The Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) is coming to Washington, D.C. Wednesday to hold its 2014 national convention. Founded in 1981, the nonprofit claims 1,600 members nationwide, rising to national prominence after issuing an “advisory” on “danger zones” to journalists covering Asian-American NBA star Jeremy Lin. (RELATED: Asian American Group Wants No ‘Fortune Cookie,’ ‘Grasshopper’ Jokes In Jeremy Lin Coverage)
But the Taiwanese-, Korean-, Indian-, Laotian- and Mongolian-Americans traveling to the nation’s capital for an allegedly inclusive Asian-American get-together might be surprised to learn that rather than holding their conference on neutral soil, this year’s organizers chose Chinatown — and did all they could to hide it.
Organizers went to great lengths to avoid mentioning the D.C. neighborhood, referring to the location as “downtown” and “minutes away from… Capitol Hill, The White House, National Mall monuments…” (BEDFORD: Save The Rain Forest, My Ass)
At one point, the organizers even claim their conference is “Located in the Penn Quarter district” — a code name concocted by real estate agents. Only at the tail end of their “minutes-away-from” sentence, do they drop the A-bomb: “…and Chinatown.”
The Real Estate Industrial Complex may have been crafty with their naming, but a quick glance at a map of “Penn Quarter” reveals that Chinatown nearly has the conference surrounded:
Trap or not, a number of AAJA Convention attendees have RSVP’d on their website, logging personal facts and details of their schedule while in-country. Even “Eric,” who is a little suspect.
AAJA attendees didn’t return requests for comment The Daily Caller never made.
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