May 19th, 1994 is probably just another ordinary day to other
people in the world.  But to many of you life would never be the
same again.  On that day CBS Evening News in its special report
"Eye on America" asked our fellow Americans to keep an eye on us
because, as CBS alleged, we would "steal American's military and
technological secrets," whether we want to or not.

The whole Chinese community was shocked.  Rarely did we see such
a blatant attack on an ethnic group by a national media network.
Tens of thousands concerned voices poured in because we knew if
the innuendo on the part of CBS gets its way, our opportunities
for employment, immigration, association and, indeed our normal
life in this and other countries would be greatly jeopardized.
In order to address these grave concerns, CBS Incident Committee
was formed under the auspices of IFCSS (Independent Federation Of
Chinese Students and Scholars).  The committee consists of about
60 volunteers, which over the past two months has coordinated a
nation wide protest movement by sending over one thousand protest
letters to CBS, making protest phone calls, notifying government
and other media groups of the incident, exploring the legal recourse
and conducting serious background research on the CBS report.

Obviously, those efforts are far from enough.  In his reply to
IFCSS's protest letter, Vice president of CBS Hard News made
fresh attacks against us and in no way indicated any slightest
sense of regret for the wounds CBS report has inflicted on us.
To rebuff his fallacies, a new letter has been written based on
our research findings and expert advice and will be disseminated
to all the related groups, agencies and individuals.  We cannot
let CBS get away with it!

Traditionally Chinese population in the US is a more or less silent
minority.  We Chinese have long been the best target of injustice,
wrongfully stereotype and racial discrimination. Last year, when Golden
Venture went aground, the exposure was pushed to its maximum. No one
asked how many Chinese actually had illegally entered U.S.A. compared to
the other nationalities. The fact is, although New York City has the
highest concentration of illegal Chinese population in the country,
however, its illegal Chinese population ranks barely tenth in the City.
The leading illegal immigrant group, however, is from a European
country, and no body wants to mention it at all. Further more, the
media, intended or not, has portrayed Chinese communities as filled with
gangs, kidnapping, people smuggling and slave labors. While we admit
there are crimes in our community just as in any other communities,
however, most Chinese are law abiding people and more often than not are
victims of various criminal groups.

Now came the CBS report. While the previous hot topic was focused on
illegal Chinese, it seemed that the legal Chinese were exempted from the
racist attack. No way! Legally entered? You are potential spies for the
Chinese government!

The responsibility of fighting stereotype, bias and injustice rests
on ourselves.  Please do not vent our anger by blaming others who might`
or have indeed chosen to "delink" themselves from the "Chinese identity`
genetic or cultural.  Our Chinese pride must be seen in our collective `
and vision.  When we stand up together for our community interest and i`
we will win respect and association not only from our fellow Chinese, b`
from Americans and others alike.