FROM DEATH ROW
When Wen Ho Lee Went Free
Suspected spy. Stealer of nuclear secrets. Tai-wan-born Traitor. These are some of the ideas that flashed through the mind whenever the media mentioned the name Wen Ho Lee to millions. They rarely said these things, but of course they didn't need to. You knew what they really meant when they said "accused Los Alamos nuclear scientist," and then heard the name, which shouts its ethnic, Chinese origins. Nor did the government pull its punches when it arrested and interrogated the diminutive, 60-year-old Asian-American: "Do you know who Julius and Ethel Rosenburg were? They stole nuclear secrets for the Russians! We put 'em in the electric chair-and we'll do the same thing to you!"
This "American citizen" was thrown into solitary confinement for the better part of a year--over 270 days-to wait for trial. Over 50 charges were leveled at him. Bail was denied, and FBI supervisors falsely testified that he had flunked a lie detector test. When Dr. Lee's lawyers petitioned the Court for bail, the government requested draconian conditions for bail: tapped phones, sweeps of his home, monitors on his person, limits on discussions with his wife! And then, after 9 months in repressive solitary lockdown, one week after bail was denied, the US government approved a plea agreement, which consisted of a guilty plea to one count of the 59-count indictment, and time served.
No spy counts; no espionage charges; no substantive offenses . . . and less than a year in prison. The spectacle of this relatively tiny man, bespectacled, a hint of a smile on his face, accompanied by tall, hulking, armed government agents symbolizes the inherent disadvantage and powerlessness that a so-called citizen has when the government is against you. Was the prosecution of Dr. Lee a case of prosecutorial racial profiling? Ask yourself if he was a British immigrant, or a German immigrant, or a Czechoslavic immigrant, would this have occurred? You know the answer. He was Chinese, Asian, yellow, and other. He was the forever foreign, and the embodiment of "Yellow Peril." He was, well, "inscrutable" (you know how they are). He was everything but American, for, as much as the media enjoys projecting Asian-Americans as the so-called "model minority," this is but a false label used to flog and demean the classical "unmodel minority"--Blacks.
When push comes to shove (as during World War II) the government, using the media, can as easily demonize a people as it can a man; and it can just as easily intern many as it can one man. What Dr. Lee's experience teaches is how empty is the presumption of innocence is, and how powerful is the presumption of guilt. It teaches us the role of the media in justifying the unjustifiable.
Night Drive
"For you are prisoners of war, in an enemy's country-of a war, too, that is unrivalled for its injustice, cruelty, meanness . . . "
--Frederick Douglass (1850)
For millions of people, a daily drive, with no specific destination in mind, is a form of re-laxation and enjoyment. It evokes little worry, other than the occasional pique over the cost of gas. For most, this is a practice that is a harmless, pleasant diversion. For many Black folks, however, this is a daily practice that unsettles the nerves, that upsets the stomach, and sounds the alarm of danger. For they know that they can be subjected to hassle, harassment, humiliation, harm, and insult for daring to violate the unwritten law of DWB (or Driving While Black). It matters not what class, what complexion, or what status the driver, for being Black is enough. Several weeks ago, a well-to-do couple was driving through Montgomery County in Maryland. Their car was stopped, and eight police cars, as well as at least 16 armed cops, surrounded them. High-intensity spotlights beamed upon them, and over a dozen pistols and shotguns were aimed at them. They were thus ordered to exit the car, and to walk backwards some 40 feet or so, with their hands on their heads. Then, the two were handcuffed. Several moments later, the cops removed the husband's identification, and then they learned of their mistake.
The two were Bob Nash and Janis Kearney, who both worked in high-level jobs at the White House. Nash is Director of the Office of Presidential Personnel, and his wife is a Special Assistant to the President. Nash, in a recently published letter, wrote that he and his wife were "traumatized . . . humiliated and afraid for our lives." The couple, who described themselves as strong supporters of law enforcement, and "law-abiding citizens," experienced DWB, firsthand. It didn't matter that they were, presumably, well-educated, well-connected, well-groomed, or had a friend and boss in the Oval Office. It didn't matter that their car was different in color from the suspect vehicle! It mattered that they were Black-period. If the President of the United States couldn't even protect them-what about you?
©2000 MAJ, All Rights Reserved
Winter 2000
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