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发表于 2017-5-4 18:05:55
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Fwd: Fw: Protest from National Women's League of ROC--Chicago?
Subject: Fw: Protest from National Women's League of ROC--Chicago
Dear members:
Forwarding this email for Vivienne Shen, the President of the National
Women's League of Republic of China--Chicago, because her computer got
the problem to send this email to group of recipients.
Please read the letter below or open the attached letter.
Bonnie Chin - Duputy Executive Director
--- On Tue, 3/23/10, Vivienne Shen wrote:
From: Vivienne Shen
Subject: Protest from National Women's League of ROC--Chicago
Chicago Chinatown Special Events Committee
Dear All Members of the Chicago Chinatown Special Events Committee,
The National Women's League of Republic of China--Chicago has learned
through various media sources that your committee held a meeting to
discuss this year's Chinatown New Year Parade (held on February 14 of
this year) on the evening of March 17, 2010, to which you invited
members of the media and publicly accused our league of violating a
committee regulation by displaying the name of our organization on a
banner during the parade. You have publicly declared that, as a
result, we will no longer be invited to participate in future parades
and all other events organized by your committee.
We are deeply disappointed by this news. When we were initially
invited to participate in this year's parade, we were happy to
participate. The parade's organizers informed us that the purpose for
the parade was to unite the different groups within Chicago's Chinese
community to celebrate the Chinese New Year and that all participants
would be treated equally. Indeed, we were told that, in order to avoid
any controversial political issues, both Chinese and Taiwanese
participants would be asked to refrain from using their respective
flags. We accordingly complied with this request.
In accordance with your procedures, we registered for the parade and
submitted the name of our organization to you. The banner that was
used for our float, which displays the name of our organization,
including the abbreviation “ROC” (which you later took issue with),
was prepared by your committee. At no time before the day of the
parade were we told that there would be any problems with displaying
the name of our organization. It was only a few minutes before the
float's starting time that, upon an objection made by certain Chinese
participants, a member of your committee took us aside and instructed
us that unless we covered the first part of the name of our
organization, “ROC,” with miniature United States flags, our float
would not be allowed to proceed on the parade route. Your committee
member's explanation was that the term “ROC” was political and should
therefore not be displayed. We were assured that the Chinese floats
would be similarly inspected and this “regulation” uniformly enforced.
However, we subsequently learned that the term “PRC” or “People's
Republic of China” appeared prominently on the Chinese consulate's
float without any kind of censorship throughout the parade. Upon
discovering this unequal application of your “regulation,” our members
unfurled a banner displaying our Chinese name, which has been in use
for 14 years. Fortunately the whole name of our organization appeared
eventually, otherwise no one would understand what it meant [ National
Women's League of # # # – Chicago ] shown on the two side of our
float!
We would like to stress that the legal, registered name of our
organization with the Secretary of State of Illinois is the National
Women's League of Republic of China--Chicago. This is the name of our
organization. We are not affiliated with any governmental entity, and
we are purely a civic organization. The inclusion of the term
“Republic of China” is descriptive of our membership and the location
of our headquarters; it is not meant to have any political meaning.
This is akin to the use of the word “Polish” in the “Polish-American
Students Association at the University of Chicago.” In contrast, the
use of the term “People's Republic of China” by the Chinese consulate
is undeniably political. In our view, the differential treatment
accorded to our float constituted gross discrimination by your
committee against our organization and violates the principles of free
speech embodied in the Constitution of the United States of America.
We further find your interpretation of what constitutes “political” as
both arbitrary and unreasonable. We are stunned by your actions which
shouldn't have happened in America, a free and democratic country,
especially as a civic organization with respect to a fellow civic
organization. We regret that you chose only to listen to the other
side and direct your actions toward us, a women's organization largely
comprised of American citizens.
As you have publicly accused us of wrongdoing, we have no choice but
to vindicate ourselves. We therefore demand a formal written
explanation for your actions or, in lieu of such written statement, a
public apology which we deserve. Otherwise, we will seek to clarify
this situation in our own way. We sincerely hope that we will be able
to arrive at a resolution to this situation that is mutually
satisfactory.
Regards,
Vivienne Shen
President, the National Women's League of Republic of China--Chicago
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