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When a Band Name Is Also Considered a Slur
By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 15, 2007
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 15, 2007
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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Last right, NYU's Asian Heritage Club protested the selection of a Valentine's Day concert band whose name is The Ching Chong Song. NYU junior and AHC member Frederick Wong told the Washington Square News that 20 students had gathered for the protest because "The name, Ching Chong Song, did not really relate to any of the lyrics in their songs. So we thought it was completely unnecessary to have a racist name."
The band apologized to the student group and said they would be called "Church of Lurch." While Ching Chong Song/Church of Lurch band members said they didn't know it was a racist slur, the band had caused a controversy when they were scheduled to play Bryn Mawr last year. Bryn Mawr students protested and their appearance was canceled. Band member Julia LaMendola wrote this letter to the Bryn Mawr's college paper:
If we allow the things that we question to fuel anger, guilt, jealousy, hate, or revenge, then we are dismissing layers of truth. Growing up a child of a gay parent in a tiny town, a poor second-generation Italian girl, I also have experience with the nuances of language. And give me a break you stupid twats.
Let’s not use misunderstanding as armor against the complicated nature of life. Don’t polarize shit when there are so many shades of sexuality and ethnicity to appreciate. I am mad that I was asked to back out, just another way the small-scale mirrors the large-scale of “shut-your-mouth-you’re-scaring-me” tactics are infiltrating our f’d up sweet spunky youth. By the way, “ching chang chong” is what people in Germany call the game rock paper scissors, and stupid petty retards is what I’m calling you.
Bi-College News (the paper for Bryn Mawr and Haverford) managing editor Andrea Milne wrote an opinion piece titled "Ching Chong, this Witch is Dead; Or, Why the Bi-Co Had to Publish an Offensive Letter to the Editor," that explained,"I didn’t publish the letter because I agree with Ching Chong Song; I published it because I want that letter it to become the biggest public relations nightmare this band will ever see." Well, even though NYU Program Board chair David Kinniburgh knew of the cancellation, he still booked the band because its music is "full of love." Kinniburgh did meet with the AHC to listen to their complaints.
Apparently the band is only changing its name now because of the complaints - we guess they don't watch the View! And a tangential blast from the past: City employee David Langlieb was skewered when he wrote a "satire" about Greenpoint for the Haverford Alumni magazine.
Photograph from the Washington Square News
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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