Back on February 28th, I wrote a blog entry on a columnist for Asian Week and his article entitled "Why I Hate Blacks". At that time, I also inserted my name in an online petition to get this guy fired (no, I'm not saying his name again). I rarely sign petitions, but this one just seem to call me.

Well, he's been fired, and the editor who approved the column was demoted. Now, you would think that might be the end of it all, but it's not. First, this writer went on Fox News and gave one of the strangest interviews I've ever heard. Second, some people seem to think that even this isn't enough, that the editor should have been fired outright, and that the online periodical needs to do more.

I know this is the age of full accountability, but I also think that many of the people who say these things are being disingenuous. Whereas I do believe there are times when people just need to be fired, I also believe that every single indiscretion isn't an offense worthy of someone being fired. In this case, I believe there were more people who were accountable for the writer being allowed to even be at the company, as he admitted he was an avowed Asian racist (I hadn't even known there was such a thing, officially) than putting all the blame on the editor. The editor's being moved into a different position tells me that he didn't have all the power and influence that some others might have thought he had, and if that's the case, then he didn't warrant being fired outright.

Finally, just what more should people reasonably expect from this organization at this juncture? We can't even get South Carolina to stop flying the confederate flag, or southern states to apologize for slavery (not saying they should or shouldn't, just making a correlation), so why should anyone expect more from these people who might not have more to give?

Personally, I believe Asian Week did what it could, and is ready to move on. In a way, that terrible original article has opened a path to dialogue and communication that wasn't in that community before, and maybe something good will end up coming out of it. And, if that's the case, then it's another step forward in race relations. Nothing wrong with that.