Case galvanized Asian-Americans

The surprise conclusion to the Wen Ho Lee case is for Asian-Americans that underscores the weakness of the prosecution and points to racial discrimination in the country's top research laboratories, community and civic leaders said Wednesday.

``Today's events really proved that the government really didn't have a case. This is a way for the government to gracefully back out of the situation. More than ever, I'm convinced this is a scapegoat situation,'' said Lester Lee, a Silicon Valley businessman who started a national legal-defense fund for Wen Ho Lee.

Academics and community and civil rights leaders from across the United States roundly approved of Lee's release Wednesday. Lee got out of prison after pleading guilty to one felony count of mishandling sensitive nuclear information. The government dropped the remaining 58 felony counts in exchange for Lee's cooperation.

`Gestapo' investigation

``It's a bitter victory because Dr. Lee was arbitrarily fired and he and his family and friends were subjected to nine months of Gestapo-type investigation,'' said L. Ling-chi Wang, director of the Asian-American Studies Program at University of California-Berkeley and an early supporter of Lee.

``I'm just relieved that he's out and the general public recognizes that the government has no case against him,'' said Henry Der, deputy superintendent for public instruction with the California Department of Education.

Der said there could be no vindication in the fact that Lee spent nine harsh months in jail, lost his job and pension, and is unlikely to regain his reputation in the scientific community as a result of the case.

``We accomplished one of our two goals -- freedom for Dr. Lee -- and now we're going to work on getting justice for him,'' said Cecilia Chang, a Fremont resident and friend of the Lee family. Chang established the Web site WenHoLee.org, a non-profit group that was instrumental in raising $500,000 in legal fees for Lee.

``I can picture him working in his garden again and cooking for his family. That's what I feel most happy about,'' Chang said.

Although there were disagreements among some Asian-Americans about how forcefully they should have taken a stand on Lee's case, the community in general learned a lesson about the U.S. political system, Der and others said.

``I think there's a positive here. I think it was a wake-up call to people who were going on about their lives and realized that what happened to Dr. Lee could happen to them. It resonated with the Asian-American community, in particular with the Chinese-Americans who are working in high technology in Silicon Valley,'' said Ted Wang, policy director for Chinese for Affirmative Action in San Francisco. The group was one of the first Asian-American organizations in the country to question the case against Lee.

Asian-Americans around the country rallied behind Lee, holding demonstrations in San Francisco and Palo Alto and elsewhere to call for the scientist's release. The Organization of Chinese Americans, a national civil rights group, criticized the investigation, saying Lee did not receive due process.

``We continue to be concerned about the impact of this on Asian-Americans especially in the national laboratories,'' said Daphne Kwok, executive director of OCA in Washington, D.C.

Galvanizing factor

Lee's case galvanized the community around an important civil rights issue, but it also taught many others another lesson: transcending cultural traditions, and being more aggressive in taking a stance.

``You can't talk about due process in a sterile fashion. You need to stand up and say: `This is racism,' '' Der said.

That lesson, Der and others said, is perhaps the most important learned by many Asian-Americans from the Wen Ho Lee case.

``It would be sad if the American public should forget about this incident because it originates from racism and bigotry in government,'' said George Koo, a Mountain View businessman who spoke out against Lee's arrest and detention.

``Somehow or other, we seem to fall into the same pattern,'' said Richard Konda, executive director of Asian Law Alliance, a San Jose-based legal advocacy group. ``There's an assumption of guilt because of a person's ethnic background.''