On October 4, representatives of five Asian American civil rights
organizations - Organization of Chinese Americans, Japanese American Citizens League,
National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, National Federation of Filipino
American Associations and National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium - attended
a meeting with Attorney General Janet Reno regarding the government's handling
of the WHL investigation and prosecution.  Four of these five organizations
signed the September 25 letter to President Clinton, expressing a lack of
confidence in government agencies ot conduct a fair and competent investigation.

At the conclusion of this meeting with Janet Reno, Laura Hong of National
Asian Pacific American Bar Association states: "Ms. Reno made clear that she is
receptive to our inquiries and and is committed to addressing the concerns
of the community."

Daphne Kwok of OCA states: "While we will have to wait until the internal
investigative reports on the Lee case are released to find out how that case
was handled, we did question what changes may need to be made to ensure that
selective prosecution of individuals, whether Asian Pacific American or not,
is eradicated from the system."

Kristine Minami of Japanese American Citizens League states: "Ms. Reno,
since the beginning, has maintained an open door for communication with our
community.  In today's meeting, she reiterated her commitment to following
through on our concerns and again extended the invitation for feedback should
additional issues or questions arise."

Karen Narasaki of National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium adds:
"The Attorney General made it clear that she understands the gravity of the
concerns that Asian Pacific Americans have been raising about the conduct of the
investigation and the prosecution."

(Karen Narasaki was not a signator to the September 25 letter to President
Clinton.)

These post-Reno-meeting statements by these Asian American civil rights
leaders regrettably provide clear evidence that there is a total absence of civil
rights leadership in Washington, D.C. with regard to the Wen Ho Lee case and racial
profiling.  These post-Reno-meeting statements totally undermine and
contradict the calls made earlier by these civil rights groups for Clinton to appoint
an independent, bi-partisan commission.  As observed by others, these groups
have once again been suckered and allowed themselves to be exploited by the
administration, similar to the manipulation by Secretary Richardson of these
same groups, Committee of 100 and others after the firing of WHL in March
1999.

It is very reasonable that Reno would invite these five
Washington,D.C.-based Asian American civil rights groups to such a meeting.
 If we were Reno, we would have done the same thing.  Asian American civil
rights is the business of these five groups.  On the other hand, their apologist
attitude for Reno et al is inexcusable, in addition to undermining efforts to
get Clinton to appoint a bi-partisan independent commission.  By virtue of
their post-Reno-meeting comments, there is absolutely no political pressure
or incentive for Clinton to appoint such an independent commission or to
grant WHL a presidential pardon.

Does anyone honestly think that Justice and/or FBI will slit their own
throats in this re-review of the WHL case?

As we have stated previously, the only admissions that Reno et al might
possibly make will relate to the technical aspects of holding WHL in solitary
confinement.  Neither the Justice nor the FBI will ever admit to racial
profiling.  Notwithstanding Reno's comment that she would support the
appointment of an independent commission if the re-review does not yield
satisfactory answers, she will literally have no power to do so once she is
out of office in a matter of months.

Over the years, many of us have worked closely with these Washington,
D.C.-based groups on a vast array of civil rights issues and problems facing Asian
Americans.  They have experienced success on many fronts and problems.  It
is fruitless to surmise what may or may not have been the motive of these civil
rights representatives in making their post-Reno-meeting statements.  What
is clear is their total mishandling of civil rights advocacy in the WHL case.
More dangerously, similar to the misguided Asian American involvment with the
Richardson advisory committee, the Clinton administration has skillfully
manipulated these D.C. groups.

We have not come to this harsh conclusion about these Washington, D.C.-based
groups very lightly.  We have worked with them on a number of advocacy
issues. But, they are doing more harm than good in the WHL case and in pressuring
the government to confront, admit and apologize for their misdeeds in the WHL
case and how they treat Asian Americans when national security is "supposedly"
involved.
 

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Names of Asian American leaders and other key supporters  in the SF/Bay area who
endorse this public letter

Henry Der, Ling-chi Wang,  Ed Liu, Cecilia Chang, Albert Wang, Ivy Lee, Andy Chen,
Norman Hui, Barry Chang, Herbert Chiu, Chi-ming Hu, Chizen Chou, Dan Chang, Ignatius Ding,
Kent Dedrick, D.K. Lu

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Other Asian American leaders and supporters who endorse this public letter

Charles Ho,  Lafayette, CA
Richard Chao, Los Angeles, CA
Steve Wang,  Bryn Mawr, PA
David Lee,  Baldwin Park, CA
Joseph Moy, Manalapan, New Jersey
Duard Morris. Albuquerque, NM
John and Barbara Neal, El Paseo, Texas
Cheng Yue, Pasadena, CA
Bertrand B. Aubrey, New York, NY
Stephen Wang, Wayne, PA

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Organizations that endorse this public letter

Wenholee.org, Fremont, California
Organization of Chinese American - East Bay, California
Joint Chinese University Alumni Association of  Southern California