A paper’s publication of a poster meant to back the local high school basketball team is instead drawing fire for mocking Asian Americans.
The St. Johnsbury Academy Hilltoppers took on Rice for a division title tonight. The Caledonian Record thought it was having a little fun when it used the chop suey font for the headline “Fry Rice.”
The Green Mountain Daily asked “this, in the Caledonian-Record today, is maybe not cool?”
Romenesko in his blog on the news media published several comments from Facebook about the poster.
“And everyone in the chain of production was OK with this?”
“WTF were they thinking”
The Asian American Journalists Association also issued a statement.
In an open letter to the Caledonian-Record’s publisher, AAJA wrote:
“A Wall Street Journal columnist summed up how seemingly inconsequential things like fonts perpetuate stereotypes. The column (found at http://on.wsj.com/LCaQYn) noted the “psychological toll from regular exposure to ching-chong babble, slant-eyed caricature, cheesy font choices and face-painted minstrelsy.”
Comment from @TheEdutainer via twitter: We still have work to do