Who Are We? And that Include You as Well...

Who are we? -- An ultimate question facing Chinese immigrants in US (2)

(People's Daily Online)

16:25, August 13, 2012

Private Harry Lew, nephew of Judy Chu, a Chinese-American congresswoman from California, shot himself to death after undergoing military hazing. One of the three defendants was sentenced to only 30 days in jail, and the other two were found not guilty. Just as Chu noted, the death of Chen and Lew is only the tip of the iceberg. Under such circumstances, Chinese immigrants should strengthen efforts to combat discrimination.

The participation of Chinese immigrants in U.S. politics is crucial to protecting their rights and interests. Chinese immigrants need their own spokespersons in the U.S. political circles. Chinese Americans had called on the U.S. government to apologize for the Chinese Exclusion Act for many years, but achieved little progress. It was only after Judy Chu was voted to the House of Representatives and made great efforts in this regard that the two houses of the U.S. Congress passed a resolution apologizing for the discriminatory law. However, Chinese participation in U.S. politics is still in its infancy. Seldom have people from the Chinese mainland, especially Chinese students studying in the United States, participated in U.S. politics.

Chinese immigrants should try to avoid narrow-mindedness and “Chinese supremacy” when participating in U.S. politics. Chinese should certainly support Chinese candidates, but should also respect the Chinese immigrants who have made different decisions. They should not hold the narrow-minded view that Chinese should only vote for Chinese candidates.

Read the Chinese version: “我们是谁”——在美华人终极之问, source: People's Daily Overseas Edition