while I can understand your critique that 'internet news' must be taken with many grains of salt, i otherwise am a bit confused about your final take on this.

On the issue of no direct accusation of racial bias from the other jurors or the D.A., it would be rare indeed for people to say directly 'i think this or that person, as an individual, is a racist' unless they heard or witnessed direct statements or actions that 'confirmed' this for them. i suspect that most people would be even more reluctant to make such accusations if they knew that their 'musings' could find their way to print. so the lack of a direct accusation when questioned by a reporter does not surprise me. the insinuation or 'implication' from the lone black juror is pretty strong. it is an interesting coincidence that the convicting and acquiting jurors are so ethnically 'clustered'. in a civil trial you only need the 'preponderance of the evidence' and this would certainly support that.

are you skeptical that the 'asian jurors' would vote to acquit based on 'racial bonding' with the defendants? why? if the reverse were true and it were white jurors voting to acquit white defendants (a la Rodney King) or white jurors voting to convict a non-white defendant (a possible future in St. Paul) would you be so skeptical? isn't it reasonable to think that asians suffer unto the same biases, weaknesses and failings as other humans?

hyphen's own blog entries (not that these are equivalent to editorial philosophy) have noted the general 'negative reaction' many a hyphenator would receive if they came home with a black S.O. there must be a reason why.

could it be that the biases created by white society against blacks (to whit, being 'spooked' by the presence of a black man in palo alto - did they really write 'spooked'!!!?) have trickled down to others? i know you know the answer.

as for the press playing up the race angle; of course they will, especially when they can say (in effect) "see, it this was not done by whites, this was done by asians - ostensibly 'one of them'. so if they feel that way about 'their own' (as in not 'us') then aren't we justified in doing so too?" did anyone question the white woman who called as to what her major malfunction is that she calls the cops on a guy sleeping in his car? how was she threatend by that?

Yeah, they really wrote "spooked".

I actually didn't get as deep as you did on this one. I was only critiquing the way the article was written. If you read the article critically, you'll see that there's no evidence within the article that the race of the jurors was actually an issue. It's quite possible that the "issue" was created by an overzealous reporter. "There was not even a chance that those four would change their mind" could be said about any four jurors of any race who had hung a jury. There's no racial implication whatsoever in the statement.

Do I not believe that four Asian jurors would acquit two Asian cops on the basis of a bias? I totally believe it and I think it's interesting. Yes it all trickles down. Yes, it's all true what you wrote.

But that wasn't my point. My point was: if the reporter created this all out of spin, how would we know?

True observation - reporters can create, emphasize or de-emphasize aspects of any story based on their questions, what is edited and who they interview.

I think this particular story was also covered in the Mercury in San Jose.

Your best defense is either to stick with a 'paper' that you can get a bead on in terms of its slant and factor that in or (if you've got the time) read multiple sources and track the consistancies through the whole mess.

European/American Issues Forum
CW Kuhn, Secretary--Frank P. Williams, Treasurer--
Louis Calabro, President
March 9, 2006

Heather Fong
Chief of Police
850 Bryant St. 5th Floor
San Francisco, 94103

Subject: Request to Investigate Chinatown Homeless Beating as Racially
Motivate Hate Crime. ( Occurred March 6, 2006)

Dear Chief Fong:

The European/American Issues Forum, a moderate and thoughtful Bay Area civil rights organization respectfully requests that the recent beating of a homeless white man by young Asian men in Chinatown be investigated to determine if it was a racially motivated hate crime. The victim was white.

We are shocked to read your Public Affairs Office Press Release that does not mention that the victim is a white man**. If the homeless man were Asian and the perpetrators white, then the newspapers, television stations, the police department and the SF Human Rights Commission might sound an alarm calling for a racially motivated hate crime prosecution. We have no objection to that response. However, we rightfully expect the same kind of a response when a white homeless man is beaten by Asian youth.

We hope the investigating officers would pursue a line of questioning that could reveal racial motives. Only the San Francisco Examiner, Bonnie Eslinger, reported the race of victim and perpetrators. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Louis Calabro, President

** http://www.sfgov.org/site/police_index.asp?id=37948

cc: FBI Office, San Francisco
Office of the President

PMB253 1212H El Camino Real, San Bruno, Ca. 94066
(670) 312-8284 eaifpres@aol.com

actually the fact that they didn't mention the victim as a white man is an indication of the extent to which 'white' is perceived as the norm - hence no need to mention it. If it isn't mentioned, then the subject MUST be white - white is the default norm. We only identify the 'abnormal'.

Is there a divide between Asians and whites in the Bay Area?

it depends on where you are and what you call a divide. anyone want to tackle this one?

I was just curious, because of the Louis Calabro comment. Thats way I asked if theres some type of divide. I can see him writing this about blacks, but not Asians

i think the reason he writes his letter on an asian-white perspective is because the victim was white and the perpetrators were asian. there would be no reason to address or dredge up issues in white/black relationships in this matter. they are irrelvant.