My Dear Fellow Asian Americans,
As we gather together to celebrate our heritage in the month of May we are asking every one of you to sign the petition for Wen Ho Lee's presidential pardon. Wen Ho Lee is not just Taiwanese or Chinese; like us, he is an American, an Asian American. If injustice can be done to an Asian American without respect to due process of law, it can happen, again and again, to any one of us, or to any one of our children in the future, as long as we are Asian Americans. Therefore, we are fighting not for Wen Ho Lee alone, but for every American of Asian descent, and that is all of us. We are fighting not just against what has happened, but against what may happen in the future.
We need to fight every kind of unfairness and injustice that is done to any one of us anywhere, any time, in any form. We may not win every battle we fight. But we will surely lose every battle if we do not fight at all. Only by fighting for our due rights, can we win respect, exercise political influence, and deter future acts of discrimination. We live in a society where political power counts, not goodwill, nor virtue.
By responding to any discrimination with determination as a united group, we will win. Silence, longsuffering, ignorance, fear and anger will not save us. America is a country of law. As a group and as individuals, as long as we fight within the limit of law, we do not need to fear being persecuted. The best and the only way for us to win respect and our rights in this society is to fight for every fellow Asian American's rights, or for that matter, every American's rights, when violated.
We need to shed the stigma that Asians are passive and can be walked on all over. To do so, none of us can afford to sit still and be a bystander. We are part of the battle whether we like it or not. We either fight and win, or we sit and lose.
We demand Wen Ho Lee's pardon, not because he is an Asian American, but because he is an American. We are defending the integrity of our Constitution and the decency of a civilized society.
I hope that Wen Ho Lee's case awakens us to the realization that (1)
Wen Ho Lee has been a victim of unfairness and injustice; (2) we ourselves
may suffer likewise in the future; (3) we have the power to protect ourselves
if we choose to act together as a group; (4) the action we must take now
is to send to President Bush the petition for Wen Ho Lee's pardon and ask
all of our friends to do the same.
In Solidarity,
Cecilia Chang
Executive Director