Speak Up Against Racial Profiling
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Professor Xiaoxing Xi, 2020 Andrei Sakhorov Prize recipient and physics professor of Temple University, speaks about his ordeal as a racial profiling victim. "Don’t think this can't happen to you... The right question to ask is whether the entire group of Chinese scientists should be singled out for targeting and put under the suspicion as 'non-traditional collectors' for China. That is racial profiling. That is wrong. We should all speak up against it." (28:57)
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Asian Pacific American Justice
Within two weeks after the New York Times reported the dismissal of the criminal case against Sherry Chen, an award-winning hydrologist at the National Weather Service, a press conference was held on Capitol Hill in May 2015. On the same day, Professor Xiaoxing Xi, Acting Chair of the Physics Department at the Temple University, was arrested and also accused of espionage-related charges.
During the press conference, community organizations expressed their concerns of apparent racial profiling in the Sherry Chen case. The Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) announced that 22 CAPAC members signed a letter to then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch requesting an investigation of the Sherry Chen case and a review of the policy, program and pattern or practice of using race or other civil rights classifications that target federal employees. The pattern of targeting innocent Chinese American scientists was further confirmed by the dismissal of Professor Xi’s case in September 2015. CAPAC Chair Judy Chu called for a regular medium and platform to facilitate more timely and stronger communications to understand and respond to the growing pattern and concerns. A group of volunteers was formed to serve this purpose in the Fall of 2015. This APA Justice website is a product of the group's activities to provide information and facilitate connections and discussions within and beyond the community. America is Our Home
Rep. Ted Lieu (CA) published an op-ed in the Washington Post on July 16, 2019, titled I have served in the Air Force and in Congress. People still tell me to ‘go back’ to China
APAPA statement | OCA statement |
Latest Developments
2020/02/20 Congressional probe launched into NIH and FBI suspecting Chinese Americans of espionage. See Congressional Actions.
2020/01/27 Judge denied Government's motion to dismiss Dr. Yanping's Chen case. Discovery expected next. See Yanping Chen. 2020/01/15 The Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus convened a briefing session on the current state of racial profiling of Chinese Americans. See Continuing Developments 2019/12/11 The National Science Foundation releases Fundamental Research Security report. See Current State. 2019/12/10 Bloomberg Businessweek reports on the disparate treatment and impact of using security clearance to profile Chinese Americans. See Current State. 2019/11/29 APAPA Ohio publishes the story of Xiaoxing Xi 郗小星的故事. See Xiaoxing Xi. 2019/11/18 Professor Xiaoxing Xi on Scientific espionage, open exchange and American competitiveness. See Xiaoxing Xi. |
This APA Justice website is a non-partisan resource and platform to connect elected officials, organizations, and individuals who are concerned about and would like to act on selected issues related to justice and fairness for the Asian American community. "
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A definition of Racial Profiling is "the use of race or ethnicity as grounds for suspecting someone of having committed an offense." In its extreme, it led to the enactment of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882 and the internment of Japanese Americans during the Second World War. In more recent times, Chinese American scientists such as Wen Ho Lee, Sherry Chen, and Xiaoxing Xi have been wrongly targeted for espionage-related prosecutions, falling victim as "collateral damage." Chinese Americans are subject to profiling under what the FBI Director has called a "whole-of-society" approach to address national security concerns. Read more about about racial profiling of Asian Americans.
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During a time of rising tension between the U.S. and China, an entire group of students, scholars and scientists of Chinese heritage is caught in the crossfires and targeted as potential national security threats to America. An increasing number of faculty and students have reported that they have been subject to prejudicial comments, unwarranted scrutiny or professional strictures based on their race, ethnicity or national origin. The current state is alarming. Read about how community and scientific organizations, universities and higher education institutions , and Congressional leaders are reacting and responding to these growing concerns.
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A pattern of racial profiling against Chinese American scientists began to emerge in 2015. There are real-life victims including a growing list of Sherry Chen, Professor Xiaoxing Xi, Dr. Yanping Chen, and others.
A combination of human mistakes, implicit bias, social stigmatism, explicit prejudice, and racial profiling may explain why some of these innocent individuals were wrongly prosecuted or investigated for years in the first place. However, the damages done to them and their families are undeniably devastating. In addition to victims whose cases were dismissed or found not guilty, some agreed to much lesser infractions than the original charges to avoid financial ruins. Our nation loses their talents and contributions to the society when they are forced to leave the country. These cases are almost never reported by the government. |
April 1, 2020 is the next census day. On March 29, 2018, the Census Bureau announced the last-minuite additon of a citizenship question and the use of administrative records in the 2020 Census. The decisions, made by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, will have adverse impacts on the immigrant communities including Asian Americans, as well as profound long-term effects on the privacy rights for all Americans. Three federal judges have ruled the addition of citizenship question to be unlawfully and in one case unconsitutional. The Supreme Court decided on the question in June 2019. An executive order was then issued to collect administrative data on citizenship from federal agencies. The issue impacting re-districting will continue. Read more about the citizenship question and use of administrative data and its current state here, as well as over 700 media reports about its continuing developments.
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