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CBS Incident Committee's Special Report of Progress





                                  Lin Huang
                                  Dong Xiao
                                  Ray Wang
                                  Shuping Lu
                                  Yingying Li
                                  Special Delegation
                                  From CBS Incident
                                  Committee to CBS
                                  Luncheon of communication

Dear Fellow Chinese:         
                                                
On May 19th, CBS aired that notorious news segment which has met 
with the strongest protest from our and other Asian communities. 
Tens of thousands of letters, faxes and phone calls poured in to 
voice one message --we, the Chinese, in this land enjoy just as 
much as civil rights as any other ethnic groups and gone are the 
days when anyone in this country thinks this group can be bullied 
or humiliated. It was under such circumstances, CBS Incident 
Committee came into being. It consists of 80 core members and 
more than 8,000 followers. The committee over a period of five 
months has coordinated a protest movement with a international 
scope, contacted relevant government agencies, media, civil 
rights groups and conducted thorough research on the so-called 
"spy myth." There were moments of frustration and there were 
moments of doubts. But what keeps firing us up and what keeps us 
going is the sense of support we receive from you all. We know 
that you are all behind us and with perseverance we, together, 
can make a difference.
     
WE HAVE!!!    
      
On October 18th, as a special delegation, we went to the CBS 
headquarters and forcefully voiced our anger and demand. And the 
president of CBS News apologized for our hurt feelings and today 
he told us again in writing and promised on October 21st CBS 
Evening News, "a very serious effort to set the record straight." 
Even though we have yet to see what they will say in the program, 
we believe we have already scored a major victory against a media 
giant. In the tele-press-conference on October 20th, our victory 
was viewed as the unprecedented event in the history of Chinese 
in the United States for justice, and equality. We should be 
proud of our achievement! WE the Chinese people in the United 
States! 
      
We want to take the opportunity to thank everyone who has been 
actively involved in this arduous fight for justice and dignity, 
thank those who have either contributed financially or those who 
volunteered their time or work in any stage of our work. 
        
Dear fellow Chinese, even though our fight with CBS might be 
drawing to a close, we believe our fight for equality in this 
country has barely started. We hope we can keep our fighting 
spirits alive and we hope we will continue to receive your 
support. We know together we can make a difference. 

Lin Huang  
Dong Xiao  
Ray Wang  
Shuping Lu
Yinying Li and all the    
Members of CBS Incident Committee  
=================================================================
CBS
NEWS
A Division of CBS Inc.,
New York, NY 10018
(212)876-8581
Eric W. Ober
President
October 20, 1994

Dear Ms. Gong:  

This letter is being written as we are still fresh from Tuesday's 
luncheon here as CBS, I am speaking for all the people from CBS 
News who attended the gathering when I say that we were impressed 
by the depth of the genuine feelings expressed by all of you.

We also now appreciate how it is possible to misconstrue or 
misinterpret the report on efforts by the Chinese government to 
insinuate spies into the United States. We appreciated how 
members of the Chinese community felt they were unfairly singled 
out.

We are fully aware that the vast majority of Chinese, Chinese 
Americans, and other Asian Americans are exactly what they seem 
to be: legitimate, law-abiding students, visitors, immigrants and 
citizens, both long and short-term. If our story did not convey 
that awareness, we fully apologize.

After a series of discussions with the people at CBS News who 
were involved in the broadcast and its preparation, we have 
decided on a course of action.

On this Friday's edition of The CBS Evening News, we will make a 
very serious effort to set the record straight. I hope you will 
be watching and will alert other members of the group that 
attended today's luncheon and the larger constituency they 
represent.

I believe the dialogue we established will go a long way to re-
establishing the historically strong relationship between the 
Chinese and Chinese American communities and CBS News. It is a 
relationship of which we are quite proud in the decades of 
service we believe we have performed informing America about 
developments in this country and all over the world.

Sincerely,
Eric Ober

Ms. Ginny Gong
National President
Organization of Chinese Americans, Inc.
1001 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Suite 707
Washington, D.C. 20036



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