Trump Administration should immediately stop racism, oppression of the press

By Peter Jaegeul Song
Staff reporter at Asia N and officer at AJA

SEOUL: Since the death of a black U.S. citizen by police assault on May 25, mass protests and the Trump administration’s coercive suppression have continued day after day.

This series of events has caused deep unrest not only in the United States but also in sound citizens who have pursued two values of freedom of speech and human equality.

The Trump Administration is particularly violent and inflammatory, rather than rational, reasonable and keen on common-sense solutions to the situation.

In particular, the detention of a black CNN reporter who was covering the scene was clearly a media oppression, even if he was released soon afterwards. The white reporter at the scene was not restricted from any coverage.

This shows that racist behavior is still being repeated since the outbreak of the incident. Furthermore, strong measures against journalists are very worrisome.

For the past 250 years, the United States has been the object of the respect and envy of humankind for its pursuit of universal values, including freedom, human rights and democracy.

But a series of anti-humanitarian measures that have taken place under the Trump Administration are unfortunately causing serious divisions within the United States.

In response, Asia Journalist Association (AJA) declares the following stance on President Trump and the U.S. government:

1. The U.S. government should immediately stops racist acts.
2. The U.S. government should seek a solution through dialogue instead of hostile and violent ways against protests.
3. President Trump should immediately stop using his stigmatizing behavior of the opposition to rally his supporters for the November presidential election.

If the demands are not met, Asia Journalist Association will continue to make arguments based on the freedom of journalists and democratic human rights in Asian countries.