忏悔与奋起，一位华人对亚裔细分的肺腑之言（英文版）

2017年7月20日，罗德岛民众走到州府面前，面对亚裔细分，发出自己的怒吼。邱毅光先生参与了此次抗议，下面是他的肺腑之言。

My fellow Americans/同胞们，朋友们,

First, I have to confess. I started as a reluctant volunteer, however, I was so moved by the dedication and hard work of three very special individuals. They all have 2 or 3 young children at home. You cannot imagine how hard they have been working and how many things they have donesince the beginning.

I am part of this movement largely because of their their conviction and their unselfishness. 杨宇，立莹and Dr. 陆,please stand up… and let’s give them a big round of applause! Thank you! There are many other people that have also spent many many hours for this cause and I won’t name them one by one here, but let’s thank them! Thank you very much.

Today is a very special day. Thank you for being here. You may not realize it, this is probably the first ever Chinese American protest in RhodeIsland’s history. Today is special, because, we Chinese Americans, are no longer the silent minority – Rhode Island’s Chinese Americans have stood up! 罗德岛华人从此站起来了! We will fight for fair and equal treatment for ourselves, and for our future generations! You all should be very proud of yourselves for being here. Thank you!

Why are we here? We are here to askour governor and state legislators to repeal or change the “All Students CountAct.”

Why repeal this law? Because it singles out only Asian Americans. As you know, we account for less than 4% of Rhode Island’s population. No other racial groups are subject to such divisive and intrusive inquiry.

If the intent is to identify underachieving and underprivileged students, why not focus on more appropriate factors such as family financial and educational background?

And, why ignore the needs of the 96% majority? We don’t need and are NOT ASKING for any special treatment, ALL WE ASK for is fair and equal consideration.

Did you know, in many Rhode Island schools, there are often only one or two Asian students in each grade? Why waste tax dollars and resources to collect such insignificant data? Should this law be repealed?! The answer is YES!

But, the most scary part is that this type of data is subject to manipulation and abuse and can be used to advancerace-based public policies. Do you remember the “Chinese Exclusion Act” and the Japanese Internment Camps?! Our ancestors have suffered enough from this long history of racial discrimination.

Do we need these types of laws? Of course not!

We strongly ask our governor, state senators and representatives to repeal this law! Repeal! Repeal!

Today’s protest is just the beginning of our journey to fight for ourselves AND for our future generations.

If you have not become a citizen, become one;if you have not registered to vote, go register. If you have not donated to any candidates, please find someone you can support and get him or her elected!

Let’s speak up with our mouths and more importantly with our votes! Let our voice be heard! Make it louder and louder!

I hope, one day, at work and at schools, there will be no Asian Americans, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, or White Americans, we are ALL AMERICANS!

Thank you! 谢谢！多谢大家！

推荐阅读

心酸：看罗德岛举牌抗议的这些孩子，却要被细分出来，被潜歧视！

让世界听到华人的声音：集会抗议进行时，罗德岛同胞，为你们点赞！

罗德岛细分亚裔不遗余力，民主党到底意欲何为

7月20日，罗德岛，反亚裔细分，需要你们的支援~~~~~

麻省亚裔细分案，需要您的参与！打电话，一起来吧！

7月20日，关于在罗德岛州政府集会的原因和最后号召！

反亚裔细分，来自麻省的几封英文信件