KDWB's apology for Hmong parody not enough

Commentary

It is with a heavy heart I write.

When I hear about poverty and people living in horrid conditions; or words against women, with assessments of their worth dwindled down to babies and age; or when I hear laughter in the background because one person's suffering is funny to another, I am disheartened and I am appalled.

I am a young writer who grew up on the east side of St. Paul. I am a fan of popular music, and I understood KDWB Radio (101.3 FM) to be for the audience of which I stubbornly insist I am a part.

It saddens me to know the lack of regard the "Dave Ryan in the Morning Show" has for those who are poor, for those who are women, for those who are Hmong.

I am writing because I believe there are measures the station can take to be better educated about the many groups that live in the Twin Cities and listen to the station.

On March 22, the show's hosts sang a song about Hmong people.

But it also shows a total disregard for the spirit and idealism that has brought forth the America we belong to.

No human being should be in a position to laugh at the hardships of another. No human being should be paid to make fun of those who are struggling to get by. No human being should be held unaccountable for the hurt he or she has caused a community.

I am writing to request that KDWB initiate a program for cultural and diversity training for its staff immediately so that there will be a better understanding of the many different groups that live and work in the Twin Cities.

I am writing to ask that KDWB bring onto its staff more people of color, so that the organization can be more representative of the people listening. These measures will put us all in a better place to heal what has been broken.

As a Hmong woman, I am deeply offended by the portrayal of my community's efforts to remain whole in a world where we have been, and remain, a minority.

I am writing because I refuse to be overtaken by sadness and despair, because as much and as keenly as I feel the wrong, I feel responsibility, as a KDWB listener, as a Hmong person living in the Twin Cities, and as an American to speak: Our standards for each other have gone up.

It is time to call on a greater compassion, a more authentic experience of one another. Now is the time to facilitate better, more equitable relationships across differences.

I am asking KDWB to respond. A half-apology on Facebook is not enough.

Will KDWB do the cultural and diversity training to teach its staff about the people who live and work and die in the Twin Cities -- people who may not look, talk or live like them?

Will KDWB bring people of color onto its staff to say that the organization recognizes that this matters to the wholeness of who we are?