莱克星顿（Lexington）反亚裔细分纪实

去年和今年，加州、纽约等地相继通过亚裔细分法案，在全美华人圈掀起巨浪，“为什么只有亚裔被分？这是种族歧视！” -- 这个呼声此起彼伏。 

尽管遭遇到华人的抗议，亚裔细分仍然如同一股恶流，四处蔓延。 先是到了华盛顿州，不久就来到了深蓝的麻州。

2017年3月17日，在波士顿Lexington的华人居民群，一位群友分享了Lexington 20/20 Vision committee 发放给全体居民在线填写的调查表格。 指出其中第49项属于亚裔细分......，立即引起了众多群友们的强烈关注和疑问。

3月18日, 莱克星顿华人协会（CAAL: Chinese American Association of Lexington ）做出了声明(见Statement)，首先表示没有参与表格设计，只提供了中文翻译帮助，同时并认为20/20的解释可以接受，并希望大家填表。这引发了华人内部激烈的讨论。随着上述信息在麻州大波士顿地区各个华人群中的迅速传播，这件事关注高度发酵，纷纷议论“亚裔细分到Lexington了，华协为什么不出面抵制？”，“我们该怎么做？”

3月19日，一些热心的挺川群友牵头建立了麻省反亚裔细分（支持Lexington）微信群。此群迅速成长到200多人， Lexington本地和各地群友积极热情地在群里商讨解决方案。CAAL继续向居民发声明解释，再次希望大家填表。

3月20日星期一，反细分群的几位群友群策群力，写出请愿书，请求Lexington 20/20 Vision Committee修改调查表，删除其中亚裔细分的种族歧视内容。同时做网上签名表紧急征集请愿签名。此表于当晚9:20正式上线，十几小时后在次日下午四点收到318个签名，其中半数左右为Lexington 当地居民。

CAAL响应群众号召，联系20/20 Vision Committee 成员进行沟通。在当天晚上通知村民在次日晚7点于市厅会议室举行特别沟通见面会。两个华协协调者以及四位20/20 Vision Committee委员参加，由于场地限制只有十位Lexington华人居民可报名。

3月21日星期二，报名参加沟通会的10位群友，用了大半天时间积极讨论如何有效地20/20沟通，并询问CAAL协调员的具体观点，未得到回复。下午6:30，麻州反亚裔细分华人群体并事先得到警察局许可, 组织Lexington以及临近村镇居民制作了若干标语牌到会场合法抗议。当时正值下班时间，很多人晚饭未吃匆匆赶来。 20/20 Committee现任华裔委员（前任CAAL主席）也参加了会议，这样从镇来的委员有原定四位变为五位。20/20 Committee临时换了大会议室，并邀请外面举牌示威的也都进去听讨论。

会议期间，多位代表用2-3分钟发表了自己的看法并提供了各种可能方案，另外还有多位群民即兴发言。有些CAAL核心成员在会上作了发言，但CAAL作为协调员在会上没有表明立场。20/20 Vision Committee 的委员们充分听取了大家的意见并表示理解。但由于双方分歧比较大，沟通会没有取得实质性进展。会后交流中，20/20的华裔委员（前任CAAL主席）表示会努力把这个事情加入周五20/20的月度例会流程中讨论。

会议现场一度气氛非常激烈。没有事先通知，CAAL改变计划临时请来的几位 Lexington居民对亚裔细分表示理解（其中包括镇里德高望重的一对老教授夫妇，而后来事情发展表明老教授夫妇当时对亚裔细分并不知情，了解实情后也理解大家的担忧，不再反对我们。但不禁要问，为什么不了解实情的老教授当时会被邀请到现场？）由于当时华人内部对立的意见以及现场激烈的争论，沟通会议没有达到预期目的。

3月22-23日，由于没有结果，反细分群成员纷纷出谋划策，继续收集签名很多人电话和email联系20/20成员及town selectman，并得到回复愿意关注此事。有人请律师入群咨询，有人研究town selectmen meeting 流程。反细分群又拟了份要求Lexington 政委会（Board of selectmen)给出回复期限的请愿书。。。这一切形成外界巨大的压力。

与此同时，几位参加周二晚meeting的Lexington华人居民和20/20华裔委员密切联系，争取把华人的诉求放入三天后 20/20 月会进行讨论和表决，同时积极做参加旁听周五月会的准备。华裔委员也积极斡旋双方、传递删除细分亚裔选项、合并已填亚裔细分数据和不再细分声明的明确诉求给20/20其他委员们，并鼓励他们参加此会以确保有足够投票人数，确认该议题进入周五20/20的约会流程。

3月23日晚，CAAL出面召集居民代表讨论参加20/20周五早7:45的月会，在讨论中，居民代表纷纷询问CAAL的态度，但未得到答复。CAAL有2人参加，居民有5人报名。

3月24日星期五7:45，在20/20 Vision Committee月会上，华人代表和委员们交换了看法。Lexington镇管理委员会主席也到场旁听。20/20有些委员表示支持我们，有些则表示修改表格有技术上难度，同时指出CAAL提供翻译帮助和周二会上激烈争执显示华人内部意见不统一，另外他们咨询了其他亚裔组织如印度裔和韩裔，他们表示愿意执行亚裔细分。会上华人居民代表宣读了华人的请愿书，表达了诉求。请愿书被委员们接受并收入会议录。由于20/20委员会到场人数只有6人未达到法定半数（8人），不能投票表决。双方讨论至此陷入僵局。

由于没有结果，几位参会的居民连夜建了个莱镇居民细分群展开内部讨论，并决定在3月25日和26日分别组织两场居民面谈会，邀请CAAL leaders商量下一步事宜。这期间有位CAAL的领导成员以个人名义声明反对亚裔细分立场并呼吁大家团结一致，得到居民大力称赞。同时麻省反细分群的群友们也都在继续群策群力，积极商讨各种办法如何给镇里表达诉求，给Lexington镇管理委员会电话和email、联系律师、媒体、开始号召抵制填写调查表，讨论邀请记者参加周一3/27日6点召开的Lexington 政委会的年度大会，继续推动反细分。

3月25-26日有两位热心群友分别提供两次会议的场地，两次见面会如期举行。大家讨论了1、分析形势 2、反驳理由 3、可接受结果及对策。莱镇细分讨论群也自发组织草根面谈会讨论出明确删除细分选项、合并已填亚裔数据及镇里声明几点要求，并准备继续提出申述。CAAL的主要负责人也积极行动，主动和Lexington镇管理委员会的每一位委员接触，努力开展说服工作。Lexington镇里德高望重华裔老教授也转变观念表示支持华人的申诉。CAAL同时与其它亚裔协会沟通并寻求支持，印裔协会和韩裔协会都表示也反对亚裔细分。

3月26星期日晚8:30，莱镇细分群召集的第二次草根面谈会正在进行中，CAAL的几位负责人带来好消息：经过各方的努力，Lexington镇委员会终于接受了华人的申诉，将于第二天下午前彻底删除 20/20调查表中的亚裔细分选项，已经收集的细分数据也将被合并处理，并推延调查表结束时间。

3月27日星期一下午约1点，Lexington 20/20 VisionCommittee 网上调查表格如期更新，全面去除亚裔细分选项，纸面调查表也同时被更新。此消息沸腾了麻省细分群和莱镇细分群，也飞速在附近镇的华人群里传播。担忧一周的群友们开始庆祝这一胜利。至此，Lexington居民调查表的亚裔细分问题被圆满解决，当地华人开始积极踊跃填写调查表格。很快，这一则消息通过微信的传播，迅速传遍美国华人社区。 

总结：亚裔细分问题涉及种族歧视，分裂亚裔，危及华人在美的生存和发展空间，被全美北美华人高度重视。Lexington亚裔细分事件只是冰山一角，麻省总医院和波士顿市公立学校都已出现亚裔细分表格，在这大趋势下，反亚裔细分将是一个长期、不懈的抗争。Lexington华裔反亚裔细分，在从开始只有草根群友们反对和抗议，到最后得到绝大多数人的支持和理解，充分体现了华人内部统一和团结的重要性。整个事件，展示了新一代网络社交媒体的巨大推动力和广大普通居民参政议政的热情，也体现CAAL听取意见团结华人一致对外发挥的威力。最后，我们对Lexington镇管理委员会和20/20 Vision Committee尤其是其中华裔委员的理解和支持表示赞赏和感谢。

在这次亚裔细分反击的努力过程中，开始的不顺，也由于华人内部有很多不和谐声音，值得回顾。作为CAAL核心成员之一，在镇居民群公开表示：“大家自己搞分裂，微信灌水不解决问题。” 草根们在呼吁良久后，得来的是CAAL一纸纸让填表的声明，无奈才自己开始组织申诉，和相关人士电话，邮件沟通，及抗议去维护华人基本权益，因此就要背负一个分裂的罪名？那么，是不是不作为、不维护华人权益就是不分裂？

另一CAAL核心成员，在调查表修改先后也公开表示：“这次反细分是针对一个毫无恶意的survey，名不正，言不顺。” “镇里为了团结做了很大让步，因为他们始终都无恶意，本可以坚持不改的。”亚裔细分长远来看，将危及华人在美生存空间，限制华人的社会资源份额，涉及求学、就业。。。难道维护华人自身权益就是名不正、言不顺？为什么涉嫌歧视的细分表格原本可以不改？为什么在反亚裔细分的过程中，华人会有这样的声音，值得深思。

CAAL Statement:

—————  2017-3-18  —————

XXX 10:09 AM

Want to address the question about the upcoming town wide survey.

First of all, CAAL was not involved in designing this survey. Near the end, CAAL did help find someone to translate the survey to Chinese.

We did notice the race classification question near the end of the survey. We know our community has concerns about such questions. With that in mid, we reached out to the people who are responsible for the survey, expressed our concern, and asked how the data are intended to be used. We had contacted with 20/20 Vision Committee chairman Mr. Fernando Quezada, committee member Mr. Peter Enrich who is in charge of the survey project, Prof. Marian Cohen from Framingham State University, who helped design the survey and will be the Principle Investigator on the upcoming study of the data, as well as Mr. Joe Pato, who is one of the five Selectmen and who is also on the 20/20 Vision Committee (which conducts this survey).

Mr. Pato first indicated that “this information is used to compare against the US census to determine if we have a statistically valid cross section of respondents (as compared to the town's demographics)”.

Here is what Prof. Cohen said:

As Joe indicated in his response to your query, the data will be used primarily to assess the extent to which the sample of respondents we receive corresponds to the Census data on the composition of our community. In other words, have we achieved a representative sample of residents? Ethnicity is but one way we can determine this. (Other questions, such as those pertaining to sex, age, educational achievement, income, etc. are other important variables in this connection, and we ask about those on the survey as well.) Representativeness is important to establishing that we have adequately and appropriately measured the attitudes and concerns of members of our community. As you know,  the Asian-American community is a large and important segment of our Town. We would want to be sure that members of that group are well-represented in the sample of respondents.

As Joe also noted, responses to the survey are anonymous. Responses by individuals will not be able to be associated with any individuals. Further, all information provided will be held confidential. (I will be the only one to have access to raw data.) Only aggregated responses will be studied and reported.

As a sociologist and student of social history, and as a concerned citizen myself, I can certainly appreciate questions that some members of your community might have about how information will be used, especially in our current political climate. There is no intention to use the data collected for racial discrimination purposes. Rather, the data are intended to be used to better understand the opinions and needs of members of our Town, and to help Town leaders better respond to those. I hope you will see this survey as an opportunity for members of your community to express their positions and their hopes for Lexington's future and their role in it. The recent study of Asian-American communities in Lexington demonstrates the Town's concern for learning more about those communities and for ensuring that those cultures/ethnicities are well-integrated (not discriminated against) in our Town. The purpose of the upcoming survey is not to target any group but, rather, to hear from residents so that our Town can better represent all residents.

When asked if what Prof Cohen said represents 20/20 Vision Committee, Mr. Pato said:

Yes, I confirm for both 20/20 and the Board of Selectmen that this survey is anonymous and only being used to gather input on community concerns.

Your comments, however, suggest that the discomfort I feel about the current national political climate and the rise of intolerance is more acutely felt in the Chinese community.

The Lexington Board of Selectmen issued a proclamation on Monday Feb 27 (attached) reaffirming our commitment to being a welcoming, inclusive, and safe community for everyone - treating all people fairly and fully embracing the unique contributions of all Lexington residents.

We strongly condemn those who attempt to fan the fires of bigotry and intolerance for political or other purposes. We deplore expressions and acts of hostility, intimidation, harassment, and other acts of intolerance and bigotry.

We reaffirm and renew our commitment to ensure that all members of our community are free from acts that are rooted in fear, ignorance, prejudice, and hate, and we urge all our citizens to judge each other by the strength and qualities of their character.

Here is the Proclamation that Mr. Pato mentioned that the Board of Selectmen issued on 2/27. (attached)

We think the answers from the 20/20 Vision Committee are reasonable. From what we have learnt, this survey is designed to look into the future of Lexington, to gather input about the residents about the town government, town infrastructures, and town services. It asks for suggestions. The race classification question helps the town to know the inputs from the ethnic groups, which will help us in the long run, because our community input will be heard and used to help plan for the future.

CAAL Executive Committee has discussed this survey and recommended our community to participate.

Of course, the survey is not mandatory, and you don’t need to answer any specific question. You can take it online. Chinese version is available in the Community Center, Town Hall, and Cary Library. You can also download a copy to fill out, but you do need to bring it to the drop off location (one of three locations mentioned).

Here is the Chinese version you can download, fill out, and drop off.

attachment

Lex Town-wide survey 2017 Translation Mandarin V. 3.pdf (View in attachment)

10:34 AM

如果你想影响 Lexington未来的建设，请做一下这个survey。

Lexington’s 20/20 Vision Committee invites all Lexington residents to participate in a survey about Lexington’s community, services, and government.  

The survey will be available to be completed on-line through Friday, March 31 at the following link:

http://www.lexingtonma.gov/2020survey