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

the most visible victim of this was wen ho lee, a taiwanese-american scientist who was accused of passing design secrets of the w-88 warhead to mainland china. after he was fired without a hearing, and held in dreadful conditions in prison, the u.s. had to admit later that it had no evidence that lee committed espionage and also revealed the embarrassing fact that the w-88 technology china had could not have come from los alamos. during the lee controversy, chinese-american scientist whose had devoted their lives to strengthening american defense with their technological research were being interrogated as if they were spies for the grc and for many people of my parents' generation, this was entirely new and unexpected. previously, the worst racist episodes against the chinese seemed to come from mainly blue collar and poor areas such as the vincent chin cases of killed in the streets after confrontations with whites in a strip club or pool hall. now seeing an attack by highly sophisticated government agencies against a highly sophisticated strata of chinese-american society. their scient

if i only stood it when it was the wen ho lee case, that would be self-interest. i have to stand up when it's a different face on the same problem. >> what is the difference in what you see when you're standing in front of a classroom full of african-americans in that environment compared to what it's like in an all white environment? as they react to you? >> sure, yeah. it's different in that well, the students are incredibly diverse. you know, probably before i taught at howard i had the same misconception that many people who aren't black is which is to think as african-americans as a certain mass. they come from different origins, different class backgrounds. i've got first people who are the first people in their immediate family to go to college. i've got other folks who they're the fourth generation of people to go to howard. they come from greater privilege than i ever saw growing up. and then there are people who are african-american. there are people who are black but not african-american. either they recent lay rifed here and they don't think of themsel