National Day of Protest for Wen Ho Lee
Cities to join forces on behalf of incarcerated scientist
By Julie D. Soo

The Coalition Against Racial and Ethnic Scapegoating (CARES) has called for a National Day of Protest to mark the sixth month of incarceration of Dr. Wen Ho Lee.

On June 8, civil rights groups in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Albuquerque, Detroit, Miami, Seattle, Salt Lake City, and several other cities across the country will take to the streets to express their outrage over what they say is the racial and ethnic scapegoating of Asian Americans and in particular, former Los Alamos scientist Dr. Wen Ho Lee.

The groups are demanding due process and fair treatment for Lee and that he be freed on bail. The 60-year-old scientist faces life in prison and has been held in solitary confinement since December 1999.

Despite lax media reports, the FBI, after a lengthy investigation involving more than 40 agents, did not produce evidence that Lee passed on classified information to foreign agents and therefore, did not charge him with spying. Instead, Lee has been charged with mishandling classified information, which according to recently released Department of Justice reports, was reclassified to heightened security levels only after a case was to be made against Lee.

Dozens of civil rights groups and individuals, including California elected officials State Senator Martha Scutia and Assembly members Mike Honda and Kevin Shelley, have officially joined CARES.

“The goal of our campaign is to ensure that no more Asian Americans will be treated like Dr. Lee,” said Daphne Kwok, of the Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA) in Washington, DC. “We want to stop this discrimination, stop the stereotyping that Asian Americans and other people of color are somehow suspect simply because of how we look.”

“Every American should be alarmed when the civil liberties and rights to due process of any persons are denied—and we are alarmed by the presumption of disloyalty of Asian Americans that has led to the criminal prosecution of Dr. Wen Ho Lee, “ said Karen Jo Koonan, national president of the National Lawyers Guild.

“Portraying all Asian Americans as potential security risks in the face of political tensions with China smacks of the wartime hysteria that led to the imprisonment of loyal Japanese American men, women, and children during World War II,” said Dorothy Ehrlich, of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Northern California.

Alberta Lee, Dr. Lee’s daughter, will join protesters in San Francisco on June 8 at a noon rally at the Federal Building. Among those in support will be renowned author and civil rights activist Helen Zia; Rev. Cecil Williams and Janice Mirikitani of Glide Memorial Church; S.F. Supervisor Michael Yaki; Michelle Alexander of the ACLU; Karen Jo Koonan, national president of the National Lawyers Guild; George Ong, national OCA president; Diane Chin, executive director of Chinese for Affirmative Action; Lillian Galledo of Filipino American Civil Rights Advocates; Rene Saucedo of La Raza Centro Legal; and Manuel Garcia, an employee at Lawrence Livermore National Labs.