Responding to the recent furor over a racist column titled “Why I Hate Blacks” which appeared in the February 23 edition of the San Francisco publication AsianWeek, the multicultural advertising industry trade group – The Asian American Advertising Federation (3AF) – announced that it strongly, and unequivocally condemns the opinions of the column. Noting that AsianWeek has publicly apologized for the column and severed ties with the column’s author, the 3AF urges AsianWeek to take extraordinary steps to rebuild the severe damage which the column has caused in the relationship between the Asian American and African American communities. Said Julia Huang, President of the 3AF, “While AsianWeek has a long history of service to the Asian American community in the San Francisco area, this column is an obvious blight on the publication. There is no acceptable place in Asian culture for discrimination against African Americans or any other segment of the population, and AsianWeek’s profound lapse in judgment must be condemned both within and outside the Asian American community.”