04.15.08

Happy Birthday Fallout Central!

Posted in Blog at 1:40 pm by william_lee

Happy Birthday Fallout Central!

Fallout Central has just completed it’s first year of operation, and I’m proud and also surprised that we’ve made it this far. Activism (and going beyond the basic task of “raising an awareness”) is a ridiculously draining, stressful, and energy-consuming process. First and foremost, I’d like to thank all of our faithful listeners who have supported us through thick and thin. We would not be here without your kind words of encouragement and support. Thank you all.

You’ve probably seen our elaborate mission statement on why Fallout Central exists in general, but now, one year after we created Fallout Central, I want to share with you why I, William Lee, am here doing this.

I used to hit up the Green Tea Cafe (on 40 Mott St. in Chinatown NYC) every Friday night with my buddies after running the variety shows at THE FIVE POINTS, and we’d constantly revisit the same topics:

• Really horrible media portrayals of Asian Americans
• The lack of leadership in our community (i.e., when someone says “chink” on national television, the celebrities who are in a position to speak out on our behalf end up doing nothing and, in some cases, make some kind of televised statement like, “It’s ok. I make fun of myself too.”)
• Well known and visible Asian American celebrities making up comedy routines that ridicule our community, followed by those same celebrities coming back to our community to get an award for it.
• Hate crimes that are completely ignored by the police
• etc.

Need I go on?

We have always known that there were activist people around the country who wanted to go head to head with the perpetrators of these offenses, and we wanted to figure out a way to connect all of them into a giant critical mass that can actually influence change. I can recall one of my friends indicating that he wanted to participate in previous protests, but didn’t feel comfortable because he didn’t have an “in” with the protestors. That just made me feel totally heart-broken. Why should there be any single smidgen of discomfort in something so noble as participating in a rally to fight for what you believe in?

Now, don’t get me wrong here. I never went into this expecting everyone to all of a sudden want to participate in protests every time someone says “chink.” Activism incorporates a full spectrum of activities, some of which are very passive (blogging), and some of which are very confrontational (calling up CBS Radio and holding them accountable for their own “diversity statement”. In the end, we need people of all degrees of either passivity or confrontational-ness to be on board and equipped with the same information. Everyone needs to be on the same page. Everyone needs some kind of context from which to start the conversation.

Now, back to why I’m here doing this– I have been working for Fallout Central all this time because it was the only way I could satisfy my insatiable desire to address these issues in our community. I wanted to go one step above and beyond “raising an awareness” and not only take a stand for myself, but to enable others so that they too can take a stand knowing that they have the full support of Fallout Central and the Asian American community at large whenever we are faced with racism and discrimination in all of its very nuanced forms. Since I don’t have my own television network, podcasting was the logical choice. The chief benefit of the dynamic nature of talk shows is that it eliminates 99% of the bull-crap that you typically see on blog comments and message forums when people get caught up in flame-wars over a given issue. Don’t believe me? Check out the awesome 167+ comment flame-war on www.reappropriate.com on the subject of “Falling For Grace,” and then check out the debate that we hosted on Fallout Central on the same topic. After that, take a look at the comments on www.thefighting44s in the aftermath of the debate. You’ll find that understanding, learning, and growth, are the only three things that sprung up after that debate. The 167+ comment flame war fizzled out.

Also, I wanted a way to lift up our people– to find individuals who are doing great things in our community who nobody ever hears about. Transcribed interviews on a blog are one thing, but you can get so much more of a sense of what a person is like if you can actually listen to the interview right on your iPod. On top of all of that, you can call into the podcast and give your two cents anytime you want!

Over the course of a year, Fallout Central’s accomplishments have extended far beyond the initial set of objectives that I had in my mind when we first started, and I’m excited about all of the things we have in store for you in 2008.

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