperate Housewives”? Does Cherry even acknowledge that his play for cheap laughs has caused so much pain to so many thousands of our most respected medical professionals?
ABC likely advised Cherry not to worry his creative little head about those angry Filipinos and that they’ll take care of it. He doesn’t have to make any statements or any changes in future scripts to correct anything. ABC simply had to dispatch Robert Mendez, their “Vice President for Diversity” to take care of it. After all, that’s what they created the job title for. His job for ABC is to promote diversity, to “open doors” for minorities, to create a “talent pool” of minorities, to cool the waters and still the flame. Anytime ABC has problems with any minority group, it’s Mendez Time. Go get ‘em, Bob.
So when Perry Diaz suggested, as his “win-win” proposal, that ABC “agree to explore a program that might help increase opportunities for Filipinos at ABC”, Mendez quickly jumped on the proposal after Jon Melegrito emailed the proposal to him. If this would do the trick, then by golly, ABC will jump at the chance. After all, what does it cost ABC to “explore a program”? Heck, ABC doesn’t even have to initiate it, ABC just needs to “explore” it. It doesn’t even have to actually increase opportunities for Filipinos at ABC, it’s enough that it ” might help increase” it. We’re so modest with our ambitions, as Feinstein learned when she was mayor.
Let’s not challenge ourselves to do what African Americans, gays, Jews, and Latinos have done to flex their poltical muscle and empower themselves. That would just be too difficult for us. As Perry wrote in his column: “Needless to say, pursuing a lawsuit is going to be very expensive. The question is: who will pay for the cost of litigation and front the retainer fee?” It’s too difficult for us. It’s much easier to ask ABC to “explore” a program that “might” help us. How can they say no to such a modest request?
In fact, because it was so modest, Mendez responded by immediately asking Perry if he “might be interested in helping to organize a meeting in Washington, DC, where my staff and I can meet with Filipinos who are interested in pursuing careers in television and want access to direct information about our many talent development programs.” And Jon, bless him, was quick to praise Perry for “being an enlightened voice for our community” unlike all those people who are demanding that ABC make a public apology in the “Desperate Housewives” show itself, that ABC initiate cultural sensitivity training for its network writers and producers and for ABC to produce shows that depict Filipinos and other minority groups as “prominent, positive role models.” Kn his email, Jon said that these demands were “pointless”. When these demands were presented to Mendez during his meeting with Filipino groups on October 6, Mendez said he would have to discuss the matter with ABC management. In contrast, when Perry’s proposal was sent to him by Jon, there was no need to discuss it with management. It was a modest no-brainer.
The demands presented to Mendez by many Filipino groups are difficult and ABC won’t cave in to those demands unless the Filipino community were to flex its muscles and initiate a BOYCOTT of Disney and ABC and instigate a defamation lawsuit against ABC.
But Perry discourages us from initiating a lawsuit. “Where do we get the funds to pay our lawyers?” he asks. “ABC is a giant in the industry and they have the wherewithal to get the best lawyers.” Besides, he said, “the cost of litigation would be so high that, in my opinion, no lawyer or law firm would take the case on a contingency basis.”
Perry doesn’t know that Atty. Roman P. Mosqueda, a prominent Los Angeles attorney who has successfully prosecuted defamation lawsuits, and whose wife is a potential plaintiff as she has a diploma from “some med school in the Philippines”, has already agreed to file a lawsuit on behalf of Filipino doctors and that he is willing to do it on a contingency fee basis. Atty. Ted Laguatan, a prominent San Francisco attorney who won a million dollar lawsuit a year go, has similarly agreed to also file a lawsuit which he will personally fund. As he told a packed group of Filipinos who met at the Philippine Consulate social hall last night to discuss this issue, he was doing so because the cause is just and is more important than money.
Perhaps Perry knows more about defamation law than Atty. Mosqueda and Atty. Laguatan. His legal conclusion is that “one episode laced with racial slur would not be enough to win a civil case.” Tell that to Don Imus who made just one “nappy-headed hos” comment and look what happened to him. Tell that to Knicks coach Isaiah Thomas who just lost a $12-M jury verdict for sexually harrassing a subordinate by calling her a “bitch”.
Why challenge the Filipino community to unite and boycott Disney and ABC? That would take too much effort. Besides, Perry tells us, “Boycotting ABC would have no effect on their revenues from commercials.” Perry should know that the amount charged for TV commercials is based on the number of viewers. A drop of even one percentage point would mean a significant drop in the amount charged for the commercials which would affect their profit margin. But it would just be too tough to mount a boycott. Besides, Perry asks, “what is our share of the American consumer market and what impact would a boycott have on the advertisers? In my opinion, there is none or, at best, negligible.” We’re nothing. It’s just too tough. Forgetaboutit.
When he received Perry’s “breaking news” email about his “win-win” proposal that was quickly endorsed by Jon, Dr. Nelson Bocar from Oklahoma City expressed his “dismay” that ” Perry Diaz and Jon Melegrito look at the bigger picture much differently than most of us do. Without a meaningful apology and the correction of a slur, it is my opinion that what ABC is offering still reeks not so much of ignorance now but of arrogance still, their enticements hollow and short-lived as a righteous indignation will be if too quickly appeased by a myopic view. The smell and sight of a “sacrificial lamb” will affront our senses far longer than any anticipated fragrance of a promised rose garden that may not even come to pass.”
Dr. Bocar writes further that: “A real win-win resolution is when, if I may paraphrase Ching, ‘ABC gives the most therapeutic remedy in the same broadcast vessels at their disposal for the most venomous of poisons contained in the littlest of vessels’– an apology directed to the same audience who heard the offensive “brief reference” in that show– and which I believe will be heartily accepted by most and will even redound to ABC’s best business interest and stature. Further, should ABC be proactive enough after an acceptable apology is given and opens its doors to all who are qualified and promising in the community, then: Hossanas! Thanksgiving!”
We can never hope to win-win if we have a lose-lose attitude even before we begin to fightfight. The time has come to draw a line in the sand. Do we aspire to be ” ABC’s favorite ethnic community”? Or do we want to fight for real justice even if it means risking the displeasure of Robert Mendez?
RODEL E. RODIS
San Francisco, California