Three stereotypes walk into a diner…

Are walking ethnic clichés better than no clichés in sitcoms?

by Jaime Weinman

The multiethnic cast of CBS's 2 Broke Girls: Asian, Eastern European, Jewish, Black and WASP

Michael Patrick King, the creator of 2 Broke Girls, thinks he’s helped the cause of diversity by creating an Asian-American character who says things like, “You can’t tell an Asian he made a mistake, he’ll go out back and throw himself on a sword.” The comedy, the biggest new hit of the TV season, has been pilloried for stereotypical, under-written minor characters. Most pilloried of all, beating out the lecherous Ukrainian cook and the elderly, jazz-loving black cashier, is Han (Matthew Moy), a Korean with an exaggerated accent. The Hollywood Reporter called it a “sorry minstrel show,” and Marissa Lee, who writes for the site Racebending, calls Han “an unimaginative, lazy and flat stereotype.” King responded to hostile critics by pointing out that “the big story about race on our show is that so many are represented.” But Lee says people who wanted to see more minorities on TV are being “asked to pick between two disappointing options: ‘Would you rather be depicted poorly, or not depicted at all?’ ”

Several recent comedies have brought ethnic stereotyping back to TV to an extent not seen since the ’80s. Journalist Amanda Dobbins wrote an article comparing Modern Family’s Sofia Vergara to Charo, the ’70s actress known only for “sexy outfits and Spanish-tinged catchphrases,” and Vergara herself told journalist Maria Elena Fernandez, “We are yellers, we’re pretty, we’re sexy, and we’re scandalous. I am not scared of the stereotypes.” Rob Schneider’s new sitcom Rob, where he marries into a Mexican family, consists of broad jokes about Mexican culture. Even in political commercials, any stereotype goes in the name of comedy. An ad for Senate candidate Peter Hoekstra featured an Asian woman speaking broken English and boasting that her country is taking American jobs; the campaign defended it by claiming it was supposed to be “satirical.”

Police to investigate vandalism incident involving antisemitic, racial slurs

Written by Joanne Hill 

TORONTO – Police are investigating after several vehicles and houses in Dundas, ON, were marred by a variety of hateful messages, including, ‘Kill the Jews,’ ‘Hitler,’ and at least six swastikas.

Vandals wielding spray paint and markers struck at 12 homes on four different streets early on the morning of Feb. 2, Hamilton Police Service Detective Sergeant Tom Andrew said.

The worst messages were antisemitic and racist: a swastika and ‘Hitler’ on a rear deck, two swastikas and ‘I hate niggers’ on the doors of a double garage, and a swastika and ‘Kill the Jews’ on a different garage door. Swastikas were also painted on two vehicles. Other messages did not have racial or genocidal overtones; many made liberal use of profanity.

Abbotsford man attacked while walking to friend’s house

Victim needed 33 stitches after being beaten by two men

Liz Craig/Karen Surman

ABBOTSFORD (NEWS1130) – A walk to a friend’s home took a turn for the worst for an Abbotsford man.

At 6:45 p.m. on Saturday, a 33-year-old man was walking on Maclure Road near Clearbrook Road.  Police confirm two men attacked him from behind.  The victim was hit by one of the men and then slashed by an object. It took 33 staples to close cuts to his arm, chest and thigh.

A passing driver began honking their horn which caused the attackers to run away.

The suspects are described as South Asian men, in their early 20s. They are around 5’10″, 180 lbs. They are clean-shaven with one of the men wearing a white baseball cap.

By James Turner ,Winnipeg Sun

A Winnipeg man has been formally charged with the suspected shakedown of two British women by allegedly threatening to send sex tapes of them to their friends and families unless they sent him cash.

A defence lawyer appeared on Robert Li’s behalf Tuesday. He faces two charges of extortion by defamatory libel and a possible five-year maximum prison term if convicted.

Li, 33, was arrested in December following an international police investigation that was forwarded to Winnipeg police. He has no prior criminal record and is presumed innocent.

Last fall, two separate women from different small communities in England contacted their local police agencies to complain a man they met online had threatened to forward sexually-explicit videos of them unless they coughed up cash, cops previously said.

Cleared of genocide, Rwandan priest deported from Canada for drunk driving

Adrian Humphreys

One can hope Juvénal Nsengiyumva's deportation order will set a precedent for other immigrants who disregards Canadian law

Having failed to have a Rwandan Catholic priest thrown out of Canada for complicity in the 1994 genocide — after he signed a letter to the Pope denying the massacre and gave sermons denouncing the post-genocide government — the Canadian government has ordered him deported for a different transgression: drinking and driving.

Juvénal Nsengiyumva of Montreal has been fighting to remain in Canada in a legal battle that has been compared to that of Holocaust denier and Nazi apologist Ernst Zundel.

Mr. Nsengiyumva previously cleared himself in Canadian courts of complicity or incitement in the genocide in the central African country of Rwanda, when extremists from the Hutu majority killed more than 800,000 minority Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus.

But his controversial stance remains. It is sometimes revealed in his recent sermons to the Rwandan community in Montreal and at meetings with fellow expatriates, the Federal Court of Canada heard.

HIV-positive Toronto man jailed for having unprotected sex

By Sam Pazzano ,Toronto Sun

TORONTO - An HIV-positive Toronto man who endangered his mistress’ life through unprotected sex was sentenced to two years less a day in prison.

“Gregory Thomas repeatedly engaged in unprotected intercourse with the victim after he learned that he was infected … and he failed to do so notwithstanding that he was himself undergoing treatment for the infection,” Justice Ian MacDonnell said Tuesday.

Thomas started a five-year relationship in 2002 with the victim, who developed full-blown AIDS, and they had a daughter — now 8 — together.

The 51-year-old bicycle mechanic was convicted of attempted aggravated sexual assault between March 7, 2006 and June 9, 2007.

In March 2006, Thomas tested positive for HIV as part of his physical examination for immigration.

OFFICE POLITICS 101: Can I be more sensitive to multicultural co-workers?

By Simon Gibson – New Westminster News Leader

Q: We have employees from a wide variety of different cultures in our office and I am required to work with most of them. Everyone is friendly but I sometimes wonder if I could be more sensitive or communicative. Do you have any suggestions?

There’s no doubt that today’s workplace is inhabited by many employees representing myriad backgrounds. And, given the rate of international immigration, this trend will almost certainly continue.

New immigrants bring significant skills to our country, and without their contributions – given our relatively low birthrate – our economy would likely suffer.

People from other cultures arrive here often with limited English language skills and an imperfect knowledge of Canadian social customs.

Although they are anxious to be accepted and be actively involved at work, it can be a challenge to fully integrate.

You and I, no doubt, would face similar challenges if we were to suddenly accept employment in another country with a significantly different culture and history.

It is encouraging that you would like to be more sensitive and communicative; although it is a complex matter, there are a few guidelines you might wish to consider:

Accept people as individuals first, and members of an ethnic group second; we all want to be valued but not simply because we are representative of a particular culture.

Second, don’t be in a hurry to engage people in deep conversation.

Fed race-based hiring rolling on

By BRIAN LILLEY, PARLIAMENTARY BUREAU

OTTAWA — The federal government is continuing to set aside jobs for specific groups based on race, gender and ability, more than a year after it pledged to end such practices.

In November 2010, Stockwell Day, the treasury board president at the time, told the House of Commons that he was instructing departments to end the practice of setting aside jobs for specific groups, such as women, aboriginals, visible minorities and the disabled.

“We have also communicated that all department postings must not shut out any specific groups and must be open to all qualified candidates.

“Final decisions must be based on merit and on qualifications,” Day said at the time.

The move was in response to a QMI Agency story about an Ottawa-area woman denied a job because she was white. Whi le applying onl ine for a position with Citizenship and Immigration Canada the woman was asked to reveal her race.

Once she selected Caucasian the application process was shut down and she was unable to proceed with the application.

By Mark Dunn, Senior National Reporter

OTTAWA - The government plans to crack down on a scam in which pregnant Chinese women are coming to Canada for the sole purpose of giving birth so the child becomes a citizen, QMI Agency has learned.

The fraud is mostly based in Hong Kong where unscrupulous consultants are coaching wealthy Chinese mainlanders how to keep their pregnancies hidden entering Canada on student or visitor visas.

Avoid any baby or maternity items in luggage, wear dark clothing going through customs to look slimmer, and arrive in Canada no later than in the seventh month of pregnancy are among the tips given.

Once here, the women go into hiding until they are due to give birth and then go to a hospital to deliver the baby. No one knows the extent of the abuse.

All babies born in Canada are considered citizens – meaning they could return later in life as a student, for example, and sponsor their parents under family reunification.

Toronto drug squad police robbed, hit, fondled me, ex-stripper testifies

A former stripper says laughing, aggressive Toronto drug squad officers robbed, beat and fondled her when she was arrested for trafficking cocaine.

Aida Fagundo, 48, testified via video hookup from Spain, where she now lives, that “very aggressive” plainclothes officers arrested her and two associates in Scarborough 14 years ago.

“They took me to the police station and they started to hit me,” the mother of two told a police corruption trial Monday.

“They wouldn’t let me speak. They told me I was an immigrant without papers,” she said through a Spanish interpreter.

The officers made her remove her $20,000 diamond stud earrings, which they seized, along with $10,000 in cash from her purse, while shouting, “Bingo, bingo,” she said.

They destroyed her citizenship card, she added.

Canadian doctors issue policy statement on female genital cutting/mutilation

Anne-Marie Tobin