#180 5/1 Meeting; Preemption of Real Property Discrimination; Vincent Chin; Cato Report; +

In This Issue #180

• 2023/05/01 APA Justice Monthly Meeting

• CAPAC Organizational Endorsement Form for Preemption of Real Property Discrimination Act

• Vincent Chin Institute Launched - Rhetoric Can Result in Harm and Even Murder

• Cato Institute: Abandoning the US, More Scientists Go to China

• Activities and News for the Communities

2023/05/01 APA Justice Monthly Meeting

The next APA Justice monthly meeting will be held on Monday, May 1, 2023, starting at 1:55 pm ET.Erika L. Moritsugu, Deputy Assistant to the President and Asian American and Pacific Islander Senior Liaison, will deliver a special video from the White House to start the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.Brenna Isman, Director of Academy Studies, National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA), will provide a brief description of the history, mission, and purpose of NAPA, its "Grand Challenges" campaign for public administration, and its Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) efforts and commissioned studies.Paula Williams Madison, Paula Williams Madison, Former Print and TV Journalist, Retired NBCUniversal executive and GE Company Officer, Former Vice President of the Los Angeles Police Commission and owner of The Africa Channel, will provide a recap of the April 17 Roundtable and share the possible next steps for this important work that may have long-lasting impact to the AAPI community and the American society overall.Updates will be provided in the meeting by: Nisha Ramachandran, Executive Director, Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC);  John Yang 杨重远, President and Executive Director, Advancing Justice | AAJC; and Gisela Kusakawa, Executive Director, Asian American Scholar Forum.The virtual monthly meeting is by invitation only. If you wish to join, either one time or for future meetings, please contact one of the co-organizers of APA Justice - Steven Pei 白先慎, Vincent Wang 王文奎, and Jeremy Wu 胡善庆 - or send a message to contact@apajustice.org.  

CAPAC Organizational Endorsement Form for Preemption of Real Property Discrimination Act

The Preemption of Real Property Discrimination Act (draft) is sponsored by Rep. Al Green (TX-9) and co-led by Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) Chair Rep. Judy Chu (CA-28).  We kindly ask that all organizations who would like to endorse do so by filling out the form here no later than Friday, May 5, 12pm ET.  This form is for ORGANIZATIONAL endorsement only.As you may be aware, there are state laws throughout the U.S. that place restrictions on the acquisition or possession of real property in those states by citizens of foreign nations. These laws are often driven by concerns over commercial interests or national security. However, recent legislation introduced in states like Texas, South Carolina, and others include a flat prohibition on the purchase or acquisition of real property by the citizens of a select number of countries – Russia, North Korea, Iran, and China.We have seen policies like this before in our nation’s history – in the 1800s, when anti-Chinese sentiment culminated in the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the creation of alien land laws, or during World War II when tensions with Japan led to the stripping of land ownership rights from Japanese immigrants and the incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans. By refusing individuals from these foreign countries basic property rights, these bills take an unacceptable step toward xenophobia, nationalism, and discrimination. Therefore, the Preemption of Real Property Discrimination Act would do exactly that – preempt at the federal level state laws that would seek to deny foreign citizens the right to acquire real property in the United States. Full text of the bill can be read here: https://bit.ly/3HjM8fG.  Fill out the form to endorse the bill here: https://bit.ly/426n97qPlease email Scott Bell (scott.bell@mail.house.gov), Nisha Ramachandran (nisha.ramachandran@mail.house.gov), and Casey Lee (casey.lee@mail.house.gov) if you have any questions.

Six-City Rally to Protest Florida Senate Bill 264 and House 1355On April 29, 2023, The Florida Asian American Justice Alliance (FAAJA) and a broad coalition of organizations led a state-wide rally to protest the Senate Bill 264 and House Bill 1355 in Gainesville, Jacksonville, Miami, Orlando, Tallahassee, and Tampa.  According to a joint press release, these bills violate the United States Constitution, the Florida State Constitution, the Fair Housing Act, and federal and state regulations that protect civil liberties and equal rights for all immigrants. By preventing Asian and other immigrants from owning real property, these bills unfairly discriminate against a specific group of people based on their national origin.The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association and its regional affiliates issued a statement opposing the Florida bills, so did the United Chinese Americans.  An online petition to End AAPI Hate and Discrimination in Florida has collected more than 27,000 signatures.At Orlando, WESH2-TV reported on the event; FCRTV佛州华语广播电视台 provided a livestreaming report (video 1:18:29). Snapshots from the rallies:

Vincent Chin Institute Launched - Rhetoric Can Result in Harm and Even Murder

According to NBC News on April 26, 2023, and Ethnic Media Services on April 28, 2023, the Vincent Chin Institute was launched on April 26, 2023, at a news conference at the Congressional Triangle in Washington, D.C. joined by Members of Congress Judy Chu, Grace Meng, Mark Takano, the Smithsonian Under Secretary for Education Monique Chism, the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center APAC Acting Director Yao-Fen You, and Helen Zia.The launch coincided with the release of the second edition of the Vincent Chin Legacy Guide which is available in Arabic, Bengali, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, and English.  Additional versions in Korean, Spanish, and Vietnamese will reportedly become available.  The Legacy Guide was co-written by Helen Zia, which provides further education about the history of anti-Asian discrimination and racism in the United States.Excerpts of the Vincent Chin Legacy Guide recommendations include:

• Be prepared for anti-Asian incidents

• Engage your campus, community, church, workplace employee resource groups, social clubs and the like to educate and increase awareness to combat hate toward any people

• Reach out to local businesses

• Be a courageous ally

• Call on national, state and local leaders

• Support solidarity movements

• Demand that your state include curriculum about Asian Americans at the K-12 levels

• Connect the dots.  Know your own Asian American stories and those of other marginalized people in America

• Stay informed

• Amplify the voices and stories of historically marginalized communities

In 1982, the horrific baseball bat beating death of Vincent Chin on the eve of his bachelor party, and the miscarriage of justice that allowed his two white killers to be freed without spending a night in jail, ignited the modern Asian American civil rights movement and built a multiracial, multicultural coalition united for equal justice and human dignity which stands as a landmark of American history.Over 40 years later, Vincent Chin's story remains starkly relevant— especially in an era of sharp anti-Asian racism and Sinophobia.  At the time, the economic rivalry between the US and Japan triggered targeted hate against Asian Americans, and was a direct cause of Chin’s death.

At the launch, speakers drew parallels between the circumstances of Chin’s death and the anti-Asian racism today that puts all Asian Americans at risk. They highlighted how Chinese Americans are scapegoated for the COVID-19 pandemic; face proposed discriminatory legislation, such as alien land laws and Trump’s "China Initiative;" and are routinely suspected of spying for China. Chu, the first Chinese American woman elected to congress, was also recently accused of being disloyal to the US by Texas Rep. Lance Gooden.

These effects, though aimed at Chinese Americans, inevitably affect all Asian Americans. Chin, for instance, was killed in an era of anti-Japanese sentiment — despite being Chinese himself.Speakers contended that learning from the circumstances of Chin’s death is critical to prevent the same hate from threatening AAPI lives. Yet Chin’s story remains underdiscussed: It is rarely taught in schools, and the historical context surrounding it is often missing.

Chu, for instance, frequently references Chin’s death when opposing anti-China rhetoric in Congress. Yet, she is consistently met with ignorance from other legislators on his story.  "Each time we take on this fight… I talk about what happened to Vincent Chin. Some members of Congress are shocked because they never even heard of story,” said Chu.

“Already, Asian Americans have been suffering three years of anti-Asian hate due to Trump calling Covid-19 ‘China virus’ and ‘kung flu,’” she said. “But now, the rhetoric and tension about the U.S.-China relationship comes on top of that, potentially escalating that violence. Today, the focus has shifted to extremists engaging in racial profiling of Chinese Americans.”

“Today, over 40 years later, what we learned is that the rhetoric used around economic competition with Asian countries can result in harm and even murder of Asian Americans here at home,” Chu said. Read the Ethnic Media Services report at https://bit.ly/420wCNK.  Read the NBC News report at https://nbcnews.to/42am6Ua.  Visit the Vincent Chin Institute website at https://www.vincentchin.org/

Cato Institute: Abandoning the US, More Scientists Go to China

According to the Cato Institute on April 11, 2023, The Organization for Economic Co‐​operation and Development (OECD)—an intergovernmental organization with 38 member countries—has published new data showing that the United States is losing the race for scientific talent to China and other countries. China’s strategy to recruit scientific researchers to work at China‐​affiliated universities is working.

In 2021, the United States lost published research scientists to other countries, while China gained more than 2,408 scientific authors. This was a remarkable turnaround from as recently as 2017 when the United States picked up 4,292 scientists and China picked up just 116. As Figure 1 shows, the rest of the OECD and China have both surpassed the United States for net inflow of scientific authors.

The OECD data are not measuring the movement of non‐​Chinese into China or non‐​Americans into the United States. The OECD tracks inflows and outflows of published scientific researchers based on changes in institutional affiliation. If an author who was previously affiliated with a different country publishes another article in a new country, the new country will be credited as receiving a new research scientist. The OECD credits more Chinese scientists returning to China for the sudden reversal in Chinese and American inflows.

This is a disturbing trend that started before the pandemic. In fact, it appears to coincide with the Trump administration’s “China Initiative”—more accurately titled the anti‐Chinese initiative. Launched in November 2018, the Department of Justice’s campaign was supposed to combat the overblown threat of intellectual property theft and espionage. In reality, it involved repeatedly intimidating institutions that employed scientists of Chinese heritage and attempting malicious failed prosecutions of scientists who worked with institutions in China. U.S. Attorney Andrew E. Lelling has even admitted that the initiative that he helped lead “created a climate of fear among researchers” and now says, “You don’t want people to be scared of collaboration.”

If Chinese scientists are afraid to work in the United States, that means that the United States will not benefit from their discoveries as much or as quickly as China will. Although the Justice Department claims to have shut down its “China Initiative,” Cato colleagues doubt that Chinese scientists will be free from unjust scrutiny going forward. The U.S. National Institutes of Health is still bragging about having caused the firings of more than 100 scientists and shutting down research by over 150 scientists—over 80 percent of whom identify as Asian.

The administration continues to maintain contrary to evidence that Chinese industrial espionage—by scientists working in the United States—is a significant threat to the country. Universities and U.S. companies think the far greater threat is losing out on talented Chinese researchers. If the United States wants to deal a blow to the Chinese Communist Party, it should start by trying to fix the damage that it has done in the last few years and liberalize immigration from China.

Read the Cato Institute blog: https://bit.ly/3AJ9w28

News and Activities for the Communities

1.  U.S.-China Scholarly Exchange Initiative A new report by the CSIS Trustee Chair in Chinese Business and Economics recounts a groundbreaking U.S.-China scholarly exchange initiative that occurred during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. Trustee Chair Scott Kennedy and Professor Wang Jisi of Peking University, founding president of Peking University’s Institute of International Strategic Studies (IISS), argue that although the deterioration in U.S.-China relations pre-dates the mutual physical isolation of the two countries from each other, renewing robust direct communication between the two societies is necessary, if not sufficient, to stabilizing ties.  The report documents the goals and planning for their trips, the unique challenge of traveling during the pandemic, and their observations regarding developments within the two societies and with respect to the bilateral relationship. The report concludes by explaining how the reduction in connectivity has led to the creation of echo chambers, which has fed a vicious cycle further propelling the worsening of ties. They offer a set of five policy proposals intended to interrupt this dynamic, including restoring direct connections across the two societies and resuming and expanding dialogue between the two governments.  Read the joint report at: https://bit.ly/3AAbguRPreceding their Breaking the Ice report launch, Scott Kennedy and Wang Jisi summarized their report in Foreign Affairs. They write that: "Whether one believes that the United States and China are destined to be adversaries, might somehow find a pathway back to greater cooperation, or will have a more complicated relationship, it should be clear that it would be better for people from both countries—government officials, business leaders, scholars, and ordinary citizens—to have a greater understanding of each other. And there is no better way to build such mutual understanding than through face-to-face interactions and visits in which people can observe each other’s societies and speak at length in formal and informal settings about their perspectives and experiences."  Read the Foreign Affairs report: https://fam.ag/3ViNHQH2.  Charles Lieber Sentenced to Time ServedAccording to AP on April 26, 2023, former Harvard Professor Charles Lieber -- who was found guilty of concealing his affiliation with a Chinese recruitment program as part of the now-defunct "China Initiative" -- was sentenced to time served in prison (two days) and two years of supervised release with six months of home arrest.  He has already paid a fine of $50,000 and restitution to the Internal Revenue Service of $33,600.In December 2021, Lieber was found guilty of concealing his affiliation with the Wuhan University of Technology and his participation in China’s Thousand Talents Program, a program designed by the Chinese government to recruit high-level scientists, and failing to report payments on his taxes.Lieber’s case was one of the most notable to come out of the U.S. Department of Justice’s "China Initiative," started during the Trump administration in 2018 to curb economic espionage from China.Lieber's attorney Marc Mukasey stressed that Lieber was never charged with espionage-related offenses; was never accused of misusing grant money; there was no theft or trade secrets or intellectual property; and he did not disclose any proprietary research to the Chinese government or university.In February 2022 under the current administration, a decision was made to revamp the program and impose a higher bar for prosecutions after a review based on complaints that it compromised the nation’s competitiveness in research and technology and disproportionally targeted researchers of Asian descent.  The federal government ended up dismissing multiple cases against researchers or had them thrown out by judges.Anqi Zhang, one of Lieber’s former doctoral students who is now doing post-doctoral work in chemical engineering at Stanford University, thinks her mentor’s motives have been misrepresented by the government.  “He’s the best scientist and the best mentor in the world,” she said. “He’s a pure scientist, he worked very hard, and was focused completely on the science.”Read the AP report at: https://bit.ly/3oNTxNDWhile making false statements to federal agents should not be excused, Professor Xiaoxing Xi of Temple University pointed out in his lecture to Iowa State University (video 58:52) on April 10, 2023, that the investigation of Professor Lieber started because there were "too many Chinese students in his lab."  (time mark 22:24)According to Chemistry World on April 27, 2023, as a nanoscience pioneer, Lieber and his research group had received more than $15 million in grants from the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Department of Defense. Over his career, Lieber published more than 400 research papers, and he was the principal inventor on more than 50 patents. Lieber’s contributions to nanotechnology also earned him the Wolf Prize in Chemistry in 2012.Dozens of prominent scientists including many Nobel laureates spoke up for Lieber in a March 2021 open letter. They called the DOJ’s case against him "unjust" and urged the agency to drop it. Their letter also described Lieber as "one of the great scientists of his generation" and warned that government actions against academic like him are having "a chilling effect" on international scientific collaboration.Lieber, who is living with advanced lymphoma and had been on paid administrative leave since his arrest, officially retired in February with little fanfare. Read the Chemistry World Explainer at https://bit.ly/3oUU9kR.  Read the APA Justice webpage on Charlie Lieber at https://bit.ly/328FTJP 

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