A mom almost burst out crying when she called us “kids at my child's school pointed at my child’s head and said, ‘Kill you all Chinese!’”You may have heard of the Jimmy Kimmel show and the news that Disney/ABC and Jimmy Kimmel came out and "apologized". However we will still need to have bigger and bigger protests, till our goal is reached, that is, the living rights of all races. We are one.
For the mom, Jimmy Kimmel's Kids Table Government Shutdown show is anything but a joke. It stoked the hatred in kids’ hearts and led them to similar violence incidents we are hearing about all across the United States of America.
Firstly we want to let you know that the widely publicized so called “apology” by Disney/ABC was an insult. We have the copy to share with anyone who cares to read carefully. After protests by a small but persistent Chinese American organization, they faxed to them a letter in private basically read, “I’m sorry you cannot understand our entertainment. We told you so and took it offline. This is the best and last thing we will do with it. You may live with it or go away!” It is not an apology we will do ourselves or teach our children to do. We want to look into the eyes of the people we hurt and say, “I’m really sorry. Let me rectify it and make sure it never happens again. Please forgive me.”
Like everyone in the new world, we Chinese Americans share the same American dream. Martin Luther King Jr. articulated that dream and people of all colors marched with him. We understand that it is the same dream you cherish and you will be marching with us against racial hatred. Despite China has been the most populous country, it is still a minority in the world. American Chinese, meanwhile, is a even smaller minority in the United States. Despite the distinctive culture and colors making it easier for people to spot together with other Asians, American Chinese is just about 1% of the population, fewer than Jews or people with Norwegian ancestors. We need you to march with us and stare down the hatred because hate crimes can come to you and your community.
For anyone lived in America long enough, he or she already know that one cannot say things like, “Kill all the Black People,” or, “Kill all the Jews.” That is not just politically incorrect. That is fundamentally wrong. How come Disney/ABC can get this “unscripted” from the mouth of a 6 year old and his friends at the table? There were family, institutions, media and a politician telling them that it is okay, telling them that lives of Chinese and others are worthless and obstacle to their well-being. You know, firstly, these are wrong and cannot be farther from the truth. Secondly, they are out and out racial hatred. Similar teaching allowed Nazis to carry out the genocide of Jews in the WWII. Do you realize that the same discrimination against Chinese people were condoned and encouraged, then and now?
During WWII, in Nanking Massacre alone it was estimated that 250,000 to 300,000 Chinese were killed and at least 20,000 Chinese women, including infants and the elderly, were raped. The international society at that time chose not to intervene because in their mindset Chinese lives were not a concern, the same way kids are being taught today. United States realized the mistake and joined the war with Chinese in the Pacific Theater four years later after being awaken from Attack on the Pearl Harbor. By the time the war ended, 20-35 million Chinese died. It was three to six times of all Jews died in the holocaust. More than 400,000 American lives were also lost, the largest ever casualties second only to the American Civil War.
During the Jimmy Kimmel show protest, a Chinese with alias ChAoCai shared his feelings on Time’s website: “my gran[d] grandfather was killed by Japanese, burned alive. I do know the meaning of ‘kill everyone in China’”. For many Chinese with friends and family died during that war when it was okay to “kill everyone in China”. Chinese American knows when it is not joke.
Around the same time in the dark eras of discrimination, Chinese were also isolated, excluded or expelled in some western countries. In the United States Chinese were initially welcome and recruited to develop West and build the first transcontinental railroad. With end of Gold Rush and the post-Civil War economy decline by the 1870s, Chinese workers, then Japanese and all East Asians were blamed, targeted, driven away and expelled. Chinese were even massacred, in the city of Los Angeles, where Jimmy Kimmel now aired his famous question, “Should we allow the Chinese to live?” Despite being challenged by the Supreme Court in numerous prior attempts, the infamous Chinese Exclusion Act was signed into United State federal law in 1882. It was repealed about three generations later in 1943 thanks for WWII alliance. Even after that there’s a national quota of 105 Chinese immigrants per year lasted for another generation till the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. During the generations of discrimination, Chinese were not allowed to integrate into the society, marrying with other races or reunion with their family in America. Today’s historic Chinatowns and isolated Chinese communities are relics of the segregation and discrimination. It is only in 2011 that the United States of American passed “H.Res. 683 (112th): Expressing the regret of the House of Representatives for the passage of laws that adversely affected the Chinese in the United States, including the Chinese Exclusion Act” as a sincere apology to all Chinese American. However we are still looking for a Chinese Integration Act that can undo the centuries of prejudice and wrong. It is not just for Chinese but all Asians and people of all colors.
Back to today, the unscrupulous politicians still blame everything on Chinese and Chinese American even though all the hatred and myths were easily debunked by either unbiased scholars or by plain reality. Like interning of all Japanese American during WWII, Chinese American was treated with suspicions, scorns and sometimes out and out discrimination. The most recent event is the Jimmy Kimmel show, when a 6 years old kids volunteered to kill everyone in China as a solution for the national debt problem and all his friends joined to make sure that killing will succeed. This show happened long after Defense Secretary Leon Panetta called China’s ownership of U.S. debt non-problematic and non-threatening. At the same Japan already once again surpassed China as the largest foreign U.S. debt holder. The fact is, Chinese’s purchasing and holding of a healthy fraction of U.S. debt allowed the Federal Reserve Bank to pump money into the economy and helped United States to weather the worst recession since 1933. China didn't accumulate out-sized portion of U.S. Debt nor can this be used for any fabricated “war”. Among all the significant foreign debt holders tracked by Federal Reserve, per capita U.S. debt held by China comes at rock bottom, far below other countries and even below Russia, which has much smaller trading activity with U.S. The politicians and media chose to deliberately mislead the American People the other way in perpetuating the myth, resentment and hatred against China as well as Chinese Americans.
We urge that you join us in protest against Jimmy Kimmel show and Disney/ABC because of their hate speech. We also urge you to sign up the petitions for an unbiased, independent investigation into Disney/ABC for the systematical failures to prevent such hate speeches from airing. We need the corrective measures and disciplinary actions. We also want the investigation to bring justice to anyone for lies, cover-ups or perjury in the “apologies” and “clarifications” by Disney/ABC. In the meantime, we want Jimmy Kimmel and whoever responsible in airing the show to be suspended, pending the outcome of this investigation, if they are not terminated at this moment.
We know that you will march for the equal protection for Chinese Americans, the enduring hardworking people who are part of the American Dream but subjected to the hatred and discrimination every day.
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/investigate-jimmy-kimmel-kids-table-government-shutdown-show-abc-network/tLxzbBjg
United we will always be fighting against hatred and genocides together. We love the peace because we know how precious lives are.Follow us
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