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CONTENTS
1) ART-ACT Art Submissions
2) Racism Places U.S. Scientist in Cruel Confinement
3) Link to Editorial Cartoons on the Amadou Diallo Case.
4) ART ACT Unearths ART ATTACK on Internet.
Check out "Tolerance between Cultures" by Rui Bernardini Azenha - submitted
to ART-ACT at
http://www.art-teez.org/artists/rba1.htm
Check out "All the Same Under the Skin" by Pat Apt -
submitted to ART-ACT at
http://www.art-teez.org/artists/pa1.htm
As it turns out the information said to be stolen has proved to be available in several unsecured locations on other government sites.
There is not a shred of evidence that Mr. Lee did anything more then work on a network computer using only password protections to prevent unwarranted access and to take work home with him. A common practice in acadamia. The University of California runs Los Alamos.
Yet, today he is jailed - held in chains - literally - and in 23 hour solitary
confinement reserved for the most violent of criminals.
http://www.wenholee.org/
Clarence Page in his syndicated column appearing in the Chicago Tribune (6/14/00) asks "Why, for example is Wen Ho Lee jailed while former CIA head John Deutch is walking around free?
Both allegedly violated security laws by taking classified computer files home and keeping them in unsecured locations
... the computer files at the heart of the case (against Mr. Lee) were not given the crucial "secret" or "confidential" security classifications, as the indictment against him alleges, until after he was fired."
While this Asian-American intellectual is walled up in jail after serving this country well for 38 years, someone else, perhaps a real thief, in the same Los Alamos Lab stole or "misplaced" two hard-drives with truly sensitive information. They were finally found behind a copier.
After all the fuss over security, as reflected in the extreme treatment of Mr. Lee, at least 26 Nuclear Emergency Search Team members were still allowed to enter and leave the top secret area where the hard-drives were stored without so much as a signature. They had unescorted access to the vault. Once security clearance was determined, they were able to open the locks to access the hard-drives alone, as if not one of the 26 were human enough to ever be compromised. Could it be that Mr. Lee is a diversion - a way of avoiding the obvious truth - that Los Alamos is full of security holes and many share the blame.
Once the news of the missing drives came out, Rep. Bart Stupack (D-Mich) noted his local library protects Winnie the Pooh books more than Los Alamos does our national secrets. This is not a new practice related to Clinton's administration. The hard drive incident suggests it is rooted in the institution's "culture."
We need to release Wen Ho Lee or, at minimum, demand his reasonable treatment while awaiting trial. We need to require that sensible clear security procedures be developed and adhered to across the board so that common practice does not land one person in jail and another at the head of an agency.
The "good ol' boys" on the Nuclear Emergency Search Team, and who knows
how many more with access at Los Alamos, could qualify as no-more-trustworthy
than Mr. Lee, yet none of them is in jail. Racist scapegoating is not a solution.
Common sense procedures are! This should be an example of how racism is dangerous
to all our interests. Set Mr. Lee free.
--30--
To see a dozen or so editorial cartoons on Police brutality visit http://cagle.slate.msn.com/news/diallo/
ART ACT Unearths ART ATTACK on Internet.
A racist rock group insults the name of art with its event billed as an ART ATTACK. This event took place at the University of Maryland the same day presented a paper to the "Cultural Diversity in Cyberspace Conference." As I explained how we were using community art to build a "Cyber Center" for a community of diversity on the Internet - a controversy boiled across the campus regarding this band and students were mobilizing to protest this example of racism on Campus.
I knew little of that day. Some reference was made to it by someone as the day begun for us on campus but its significance was not discussed. Later after I had delivered my paper and the conference was over I sat on campus with my wife waiting for a ride to dinner to arrive. Pople were walking toward the area of the event - the ART ATTACK. It was little more than a band stand with a ton of equipment. I wondered what made this an 'ART ATTACK." I wondered about the use of such a military image to describe the event.
While researching the Wen Ho Lee editorial I found the link below and
realized I had missed a chance to hand out literature on our website and to
make solid contacts with an Asian-American college community and other
activists.
http://modelminority.com/music/yellowfever.htm
In a Post-Protest Report by Tanya M. Lee on May 8, 2000 at the above link she explains the protest was very successful and states "...It is time to show that we, the "silent" minority, will no longer remain silent, no longer be apathetic, and no longer allow oppression to occur. Whether it is on our campuses, in our workplaces, or any environment we may be a part of daily, WE WILL BE HEARD!!!
So, now, post-performance, I sit here and challenge you. I challenge those
who have been active in your respective communities to go beyond your
comfort zone and help other minorities. What affects one community, affects
us all...and a coalition speaks is more powerful and speaks much louder
(especially in the name of diversity... INTERACTION!!). For those who became
active because of this controversy, I challenge you to remain active...."
The On-Going Story of Community Art
(will return in ART-ACT Notes 22)
It is important for me to continue this story of what went into building UM-CAC. Yes the story is long because estimates are that an artist in this nation is luck if she or he may gain support before the age of forty-five with many never finding favor and many more dying verious deaths along the way. What do we have to do to create more opportunities for artists to survive and contribute to their verious audiences and communities.
Tune - in for next episode and keep checking out the ART-ACT art.
Chris Drew
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