Tragic ironies: Our son's love of China and my efforts
to get answers ... only to be stopped by my own government
Our son loved China and its people. Unfortunately, he found himself an all-too-typical of teaching situation in China: the shady language school. At the time of his death, illegal and unlicensed schools were a serious problem in China. While awareness of “language sweatshops” has grown in the past six years, teachers going to China nevertheless face certain risks.
Likewise, America's interaction with China is critical to many global interests, commercial and diplomatic. Because of China's rapid economic expansion and the proliferation of U.S. companies doing business there, American government agencies find themselves reluctant to engage difficult situations and conflicts, which extends to its own citizens encountering difficulties there (Americans are in Chinese prisons over simple business disputes, for example) and what some see as blind eyes turned through minimal use of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). No one can disagree that the rules are different with China, just as no one can seem to agree on just what the rules are.
We understand it’s a complicated relationship. However, we maintain we have a right to the truth, and inasmuch we should get the full support of our own government in trying to get it.
April 2007: Blocked by Federal Agents in Los Angeles while delivering a letter. Why?
After the initial findings of the autopsy were released on April 9, 2007, I wanted to make this information public. I wanted to hold a public activity in front of the Chinese consulate in Los Angeles and deliver (another) letter of complaint with this updated information to Chinese authorities.
I obtained a permit from the Los Angeles Police Department and scheduled this event for April 11, 2007. On the morning I arrived at the Chinese consulate in Los Angeles, I was intercepted by special agents of the Diplomatic Security Services of the United States Department of State.
The agents instructed me not to enter the Chinese consulate and advised me that the US State Department had communicated with the Chinese consulate prior to the event, indicating that Chinese authorities would not accept any letter from me. Intimidated, I complied with the instructions of the federal agents involved though I witnessed several parties come and go unobstructed in delivering their own letters, flats and parcels. I immediately notified my congressman of this incident, requested answers from the State Department regarding it and filed a civil rights complaint with the US Department of Justice, which declined to investigate what I still maintain to be a violation of my civil rights under color of law.
Clearly, what happened this day was intended to target me individually, and it did not happen within the lawful scope of activities and mission of the US State Department’s Diplomatic Security Services.
I can only wonder why my own government stopped me from delivering a mere letter.
I obtained a permit from the Los Angeles Police Department and scheduled this event for April 11, 2007. On the morning I arrived at the Chinese consulate in Los Angeles, I was intercepted by special agents of the Diplomatic Security Services of the United States Department of State.
The agents instructed me not to enter the Chinese consulate and advised me that the US State Department had communicated with the Chinese consulate prior to the event, indicating that Chinese authorities would not accept any letter from me. Intimidated, I complied with the instructions of the federal agents involved though I witnessed several parties come and go unobstructed in delivering their own letters, flats and parcels. I immediately notified my congressman of this incident, requested answers from the State Department regarding it and filed a civil rights complaint with the US Department of Justice, which declined to investigate what I still maintain to be a violation of my civil rights under color of law.
Clearly, what happened this day was intended to target me individually, and it did not happen within the lawful scope of activities and mission of the US State Department’s Diplomatic Security Services.
I can only wonder why my own government stopped me from delivering a mere letter.
