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Who’s the dosa man? Behind the scenes of the first vegan dosa cart
‘Minari’ and the roots of the Asian-American experience 9 OPINION
Protect New York’s street vendors
VOLUME LVI | ISSUE 7
MONDAY, APRIL 26, 2021
NYU politics professor denies anti-Asian sentiment then asks for retraction
SIRUI WU
AAPI members are protesting in New York City in response to an increase in acts of hate against Asian Americans. Recent comments by a professor at the NYU Wilf Family Department of Politics have been characterized as misleading and as seemingly in conflict with the administration’s stance on anti-Asian hate.
For the second time in a year, a professor at NYU’s Politics Department expressed unsubstantiated beliefs about race in America. Now he’s requesting a retraction. By SUHAIL GHARAIBEH Staff Writer NYU politics and economics professor David Denoon was quoted in the weekly business publication Nikkei Asia earlier this month. After saying that he does not believe “widespread anti-Asian sentiment” exists in the United States, he has since claimed he was misquoted and misrepresented. “I do not believe there is widespread anti-Asian
sentiment in the U.S.,” Denoon is quoted as saying. “The competence and industriousness of many ethnic Asians is frequently admired.” “Claims of widespread anti-[Asian] sentiment in the U.S. are either misinformed or attempts to create ethnic friction,” he continued. “Just because a small minority of Americans make claims about anti-Asian sentiment, and these are repeated by senior Chinese government leaders, does not make these claims balanced or accurate statements.” In his written statement sent to WSN, Denoon confirmed he told Nikkei Asia staff writer Marrian Zhou on March 29 he did not believe in the existence of widespread anti-Asian sentiment in the U.S. He claimed that Asian Americans and Asian immigrants earn more money and score higher on standardized tests than average Americans as evidence for his belief. This is important, Denoon continued, because it means that Asians in the
United States have access to high status education and high-paying jobs. Yet, Denoon has since accused Zhou, who co-wrote the article, of misquoting and misrepresenting him. “Ms. Zhou of Nikkei Asia did more than misquote me; she completely fabricated a sentence which made me appear to be inattentive to the issues you raise,” Denoon wrote to WSN in an email. Christopher Grimes, the executive editor of Nikkei Asia, claimed the quotes are entirely accurate. “The quotes are verbatim,” Grimes told WSN. “We stand by these quotes, and feel strongly that we’ve accurately reflected the professor’s sentiment here.” Denoon did not point out any specific quotes as incorrectly printed, instead focusing on paraphrasing by the reporters amid extensive quotes. In a written statement sent to WSN, Denoon said
he had asked for a retraction, but Zhou refused. “Journalists have no right to substitute their own wording and leave readers with the impression they are providing direct quotes,” Denoon wrote in a second email to WSN. Nikkei Asia has not released a copy of the interview with Denoon, and would not share a copy with WSN citing source confidentiality, but said the quotes were sent by Denoon via email on March 29 — approximately two weeks after the Atlanta shooting that killed eight people, six of them Asian women. Denoon has also not released a copy of the email and would not share a copy with WSN either. The shooting rampage by a young white man in Atlanta last month targeted women from working-class Asian immigrant backgrounds who worked in the stigmatized Asian American massage industry. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2