Who is Pender Guy?
The question “what is the meaning of Pender Guy?” will be asked time and time again… by many people.
Yes, Pender Guy is the name of our radio program but that name extends beyond the mere association of “Guy” with the Chinese word for street. It extends beyond its connection with Pender Street, the pulse of Vancouver’s Chinatown.
Pender Guy is your home, your parents, your Chinese friends and your total environment. Pender Guy is your identity and your conscience. It is the part inside you struggling so hard, the voice inside you crying otu so loud reminding you of your Chineseness. Indeed, Pender Guy is you and our responsibility to our past. It is also the stigma; the burden of subtle racism and discrimination in an unequal society. It is the sweat and blood of the countless numbers of Chinese who bore the brunt of the ignorance and outright hatred directed at them, not too long ago. Therefore, Pender Guy is the yoke that we Chinese-Canadians bear to assume a healthier alternative to assimilation.
You see, Pender Guy is not simply a radio program, Pender Guy is you!!!
—Pender Guy, 1976
Index Cards of Radio Skits
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