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[XIAO@scri.fsu.edu: a letter from Mengchu Chen]



Date: Wed, 2 Nov 1994 13:40:11 -0500 (EST)
From: XIAO@scri.fsu.edu
To: fcbs-c@ifcss.org
Subject: a letter from Mengchu Chen

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 An Open Letter to CBS-IC.................................Mengchu Chen  
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Dear Mr. Mi Mi:

Thank you for the great work you and other members of CBS-IC have done for
the Chinese community.  This is the first time that the ordinary Chinese
people in America have fought together for their pride and have won.  I
think all the Chinese students are thankful to the effort by your committee.

Now we can afford a break to celebrate our great victory against a Western
media giant.  Many of us may not have realized that this is a victory that
we Chinese from the Mainland have united and stood together to fight for our
common interest and pride. This is such a departure from the traditional
view that we are a disintegrated bunch.

I am sure that this experience helped all of you on CBS-IC to see from
up-close about the importance of working together with other Chinese or
Asian American organizations in the U.S., as well as Chinese students and
scholars from the Mainland.  This experience undoubtedly makes all Chinese,
and perhaps all Asians, realize how strongly we feel that our identity and
pride can't be humiliated simply because we are regarded as yellow-skinned,
flat-faced people.

However, this realization of our identity does not amount much here.  As we
may recall that the CBS report against Chinese was broadcast by a Chinese
American elite.  We cannot forget the bitter feeling when we were told by
many institutions of the Chinese media in the U.S. that they believed that
particular report by CBS.  It was a shame on us all that the our embassy in
Washington D.C. did nothing for us on this matter. This is the tragedy of us
as a disintegrated society and people.  This is why we Chinese, and Asians,
are constantly assaulted.

Therefore, the ultimate way to elevate our public image here in America is
to strengthen our belief in the pride as being Chinese, as Asians.  We want
every Chinese, each yellow skinned, flat faced Asian, proud to be who we
are.  We are a people with high culture and morality!  We are an intelligent
people, diligent with proud!  we are Chinese, we are Asians! Our skin is
yellow and faces flat, but we are NOT to be humiliated for that! Because we
are now UNITED!

I must say that you people have done a great job, which can serve as a great
starting point to add pride to our identity.  However, one victory is not
enough.  We have to realize that this is a victory not only for us Chinese
students and scholars from the Mainland but also a victory for all Chinese
Americans.  Maybe not all of us have realized that but this is certainly a
victory for those from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. We have to think us
as one group, one community because we have made the mistake far too many
times to divide us into many sub-groups.  In the past we have missed MANY
opportunities to strengthen the unity in the Chinese community as well as in
the larger Asian community.

You might say this is not our fault, because some members of those other
communities do not want to identify with us.  Maybe there is some truth in
this but it can be changed, and I believe it is our responsibility to make
the change.  Why? Because we are from the Mainland or the homeland. We are
the sole, and the most important ambassadors of the Chinese culture. We have
the responsibility to make the rest of them feel proud to be a member of our
society.  It is our responsibility to bring to them our confidence, our
responsibility, and our affection. We must share our victory with them, we
must tell them that our victory is also theirs. We must fight shoulder by
shoulder with every Chinese American, with every Chinese media in this
country.  But we must let every Chinese community in the U.S. know our
intentions and our appreciation of their future cooperation.  This is the
process  to build self-confidence, integral identity, and community unity.
This way if next time anybody dares to shovel dirt to any member or any
group that share our identity, he is asking for a confrontation with a large
Chinese community or Asian community.

Here are a few of my suggestions to strengthen our ties:

1. Although the CBS case is now closed, we should not stop our propaganda
campaign.  CBS-IC should make an official statement and pass it on to major
Chinese newspapers, magazines, regardless their political (Politics is a
poison that has been severely weakening our community) preference. The
victory should be celebrated by the entire Chinese Community, not just by
those of us from the Mainland.

2. CBS-IC should officially thank other Chinese and/or Asian American
organizations involved for their kind and precious cooperation for this
matter.  So we can expect future cooperation from them.

3. The same should be sent to civil right groups which have lent their
assistance.

4. Official letters from CBS-IC should be sent to the Chinese Embassy in
Washington, D.C, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and People's Congress in
Beijing reporting the case.  The same letters should ask for future
assistance and protection from those governmental organizations if the
interest of any Chinese citizen in this nation is again threatened.  They
have the responsibility to do so.  Shame on all of us if our government does
nothing to protect us. Meanwhile, it is also our responsibility to push them
for it.

All in all, please accept my solute to all of you on CBS-IC and other
people who have fought and who are still fighting for the glory of us all.

[From: mujia@brahms.udel.edu]