Year of the Ram: Chinese New Year Feature (Feature) Washington Journal: Is War Good for Asian Pacific Americans? (in National News) Cheu Steps Down as Executive Director of LGBT Center (in Bay Area News) U.S. Opens Door to Shanghai Club (in Sports) Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend (in A&E) Emil Amok: Internment? No, Harrassment is Enough (in Opinion)

Internment? No, Harrassment is Enough

When the FBI comes to your door what will you say? “Gung Hay Fat Choy?”

It’s time to consider the possibility, after hearing the remarks of Howard Coble, a member of Congress from North Carolina.

While on a talk radio show last week in his home district, a caller pushed for the internment of Arab Americans. Just like Japanese Americans during World War II.

Coble said it wasn’t right because the United States isn’t being attacked by a “sovereign nation.” But that condition is enough to cause concern for all ethnic Americans.

Coble’s logic implies that there are some circumstances when internment would be proper. If Coble was just your run-of-the-mill local hick politician we could dismiss his remarks easily enough.

But these are dangerous ruminations coming from the man who is chair of the Homeland Security Subcommittee.

Coble has tried to backpedal a bit, saying in a letter to Asian Pacific American Congressional leaders that internment was “the wrong decision and an action that should never be repeated.”

Okay, so what should we do for his remarks on the radio — give the man a best actor nomination?

The reality is the government could stop well short of interment and still do a lot of damage to our community. Much better to throw people in jail without charges, a practice we’ve seen too many times since Sept. 11.

But even there, you still have to house and feed people, if only bread and water. By comparision, simple harassment is the best. It’s convenient, less sensational than internment, and oh my, so acceptable in mixed company. No wonder the FBI is doing more and more “visitations” these days. Just ask an APA named Kawal Ulanday.

He works as a professional concscience. If you don’t have one, you can borrow his.

Ulanday’s a staff member of Filipinos for Affirmative Action, co-director of Asian/Pacific Islander Youth Promoting Advocacy, the education coordinator for the Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines, a steering committee member of Asian and Pacific Islander Coalition Against the War and member of Filipinos for Global Justice Not War Coalition.

And that’s just a few of the committees he’s involved with.

If you can’t get upset enough about an issue to do something about it, he’ll do it for you.

Maybe that’s why the FBI visited him recently — to silence our community.

You may have seen Kawal in action a few months ago when he led immigrant baggage screeners protesting an unfair citizenship requirement at the Oakland Airport.

Kawal also led a San Francisco demonstration against Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo last fall.

In the middle of the president’s speech, Kawal and others seated in the audience began a chant and unfurled banners to protest the presence of U.S. troops in the Philippines. For a brief moment, the so-called “town hall” that offered no opportunity for public input turned into a mini debate. The protestors chanted, and as police hauled them away, Macapagal Arroyo said they were just a small percentage of Filipinos that hate America.

Democracy isn’t always pretty.

Maybe that’s why Kawal Ulanday got a “home visit” from the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force on Jan. 20. Ulanday knows what you should do if you get a knock on the door from the FBI.

You have a right to remain silent. You don’t have to talk to anybody. Anything you say can be used against you or someone else.

Don’t you remember Dragnet?

Too “old school,” for you? Thank goodness, the Constitution is “old school.”

But Kawal, knowing he had certain rights, talked to the FBI agent, anyway.

Why?

“I knew I could call a lawyer,” he told me. “It was just a real caught off guard time. It was the day before my brother’s funeral service. We had so many people at my house because it was a time of loss. I lost my dad two weeks ago, and then my brother. I knew I just needed to cooperate at that time when my family’s needs were paramount.”

Even activists have priorities.

So on Thur., Jan. 30, at approximately 6:45 p.m., Kawal talked to FBI Special Agent John Root.

Root told Kawal that he knew he had no criminal record. So the questions seemed fairly routine. Were you born in Mindinao? Are you Muslim? Do you have any connection with any Muslim extremist groups connected to al Qaeda? Are you anti-American?

The answer was “No” to all.

But this wasn’t about getting information. It was about intimidation.

“It was clear they were sending a message,” said Kawal. “That Big Brother was watching, and not just me, but a rapidly growing peace movement of countless individuals, groups and alliances who share a popular people’s sentiment against a looming war in Iraq, the Middle East, the Philippines and around the world.”

If the FBI’s intent was to intimidate Kawal, it didn’t work.

“I’m still going to move forward,” he told me. “I’m not intimidated at all — I’m definitely stronger.”

A seasoned activist will say that.

But what about everyone else in our normally quiet, “don’t rock the boat” community. Will the government’s somewhat passive tactics intimidate you from participating in democracy?

It’s sad to say that a few well-timed visitations may be all it takes to have the same chilling impact of internment.

Reach Emil Guillermo at emil@amok.com.