Author deplores bias against Asian Americans

"Rape of Nanking" author Iris Chang gives talk at Princeton University.

By: Brooke R. Stoddard
   Author Iris Chang claimed Wednesday evening that the United States government has mistreated Asian Americans for over a century and continues its oppression today.
   "If there’s one lesson I’d like to get out to my readers, it’s that democracy is not and was never a guarantee. It is still a young and fragile experiment," Ms. Chang told 75 students and faculty in Princeton University’s McCosh Hall.
   She is the author of the bestseller "The Rape of Nanking" and a new book, "The Chinese in America."
   Named "Woman of the Year" by the Organization of Chinese Americans, she delivered the closing lecture for Princeton University’s celebration of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.
   Ms. Chang blames both economic crises and hostile international situations, such as the capture of a U.S. surveillance plane in China in July 2001, for sudden increases of anti-Asian American sentiment.
   "It’s important to understand the forces just underneath these racial atrocities," she said.
   According to Ms. Chang, the U.S. government often uses racism as an unfair tool of social control.
   "The danger of racial profiling is when the government uses it to divide and conquer and break down civil liberties until everyone suffers in the end," she said.
   To combat abuses of power, Ms. Chang suggested organizing public protests, writing columns and letters for local newspapers, and speaking with elected officials.
   "To be effective champions of democracy," she said, "all groups should be more aggressive in cross-color-line discussion."
   Arguing against the stereotype that Asian Americans are apathetic politically, Ms. Chang also praised their determined pursuit of equality since the mid-19th century.
   "They went to the law and used the law to fight for their rights," she said. "When the Chinese worked on the railroads in California, they sued and won higher wages."
   But Ms. Chang acknowledged the possibility of heading backwards in the movement for civil rights.
   "I’m afraid the gain of the past century and a half may be wiped out in a certain amount of time," she said.
   Ms. Chang said the history of racism toward Asian Americans is similar to experiences among other minority groups.
   "If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my research it’s that no one particular racial group is either immune from being victims or persecuting other groups," she said.