【双语】为何华裔科学家屡遭FBI调查？法学家、美国百人会会长吴华扬：帮助他们，这是我们共同的事业!

　　过去两年，美国国家气象局水文专家陈霞芬和坦普尔大学物理系教授郗小星分别被卷入中国间谍冤案。他们无辜被联邦调查局以间谍罪调查和检方起诉，饱受惊吓和折磨。虽然最终联邦当局撤销指控，但对当事人却造成巨大打击。此事件在美国华裔群体中引起轩然大波，他们表示，近年来，华裔科学家屡遭FBI调查，华裔刻苦努力，但被如此对待，有失公允，同时令人对美国司法失望。 　　近日，美国华人精英组织“百人会”新任会长、知名华裔法学家吴华扬在美国著名政治博客网站《赫芬顿邮报》上发表文章，针对这一事件评论声援。

▲ 吴华扬

种族歧视面面观：华裔科学家的血泪史

文 | 吴华扬

翻译 | 刘晓笑

　　在过去的两年中，联邦政府两次对美国华人发起了骇人听闻的控告，说他们是间谍，令人尴尬的是，这些案件最终都被证明是捕风捉影。联邦政府联邦政府鲜有看到刑事案件这样土崩瓦解，但是它仍有权剥夺已经拿到美国国籍的公民的生命。郗小星，坦普尔大学物理系主任，以及陈霞芬，国家气象局的中级公务员，历经百般苦难，才最终证明自己的清白。CBS新闻六十分也制作了一个他们为了公正进行的斗争节目片段。
　　学校里面的行政人员因为认可郗小星作为一个科学家的成就，所以允许郗小星保留教职。而陈霞芬虽然最终证明了自己的清白，但仍被解雇。
▲ 陈霞芬（上）、郗小星（下）

　　两个受害者都在等待着道歉。用“受害者”这个词是很危险的，只能够在合适的时候用这个词。但在这里用这个词恰如其分。似乎遵守法律的美国人正做着一些他们曾经用来批评中国的事情：独断专行、反复无常、子虚乌有、鲁莽草率，完全与法律的规定相反。人们鼓励他们站起来畅所欲言。郗小星和陈霞芬做了美国人该做的事情——抗议。陈霞芬打算起诉，要么她就难逃死劫。他们只想捡一条命回来。 　　可联邦政府所做的事情更加过分、令人发指。简直就是一种凌辱。 　　如果只有一个这样的案例，那尚且可以说是一种失误。·····但之前却又有一模一样的先例。（在这两个案例之前其实还有一起类似的案例，只是不太公开化，涉及的是制药厂的员工） 　　1882年颁布了排华法案以反对中国人，该法案是恬不知耻的种族主义者提出的。讽刺的是，很多挑头反对亚洲劳工的的人，大规模采取暴力推动在太平洋上下肃清，他们都是来自欧洲的新移民。他们的努力成功了，他们最终阻止了所有的亚洲移民，最高院也在那一天通过了这部只有严格配额的限制性免责条款的排华法案，开启了联邦层面的边境控制。 　　二战期间又通过了对拘留日裔美国人的拘留，因为怀疑他们对作为敌国的日本帝国心存眷恋。即便其中2/3在美国当地出生的都不能被排除，因为在所谓的美国人看来，他们神秘不可测。当亚洲人被美国文化同化，变成天主教徒，开始打棒球，成为成功的企业家时，大家又觉得他们相当狡猾，是亚洲国家派来进行经济竞争的潜伏特工。
　　陈果仁，因为被人当做是日本人而遇害的一名华人，就是这一现象最好的例证。在“汽车城”底特律，在20世纪80年代的萧条时代，两个白人汽车工人用棒球棍把他活活打死。据目击者称，他们用种族歧视和污秽的言语，暗指就是因为像陈果仁这样的“日本人”，他们才失业。 　　还有一系列类似的案例，比如李文和。在911灾难以前，新墨西哥州洛斯阿拉木斯地物理学家，据说是对国家安全最大的威胁。这位来自台湾的已经被同化的华人，被指控将核武器秘密泄露给中国，继而被关押在单人监狱。最终，他什么也没有承认，以为他什么也没做错，联邦政府投降了，但也只是在一个公开审判中由一名保守的联邦法官以美国政府的名义道歉告终。（八月份的纽约时报也只发布了一篇文章以撤销该案铺天盖地的影响力，但也只有短短几行。）
▲ 李文和

　　对于几乎所有美国华人，甚至对于那些已经读不到这些历史的美国华人，这些片段几乎已经被遗忘。但历史的罪人需要向他们每一个人道歉。 　　美国之所以成为美国的就是他的开放性。美国比包括中国在内的其他任何国家都欢迎来自不同肤色、不同种族、不同语言、不同信仰、各行各业的人。美国社会成就了这个国家。美国没有单一的种族。相反，我们共同的主题就是任何人都可以拥抱民主。 　　我们不能总是保证不辜负我们远大的理想。但是我们在进步，因为自治，因为民主参与，我们有能力更正自己。在以华人赵美心为代表提出的一项决议中，美国国会最近对排除中国移民表示后悔。虽然司法部刚刚宣布一项新政策将会避免更多像是郗小星和陈霞芬的案件，但其指导方针只是部分措施，不能完全阻止对他们的控诉。 　　我必须承认，在美国出生的我，对于移民对这个国家作出的贡献感到惊叹，我的父母也是如此。他们对美国梦的信仰远胜过我。但我又不必诧异。他们为了来到这里做出了巨大的牺牲，而我已经不需要再这样做。我看到郗小星和陈霞芬的演讲大厅挤满了人，观众们起立鼓掌，因为他们渴望被人接受的愿望感人肺腑、令人叹服。郗小星在他漫步经过华盛顿纪念碑的时候想起他的案件。陈霞芬定居到俄亥俄，享受着碧蓝的天空。我受到鼓舞，想要帮助他们。 　　我们创造了这个国家，我们正在继续创造。这个国家不是从旧世界继承来的，而是我们自己的，我们要善待这个世界。我相信，当人们了解到发生在陈霞芬和郗小星身上的事情时，他们将为这项事业团结起来，因为这是我们的事业，我们所有人的事业。

作者简介

　　吴华扬，美国华人精英组织“百人会”（C-100）新任会长，加州大学系统下的黑斯廷斯大学前校长。吴华扬是知名亚裔法学家，曾在美国法律界创下诸多历史性记录。他表示，将致力于为美国华人社群构建交流与沟通桥梁。
　　吴华扬于2009年起担任黑斯廷斯法学院校长兼院长，2015年底离任并自2016年1月1日起担任特聘教授。该学院是美国著名法学院，也是美国西海岸和加州州立大学系统的第一所法学院。他加入百人会已有近15年。
　　吴先生是加州历史上首位亚裔法学院院长，曾被业内刊物评选为美国法律教育领域最有影响力的院长。在加入黑斯廷斯法学院之前，吴先生曾在华盛顿地区的著名黑人大学霍华德大学任教，是首位在该校任教的亚裔。他也曾担任位于其故乡底特律市的韦恩州立大学法学院院长，是该学院首位亚裔院长，时为全美仅有的三位亚裔法学院院长之一。此外，吴先生还曾在斯坦福大学、哥伦比亚大学、密歇根大学、乔治.华盛顿大学、马里兰大学以及北京大学国际法学院任教。

【原文阅读】

Racial Profiling: Doing Science While Asian American

Frank H. Wu

May happens to be  Even as we celebrate the contributions of the fastest growing racial minority in the nation, we are witnessing history repeat itself. The dominant theme of the Asian American experience has been — and seems to remain — the perpetual foreigner syndrome. From the earliest arrival of Asians on these shores, we have been characterized as sojourners who were unwilling or even unable to assimilate, always loyal to a foreign sovereignty. By this standard, “Asian American” is an oxymoron. Yet we continue to insist that we are here to stay, belonging as equals.

In the past two years, the federal government has twice targeted Asian immigrants for prosecution with sensational allegations that they were spies, only to be embarrassed by the cases turning out to have no basis whatsoever. The federal government rarely sees its criminal cases disintegrate in such absolute terms, but it possesses the power to ruin the lives of naturalized citizens. Both , chair of the physics department at Temple University, and , a mid-level civil servant with the National Weather Service, vindicated themselves through exhaustive struggles. 

Xi was allowed to keep his job by college administrators who recognized his accomplishments as a scientist. 

 The word “victim” is dangerous. It should be invoked only if appropriate. It is here. These look like instances of law-abiding Americans being subjected to what observers criticize China for: arbitrary, capricious, baseless, reckless official actions contrary to the rule of law.

  Xi and Chen have done what Americans are supposed to do: protest.  has started a national campaign to address these issues. Chen plans to file a civil lawsuit. Neither set out to be a martyr. They only want their lives back.

What the federal government did to Xi and Chen is worse than wrong. It is an outrage. 

If it were only one case, it might be possible to dismiss it as an aberration. But there is precedent as well as a pattern. ()

The  was enacted to keep out Chinese, urged by unabashed racists who feared the Yellow Peril. Ironically, many of the agitators who organized against Asian laborers, even resorting to violence in mass purges up and down the Pacific Coast, were themselves newcomers from Europe. The successful effort, which eventually prohibited all Asian migrants, with limited exceptions subject to strict quotas, initiated federal control of the borders, and the Supreme Court decisions acquiescing to it are to this day the law of the land.

During World War II, the was premised on the suspicion they had remained beholden to an enemy Emperor. Even the two thirds of the community who were native born to this nation were not exempt, because they were declared to be inscrutable. When Asians were assimilated, having converted to Christianity, playing baseball, and succeeding as entrepreneurs, they were said to be especially tricky, some sort of sleeper agents disguised as economic competition. 

The , a young Chinese American apparently assumed to be a Japanese foreigner, exemplified the phenomenon. In Detroit, the “Motor City,” during the 1980s recession, two white autoworkers bludgeoned him to death with a baseball bat. According to witnesses, they used racial slurs and obscenities, insinuating that he was to blame for their being out of work. 

The new set of cases resemble that of Wen Ho Lee. Before the tragedy of 9-11, the Los Alamos physicist was said to be the most significant threat to national security. Accused of passing on nuclear secrets to China, the naturalized citizen from Taiwan was held in solitary confinement. The matter ended not with his confessing, since he had done nothing wrong, but with the government giving up, . (The august New York Times issued  for its role in promoting lurid coverage.)

To all but Asian Americans, and even to Asian Americans who are not taught about the past any more than any other Americans, these episodes are all but forgotten. Taken together, they should be regarded as significant even to those who are willing to excuse the single mistake.

Asian Americans do not often complain about mistreatment, even when they should. While , . We have heard more than once that heckler’s jeer that if we don’t like it here, then we can go back to where we came from. 

That is how the perpetual foreigner syndrome works at its worst. It allows bigots to rationalize their actions and others to shrug off the resulting problem. In the appeal of the Vincent Chin case, the lawyers argued “Orientals” were not covered by civil rights laws. The court was not persuaded by that preposterous suggestion.

There is a real threat of espionage from China and elsewhere. That is an argument for, not against, solid investigation techniques and smart exercise of prosecutorial discretion. Chinese Americans, some of whom are sixth-generation at this point, are vital to basic science in academic labs, research and development for major corporations, and technological progress in Silicon Valley. The United States could not compete in the global marketplace without that talent it can attract from overseas. It depends on Asian immigrants. It cannot afford to alienate us.

It will be said, as it has been said of other civil rights claims, that there are instances of wrongdoers who have an identical background to this defendant or that. No doubt that is true. The facts should not be glossed over. 

Yet the response should be, with the same strength of principle as with other groups, that the handful of people who have violated the law should not compromise the full citizenship of the millions who are no different than coworkers and neighbors. They deserve due process. The guilt of strangers who happen to be of similar ancestry does not impugn their innocence. Saying otherwise is the essence of racial profiling. 

That is why we do not — or ought not — stereotype all African Americans as criminals or all Arab Americans as terrorists. That is the social contract we have made with one another. Such commitments are what binds us together despite our differences. 

There is an additional possibility. As an American, I reject it. That other possibility is we are hypocrites. When we say we are against racial profiling, we are only for self-interest.

What makes America great is its openness. Compared to any other nation, including for example China, America has welcomed people of more colors, ethnicities, languages, faiths and walks of life than any other civilization, likely since society organized into nations. There is no single American race. Instead, we have celebrated a unique proposition that anyone can embrace this experiment of democracy. 

We have not at all times lived up to our profound ideals. But we continue to make progress, with the capacity to correct ourselves thanks to self-governance and civic engagement. , in a resolution sponsored by a Chinese American, Representative Judy Chu. Although  such as in the Xi and Chen cases, the guidelines are partial measures that likely would not have prevented the pursuit of charges against them.

I have to admit that as a native born citizen, I have been taken aback by the enthusiasm that immigrants (no different than my own parents) display for the values of this nation. Their belief in the American Dream surpasses mine. I should not be surprised. They sacrificed to come here as I did not have to. I have seen  and each tell their story to packed rooms, receiving standing ovations, because their yearning to be accepted is so understandable, so compelling. Xi reflected on his case as he jogged by monuments in Washington, D.C.; Chen enjoyed the blue skies of Ohio, where she had settled. (I’ve been inspired to help them.)

We have made this nation, and we continue to remake it. It was not inherited from the Old World. It is ours, truly ours, to make the best of. I have confidence that when people learn about what has happened to Chen and Xi, they will rally to their cause — because it is our cause, all of us. 

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