Actually, he’s both African-American and Italian. And the the N-word wasn’t just uttered by Jennifer Lopez, it was recorded in a song. Her defense was that the lyrics were written by Ja Rule, so that made it OK for her.

A recent email in my in-box screams for action against racism. Its author belongs to an Indian-American theater group in New York. As a budding Indian actor I once joined this group’s mailing list to tap into its pool of ethnically favorable audition calls.

The email directs me to a nasty sound clip reeking of racism, sexism, and cowardice all at once. It is a recording of a male radio disc jockey who dials a female call center worker in India to order some trinket. He then abruptly jumps to his pre-planned course of action and calls the helpless woman a bitch and a filthy rat eater. He even threatens to choke her to death. He does this while comfortably sitting in his studio, thousands of miles away from his unseen victim. The call center woman, whose name is Tina, keeps addressing the DJ as “ma’am” throughout the conversation, innocently believing him to be one of her own gender. So much for his attempt to sound like a menacingly macho thug!

I ask the sender of the email for the DJ’s name and a few other details, including his race. “HeÂ’s as White as can be,” she shoots back. I ask if she has bothered to confirm. She doesn’t think it’s necessary. In her eyes the racist person is White by default and the victim is anyone but White. It wouldn’t take too long for the media in Tina’s country to play up this issue. The Times of India dated January 13, 2005 has already run the story. The average person in India, not to mention here in America, thinks of America as a predominantly White culture and society, particularly when referring to quarters from which racism springs. That was where the finger was pointed after 9/11 when acts of hate were perpetrated against Middle Eastern looking people.

A google search reveals that the radio DJ’s name is Troy Torain, a.k.a STAR whose morning show, The Star & Buc Wild Show is currently syndicated to two other Hip-Hop and R&B stations besides Philadelphia’s WUSL-Power 99 FM. It turns out he is a Black man who once hypocritically blasted Jennifer Lopez for uttering the N word. This on-air incident, which took place on December 15, 2004, would have passed into oblivion were it not for an alert internet browser to have chanced upon a sound clip on Philadelphia’s Power 99 website. Besides the Philadelphia Inquirer no major media outlets have picked up the story. Sympathizing with an American job stealer won’t make for a popular read, it seems.

In many cultures and not the least in India, human beings, particularly women can be very sensitive and prone to take insults personally. Did the call center employee, Tina, fear for her life? Probably so. Even to this day she might not know her nightmare was caused by some cruel American DJ’s attempt to jack up his ratings. I hope Tina’s countrymen will be able to tell one sick American anomaly apart from the multitudes who have poured out their hearts and wallets to the millions stricken by the recent Tsunami. The radio show guy didn’t just give hell to a poor woman from another country. He slurred the entire Indian-American community that proudly calls America home.

In keeping with the spirit of the upcoming Martin Luther King Day, African-American leaders should be the first to publicly condemn this reprehensible act of ethnic hatred. The radio station’s owners should discipline Troy Torain or fire him altogether. And finally with his now infamous radio program set to broadcast in New York City from Power 105.1 starting January 17, can I expect any prospective listeners to vote with their feet – and their ears as well?

Tak

Serial killer John Wayne Gacy worked for the Democratic Party.

Mr. Torain, 42, said that he was no shock jock. “There is a philosophy behind what I do,” he said. “I have an ideology.” He called his philosophy “objective hate,” but refused to expound. “Visit http://www.rebirthofreason.com,” he said. “When you start scrolling through those posts, then you’ll understand my philosophy.” In one of several messages posted on the Web site, Mr. Torain, who has described himself as a die-hard fan of the author Ayn Rand, wrote, “Soon, I will indeed explain how the cheap emotion of hate, a common subliminal thread in all men including myself, can only be fully understood by way of Objectivism.”

I guess the DA does agree with me. Oh well!