effectively compete with american-born citizens. the immigration act of 1990 introduced the h1b visa program for highly educated and skilled immigrant workers, but they restricted the time that such visa holders could work in the u.s. to a maximum of six years. of course, critics of this program called it white collar servitude or high-tech k coolyi. a disproportionate number were chinese. as the 1990s progressed, the u.s. government feared ethnic chinese scientists would pass military secrets to the prc as seen in the lee case. since the past is prologue swreshgs to look to history to understand how and why the chinese and other groups faced these cycles of persecution and also acceptance. i'd like to share with you some of my theories and conclusions. my research suggests to me that

the real driving forces behind racism is not something that depends merrily on first or cultural differences. the appearance of the chinese, the shape of their eyes, the darkness of their skin, their black hair, did not offend most white people or bring out their most xenophobic impulses until certain conditions came into play, and i think these conditions usually require a political economic crisis. the exclusion act emerged out of the depression of the 1870s. the anti-chinese witch hunts of the mccarthy years came after mainland china turned communist and the most recent backlash against the chinese in the 1990s grew out of u.s. concerns that the chinese would fill the massive power void left by the russians. i think that the theme of crisis being linked to abuse and violence cass

violences can be found in my second book. the mass rape and torture and murder of hundreds of thousands of chinese civilians by japanese imperial forces in the capital of china in 1937. as i tried to understand the root cause behind these atrocities, i studied other acts of genocide across world history. such as the armenian massacre committed by the turks, and the jewish holocaust by the germans. and these horrific acts all had certain elements which preceded them, and an economic depression, the rise of dictatorships, and a racial scapegoat. often in order to consolidate their power, politicians will search for a common enemy as the means to unite the people, and a certain minority group at home or a perceived enemy overseas will be scapegoated and sacrificed. and in these situations, the powerful can exploit racism as a tool of social control to preserve the position of existing elites, and also to

hamper serious debate and analysis, and serve as a smoke screen to obscure some of larger and more deeper social problems in that -- in that society. and it's very easy to see how this could happen. when people's job, at stake when they feel threatened. they're often willing to give up some of their personal freedom for greater protection from the government. but as history has revealed, time and time again, the choice to trade liberty for security is usually in the most dangerous choice of all. according to the research of r.j. romal for example, a world expert on genocide, it's not the genetic makeup of a particular people, nor a particular religion, nationality or political philosophy that causes people to kill, but sheer absolute unchecked power. in other words, the more concentrated the power in the hands of an elite, the more likely that elite, regardless of its race or culture or any other

factor, will commit human rights abuses both at home and abroad, and initiate war with their neighbors. and according to the empirical data on the subject, dictatorships and totalitarian regimes are by nature more likely to wage war on other countries and torture their own citizens at home than democratic societies, because absolute power will give people the ability to act instantaneously on those dark impulses that lie within us all. and the solution according to romal is to diffuse power through education and through democracy. grass roots political activism will hold leaders accountable for their actions, and education and public access to government information will enable people to make informed decisions about their elected officials. i think democracy fleeds to be championed not as some abstract ideal but as an actual preventative measure against atrocity, and what i found in my

research was that the chinese in america were very active participants in this process of democracy, and contrary to popular belief, and stereotypes, they were never past the victims of injustice. what isn't commonly discussed in history books, they fought back time and again using the tactics of martin luther king and gandhi even before they existed. passive resistance, non-violent protests, petitions, boycotts and court hearings. there was amazingly little violence that you would expect from a group that experienced such legal discrimination. and even systematic slaughter in some regions. the chinese went to the law, used the law and fought for their rights. for example, during the 19th century, during the construction of the transcontinental railroad, the chinese peacefully organized labor strike against the central pacific, demanding higher wages and fewer hours and

to the whippings endured by white foreman and conceded winning a few concessions. in the american south, postcivil war plantation workers -- excuse me, plantation owners, toyed with the idea of replacing black slavery with chinese labor. the chinese hired interpreters to negotiate their contracts and sued employers if they violated them. they also sued white schools in california and illswhere that refused to admit their children. they helped organize boycotts in china of american products, to demand better treatment of chinese immigrants by american authorities during the exclusion era. and they also pulled together their resources to hire some of the best white lawyers and lobbyists of date to overturn some of the anti-chinese laws. it was strug that would help lay down the foundation of civil rights law to the benefit of human rights activists several decades later. for example, woe vesz hopkins

that any law applied in a discriminatory planner whether to u.s. citizens or foreign aliens is unconstitutional. another case upheld the principle of birthright citizenship which would prevent american born non-white people from being stripped of their citizenship and relegated into a permanent foreign underclass. many anti-chinese laws disappeared from the books after world war ii, but the chinese-americans remain publicly and politically active. for example, during the civil rights movement of the 1960s, chinese and american students staged sit-ins and demonstrations. they forced universities like san francisco state and berkeley, to establish ethnic studies departments. and since the 1980s, chinese-americans held huge rails and raised legal funds to fund hate crimes such as the brutal murders of chin and lu

and organizing a successful boycott of the u.s. laboratories after the government engaged in illegal racial profiles in the wen ho lee case. many of the legal rights and protections that we americans take for granted today are the direct result of countless lawsuits filed by the early chinese in the united states. but i'm afraid that the gains of the century and a half of activism, may be wiped out in a very short period of time. the u usa patriot act of 2001 and its sequel, proposed enhancement act of 2003, threatens to destroy many of these hard-won american rights, such as our right to habeas corpus hearings, or even our right to retain or u.s. citizenship. today officials are also evoking some of the most shameful legislation of the past to justify present policies in the name of security. a few months ago, representative

howard cobalt, head of homeland security subcommittee shocked the asian-american community by defending the imprisonment of japanese-americans in the 1940s. he said, and i'll quote him -- "some probably were intent on doing harm to us just as some of these arab-american, probably intent on doing larm to us." harm to us." as you know, the middle eastern ethnic community suffered great persecution since 9/11. in a manner reminiscent of the persecution of the chinese-american community during the mccarthy era and the exclusion period. people have been ordered off airplanes, harassed and attacked in the streets. there have been detentions without court hearings and dep pro tagss and according to some human rights attorneys i know in the bay area representing the needs of that community, some family, actually fleeing from the united states as ref fugees

into canada. this should not and cannot continue. you have to leave options open for immigrants. you cannot cut them off from the law. and when you do that, you're asking for outrage and mayhem and the flight of the best immigrant talent from this country. people need to recognize this, not as an ethnic issue, but as a human rights issue. the dangers of racial profiling is that the government can use and divide or conger strategy suspending the rights of various groups one at a time until everyone sufficient irs in the end. suffers in the end. as long as any group is being scapegoated in america, merely on the basis of its cultural heritage, none of us are safe. the book i have just written may be considered an ethnic book, but it does contain universal themes of human nature that transend ethnicity. we cannot leave the very difficult business of democracy into the hands of just our

elected officials. governments will know relinquish powerful feel force them to and significant social change rarely occurs from the top down. rarely percolates, rather, it does percolate from the bottom's. groups of all different races need to form coalitions with eep other and reach out to each other. not turn within themselves. to be effective champions of democracy, all of us have to be more aggressive and proactive in crossing class and color lines. it means talking to our elected officials, educating them about our lives, and holding them accountable for their actions. it means writing op-eds and going to public protests when needed. it means networking with a wide circle of people, ranging from the victims to even the perpetrators of hate crimes to understand the causes for their behavior. i think sometimes the most effective ways to resolve conflicts or just to prevent

them from happening in the first place is to simply listen to other people and acknowledge their point of view, which are of the first and very necessary steps required to start a dialogue. since we're in all of this together as americans, i want my book to be viewed not simply as an ethnic chinese story but as a quintessential american one. my personal identity as a chinese-american derives its force from my rights and duties and obligations as an american citizen. and the struggle to uphold american democracy, the struggle to protect human rights and civil liberties of all americans, not just chinese-americans. it's-it-is an ongoing struggle for all of us, and our deendants their descendants, rather than job that's already finished and done. so if there's just one message i would like to get across to my readers, it's that democracy is not and was never a guarantee. it is still very much a young and fragile experiment. thank you so much for your time.

>> i'd be happy to take any questions from the floor at this time. yes? >> just a sec. >> thanks. you're very interesting talk dealt mainly with the relationship between chinese-americans and the american state on the one hand and chinese-americans and the majority population in the united states. the white population. but, of course, the united states also has very significant ethnic minorities apart from chinese-american, particularly african-americans and hispanic-american. and i was wondering whether you might want to say a few words about the relationship between the chinese-american community and the other minorities that exist in the united states? >> well, it's a relationship

that has evolved over time for decades. i would say that during the civil rights movement, chinese-americans, particularly in places like the san francisco bay area, worked with other ethnic groups to champion their human rights and their civil liberties, and i would -- there was an alliance actually between some organizations in the bay area with the black panthers and also in -- universities such as san francisco state and berkeley, as i mentioned before, there was an organization by the name of the third world liberation front, and that was a coalition of asian-americans, hispanic-american, native-american indians and african-americans i think as well as other groups, a push for ethnic studies departments. and today we find also i would say some of these cross-cultural

efforts often to promote civil liberties. so right now that there is a great deal of concern, i think, after 9/11, of the possibility that immigrants can be detained without court hearings, imprisoned and japanese-americans have actually been extremely active in that cause helping middle eastern immigrant human rights activists, because it's an experience they deeply understand. >> just a quick question. i was wondering if you could talk a little bit about some of the differences between the book that you've just written and some of the earlier scholarship on chinese immigration to the u.s.? because i think there have been a lot of books who have covered

the experience thoroughly and also folks on various aspects and different periods of the time in the last 150 years and maybe you could speak about whether this new research or a new angle you've taken, or what is it that inspired you to write -- write essentially a new book on the chinese immigration to the u.s.? >> there have certainly been pioneering books on the history of chinese, of the chinese in america. and i think some of the -- some of the path-breaking books came out in the 1980s. what i think distinguishes this book from some of the others, it actually continues the story from the 1980s to the present. it also has a pattern of describing some of the conditions in china that led to the immigration to the united states, and then often then bringing the narrative back to china to -- and then following the chinese as they come to this country and following their, the experience of their descendants.

the structure has follows the three great wave, i think, is different from how a lot of other authors have framed their research. also, it's -- it uses a narrative style, approach, which i think -- you know, gives a person a sense they're undergoing a journey across american history. i would also say that this book tackles many of the controversial subjects that have emerged in just the last few years, such as the wen ho lee case, and also many allegations of discrimination from chinese-americans in the national laboratories, as well as also chinese -american, asian-american students that are leading universities claiming they have often faced sdrimen in aer to quotas and policies to keep their numbers down. so all of these can be found in,

all of these subjects can be found discussed at length in my book. if you'll excuse me, i'm going to get some water. >> in comparison to some other minorities in america, especially african-americans, asian-americans are considered politically apathetic. i was wondering if, a, you think that is true and, b what the reasons do you think for this political apathy? >> well, i think what distinguishes my book from others i do not believe chinese have been politically apathetic. there's a perception out there. but when i delved into the subject i found that the -- the material out there really surprised me, that the chinese were very active, often, in writing letters to politicians, lobbying to their causes.

protesting in the streets, a and -- and there was this whole body of litigation that you can find, you know, in places like the national archives, which is very much part of our legal history, and set down the foundation of civil rights law. so there's a perception out there, but i don't think it's true, or i think it's as interesting as many of the efforts have not been noticed. >> i want to thank you for your talk. i think the idea that some of the new laws are actually impacted some of the rights chinese-americans fought for hundreds of years ago is really great. that's a great observation. in this sort of scholarship now about the sort of, the chinese of the 19th century, there's sort of this unanswered question running through this, and i was wondering what you found and what you thaw at it, which is what the chinese plaintiffs and

some of this sort of money supported the cases thought they were doing? we have very few first-person accounts, right, in those cases? actually, it's very hard to figure out what people thought they were doing when they cases. what the sort of laundry thought they were doing, those minutes haven't come out. so i was interested in your -- in your research, what you found in terms of first-person understandings of what some of those legal challenges were about for them. >> again, some of this information, as you said, is very difficult to come by. and there's often much more that you'll find in the public record than often the diaries or maybe minutes as you pointed out. or secret thoughts of many of the chinese who live that. and that's the challenge that i think all historians face. and it gets excruciatingly difficult, often, to find some of this information as you move further back in time, for obvious reasons. and you'll see even just with information generated just a few

decades ago, sometimes that's hard to locate too. in china, especially after the cultural revolution when there were bonfires of personal papers. so -- but here and there, you'll find personal accounts, often in archives and in personal collections. and more diaries have been coming to light in just recent years. >> one thing that we've observed in the u.s. among the chinese community here, certain kind of racism towards african-americans and other kinds of colored people. and this is an issue that seldom is observed. and you notice it, but really seldom transpirs in academic and popular discourses. and i was wondering the kind of efforts you try to promote in terms of solidarities, ethnic

immigrants in the u.s., the issue of racism of colored people against other kinds of colored people should be -- also be erased and they should also be the kind of education of ourselves against our own racism in a way. >> i couldn't agree with you more. i do think that all of these racial tensions need to be addressed. and if there's one thing i've discovered in the course of my research is that no one particular racial group is either, you know, immune from being the victims of or persecutors of other -- of groups. so i think it's important to frame a lot of these issues in terms of human rights, and to really look at some of the universalist causes for these kinds of tensions and racial impulses. i personally believe that oft

often -- what often brings the zone phobic impulses up to the surface are economic and political crises. and that's usually necessary, i think, for the hatred to explode. and when -- in the absence of a lot of these crises, when there is a great deal of opportunity, people are often much more tolerant. so i think we just have to be aware of these forces out there that are some right under the surface for these racial atrocities. >> hi. you spoke a lot about the obligation of the chinese-american community to fight for their rights and not let the victories of the past 150 years fade. however, when other minority groups do this, they're often criticized for distinguishing themselves from the majority and pi distinguishing themselves, underlining their assimilation and tolerance efforts. so where do you think the chinese-american community

should draw the line between assimilation and still trying to fight for their rights and maintain the victories they've had over the past century and a half? >> let me see if i understand your question. you're saying how do you maybe embrace your heritage and also assimilate and win acceptance from the mainstream population? >> in part. there are a lot of minority groups that are criticized for constantly fighting for their rights, but in doing so, distinguish themselves as completely separate from americans as purely minority groups. and in doing so, undermine efforts for the majority to accept them as americans. and so where do you think the chinese-american community should draw that line? >> i think it's important -- i don't think they have to see these -- i don't think they have to see an embrace of their cultural heritage and also their efforts to reach out to other groups as mutually, you know, exclusive. i think you could do both. there's -- actually, as i've

mentioned earlier in my speech, i pretty much saw this happening in my own community, where people would have festivals, often, to celebrate their ethnic traditions, but yet they were working together on research projects, you know, with people of different races. so it never seemed to me that doing one or the other would -- would, you know -- were contradictory. so i would think that the important thing is to remain totleran tolerant. and that while you have forums to discuss these issues with members of your own minority group that you also make efforts constantly to reach out to other groups, regardless of race, and really see these problems as human rights issues, not just issues that are specific to particular ethnic group. >> hi.

i'm going to expand on the previous question. do you think that the asian-american associations across the country maybe reacted to too aggressively a year ago during the abercrombie and fitch incident where they featured the offensive shirts, line of shirts that appeared in their stores? there was a pretty aggressive reaction from many -- especially student associations across the country. >> were there complaints then that the reaction was too aggressive? i remember seeing a lot of e-mails on the subject. or do you feel that -- i'm just kind of curious, was this later the subject of great discussion afterwards? >> i'm just expanding on the previous question about where do you put the line between your cultural heritage and then assimilation. for example, if -- i mean,

abercrombie has put shirts i think making fun of various european nationalities. i don't know of any, like, irish people complaining about irish, you know, humor and portraying high risch people in jokes but at the same time, asian people seem to be more offended. so does that mean they still think they're not assimilated into the country? is. >> i think that maybe it's -- it came from probably years of seeing all of the stereotypes and maybe not speaking out and finally there was -- there has been a trend of saying enough is enough. i mean, i think that people were so offended by these -- was it the shirts with the saying no -- two wongs don't make a white? i think that if -- if an ethnic group is particularly upset and offended by some of these jokes, it's important to speak out.

because you have to be honest of how you feel. and it just could be that -- see, you mentioned they made jokes of other ethnic groups that it didn't really draw probably -- it didn't evoke as much response if it -- because many caucasian-americans probably do not see themselves as, you know, foreigners, or pretty much linked to a foreign culture as much as i think a lot of chinese are stereotyped as still being perpetual foreigners. and i think these shirts were pretty much a reaction to this the stereotypes that had been building up in the media. so i think it was definitely important for the chinese-american community or asian-americans to articulate their concerns. because there had been already at that time so much hostility

in the media, especially you know, after the wen ho li case so it was important to bring this to the surface. so i actually believe it was an important thing to do. i think that an ethnic group that is concerned has to speak out. you know, it's -- it's -- it shouldn't squelch its voices just because it's afraid of offending the mainstream. >> hi. i've got a question sort of linked to what you mentioned to be the driving force of racism in that it's not just skin color and culture, but it's sort of like racist tendencies in a sense, which you were mentioning it sounded like, racist tende y tendencies were always there, but they're sort of kept under during good political or economic times. and it's only when you have a crisis that there is suddenly an