by: Melissa Chun & Rebecca Choi, OCA Greater Seattle Civil Rights Committee co-chairs, 2003
Many people automatically associate racial profiling with the African-American community and their relationship with law enforcement. According to the Organization of Chinese American's (OCA) national office, racial profiling is “the practice of using race as the sole or major factor in identifying potential criminals and targeting individuals for investigation.” Many of us have either experienced racial profiling first-hand, or know someone who has, but do not know how to take action to address these injustices.
On Saturday, May 31, OCA-Greater Seattle held an event titled, “Racial Profiling: The Asian American Experience.” The roundtable is a first attempt to raise awareness of racial profiling within the Asian American community, while connecting participants with community leaders and advocates whose work on racial profiling have been critical in moving towards progress in Seattle. This is the first time that OCA- Greater Seattle has sponsored a local workshop, which is aimed to become an annual gathering for those interested in these issues.
Mei-Ling Hsu, OCA-Greater Seattle Chapter's 2003-4 President, addressed the issue of employment discrimination and the targeting of research laboratory scientists. She specifically spoke about Dr. Wen Ho Lee, a scientist in a national lab, who in 2000, was singled out for investigation of spy allegations and held under severe conditions without bail.; and the increasing number of cases involving Chinese American scientists through out the country in the past two years. Mei-Ling was formerly a molecular biologist at Immunex Corporation. She fears that many scientist and laboratory employees experience similar suspicions, but rarely report profiling because of the potential repercussions.
Another form of racial profiling at the forefront of the public's minds these days is the SARS outbreak. Jason Liu is the owner of Washington Distributors Co., a business focused on bringing in wholesale products from China to U.S. chain stores. Liu commented on the impacts of SARS hysteria on Chinese American businesses and others who have been refused service or denied entry because of their skin color.
There are also a few local examples of racial profiling that have been highly publicized. Asian American youth participants of the Northwest Asian Weekly Foundation's summer leadership program were stopped for allegedly jaywalking. These youth were asked if they spoke English and were detained for 45 minutes. Speaker Leo Hamaji was one of the attorneys who represented these students. He is a public defender and a recently elected board member of the State of Washington American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
While many Arab-Americans and Muslims have been unjustly targeted since September 11, South Asian Americans, Sikhs, and others perceived to be Arab or Muslim have also been victimized by racial profiling. The Hate Free Zone Campaign of Washington was formed Dr. Jasmit Singh Kochhar, Director of Education for the Sikh Coalition, asserted that racial profiling and hate crimes did not begin with 9/11; rather, 9/11 gave a justification for discrimination to be an acceptable response to underlying fear and suspicion.
As Tatsuo Nakata, Japanese American Citizens League-Seattle Chapter President, pointed out, we can recall the experiences of the 120,000 Japanese Americans who were incarcerated during World War II. Similarly, Chinese Americans were under FBI surveillance and were detained during the 1950s, when ethnicity and community involvement became the government's indicators for those with communist loyalties.
If you have experienced racial profiling, please call one of the following hotlines:
OCA-Greater Seattle: 425-895-1086
Arab American Community Coalition: 206-634-9001
Hate Free Zone Campaign of Washington:
1-866-HFZone1 (1-866-439-6631)
People's Coalition for Justice: 206-227-1767
For more information or to volunteer for OCA-Greater Seattle's civil rights committee, email OCA-Greater Seattle at civilrights@ocaseattle.org.
© 2004 OCA-Greater Seattle
OCA - GREATER SEATTLE CHAPTER