You know, I had another Barbara Coe post lined up so we could all laugh and cringe at the depravity of the modern-day Know Nothing's intellectual godmother, but the remembrances of a deceased reporter got in the way.
Longtime Los Angeles Times reporter/editor Eric Malnic passed away recently, leading to a nice write-up by his former colleague, Peter Hong, that LA Observed linked to. Hong was a great Times reporter with style, an investigative nose, and the journalist who introduced the Sriracha Hot Sauce story to America–but I didn't know Coe once called him a chink!
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Actually, I did. For years, I heard rumors that Coe once wrote a letter (back in the days when people actually hand-wrote or typed out Letters to the Editor or to individual reporters) to an Asian reporter that called him a chink–but I had no clue she'd be so downright racist. Okay–I lie on the latter part, but…well, let's go to the tape!
Per Hong, in his remembrance of Malnic:
Eric was not bitter, though. Once, a notorious anti-immigrant
activist sent me a letter (in the days before e-mail was ubiquitous)
that concluded with the line, “Go Home, Chink.” I didn't think it was
worthwhile to write her back, but Eric, perhaps in one of those slow
periods on the night shift, responded mischievously. He sent back a
handwritten note sarcastically telling Barbara Coe her family and
friends must all be proud of her for the way she conducts herself. That
was pretty much all he wrote, but he added, “P.S. I'm Slovenian.”
FUNNY. Who says Coe ain't racist again–that is, besides lunatics and losers?
