By P.C. Staff
The Committee of 100 (C-100) and six national Asian Pacific American organizations have joined forces in an effort to reach out to U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch. The effort was made in order to look at a growing number of criminal prosecutions that appear to have elements of racial discrimination. The respective groups involved are National Council of Chinese Americans, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs Assn., Chinese American Citizens Alliance, National Asian Pacific American Bar Assn. and Asian Pacific American Advocates.
Those groups have expressed concerns over “irresponsible prosecutions and inflammatory rhetoric made by investigators and government attorneys.” Herman Li, acting C-100 chairman, said, “The Department of Justice has a duty to protect the rights of those whom it chooses to investigate and to employ law enforcement practices free from bias.”
Among the stated reasons of concern by those organizations was the apparent appearance of a “pattern of targeting ethnic Chinese in America on the basis of race and national origin.” Requests have been made by Congressman Ted W. Lieu and 21 colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives for the Department of Justice to investigate if race and national origin are being used to target federal employees. The ultimate goal for the C-100 is to “find better ways to handle these cases and enable the government to protect U.S. interest and national security while protecting civil liberties of all Chinese Americans.”
