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An open letter to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg

Dear Mayor Bloomberg,

I recently read an article from Reuters that the New York-based Take Two Interactive Software Inc. has agreed to edit the Haitian remarks: "kill the Haitians" from the video game "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City" after you threatened to launch an investigation by the city's human rights commission because of the offensive remark.

As a member of the Vietnamese-American community, I applaud the action you had taken to force Take Two into editing a video game with hateful and racist comments. The "kill the Haitians" is clearly both a racist comment and a threat. Therefore it is an illegal speech and not protected under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

I would also like to bring your attention to another video game "Vietcong" by the same company, Take Two Interactive Software. This is another video game with racist and offensive remark. This video game repeatedly refers to Vietnamese as "Gooks." The word Gooks is derogatory and racist which is meant to dehumanize the Vietnamese people during the Vietnam War, in order to massacre the innocent Vietnamese civilians.

I understand the word "Gooks" was used during the Vietnam War. Unfortunately, it is still being used today to refer to Vietnamese people, thus Vietnamese-Americans as well. I hope you will direct the city's human rights commission to investigate Take Two Interactive Software for offensive and racist remarks in their video game "Vietcong."

Sincerely,

Tuan Tran