Whereas Bruce Jun Fan Lee was born in the hour of the
Dragon, between 6 and 8 a.m., in the year of the Dragon on November 27, 1940,
at the Jackson Street Hospital in San Francisco, California’s Chinatown;
Whereas Bruce Lee returned to his family’s homeland at a
young age and experienced firsthand the occupation of Hong Kong by the Japanese
during the World War II years of 1941–1945, and the subsequent hostility and
war that shook the continent;
Whereas Bruce Lee was motivated to learn and master the
martial art style of Wing Chun Gung Fu in order to gain self confidence and
overcome repeated instances of taunting, racism, and gang activity during his
youth;
Whereas Bruce Lee’s athletic prowess, and his traits of
self-discipline and determination, yielded him success in many other
competitions, including the 1958 Crown Colony Cha Cha Championship in Hong Kong
and the 1958 Hong Kong Inter-School Boxing Championship;
Whereas, in April of 1959, with only $100 to his name,
Bruce boarded a steamship in the American Presidents Line and began his voyage
back to San Francisco in the lower decks of the ship, demonstrating
unbelievable courage and belief in America’s ability to prosper through hard
work;
Whereas Bruce Lee understood the value of education and
returned to the United States to fulfill the requirements for the equivalent of
high school graduation at Edison Technical School in Seattle, Washington, in
1960 while bussing tables and washing dishes to support himself, subsequently
enrolling at the University of Washington;
Whereas Bruce Lee respected and honored the culture of
America, and undertook learning colloquial English with the same dedication as
he had his martial arts training. With a goal of absolute mastery, he applied
himself to learning the idiosyncrasies of speech, becoming proficient and
fluent to the point of helping American students with their English
papers;
Whereas, at the University of Washington Bruce majored in
philosophy, his passion for Gung Fu having inspired a desire to delve into the
philosophical underpinnings of the arts, and he subsequently lectured on
Eastern Philosophy at local high schools and wrote many essays during those
years that relate philosophical principles to martial arts techniques;
Whereas Bruce taught the art of Gung Fu to support and pay
for his education and he established the Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute in a
friend’s basement before expanding to a bigger location in 1963;
Whereas Bruce looked beyond race and background by
engaging in an interracial marriage with Seattle local, Linda Emery, in 1964
and later fathered 2 biracial children in a family he supported and cared for
until his death;
Whereas, in 1965, Bruce’s willingness to teach martial
arts to non-Chinese individuals as a way to bridge the cultures angered many in
the field, and forced him to defend himself and his freedom to teach, but
victory in this contest paved the way for a spectacular and revolutionary
discovery of blending physical fitness, Gung Fu and street combat into what is
now called Jeet Kune Do;
Whereas the artistry and beauty of Jeet Kune Do led Bruce
to Hollywood, where he became an authentic face for Chinese Americans and an
inspiration to youth across the world, but despite rampant racism, Bruce’s
strong, intelligent, and powerful persona was a means for optimism and hope for
immigrants and fans alike;
Whereas, during the years of 1967–1971, Bruce read and
wrote extensively his thoughts about physical combat, the psychology of
fighting, the philosophical roots of martial arts, and about motivation,
self-actualization and liberation of the individual, teachings that are the
foundation of Jeet Kune Do, and of his legacy that is studied internationally
to this day;
Whereas after suffering a back injury in 1970 and being
told he would never do martial arts again, Bruce worked himself back into peak
physical and mental condition using his own program of self motivation and
physical therapy to recuperate;
Whereas, in the summer of 1971, due to hardships in
overcoming stereotypes in Hollywood, Bruce decided to continue to pursue his
dream of being an actor and supporting his family by going back to Hong Kong,
where he had gained immense fame from his previous work on shows like
The Green Hornet
and became a hero in Hong Kong and a
representative of a success story for the Chinese community in America and of
the honor of both cultures;
Whereas, in 1972, Bruce created his own production
company, Concord Films, using the Hollywood studio model for the first time in
Hong Kong and began writing, directing, producing, acting in, and
choreographing his own films;
Whereas, in 1973, due entirely to his relationships and
successes in both nations, Bruce became a household name through the making of
Enter the Dragon
, the first film ever to bridge the Hong Kong
and United States film industries, while overcoming language problems and
production difficulties, but providing a viable and hugely successful link
between the two countries;
Whereas, on July 20, 1973, Bruce fell into a coma as a
result of taking pain medication to combat a minor headache. Unfortunately,
Bruce would not live to see the opening of his film, Enter the
Dragon
, nor would he experience the accumulated success of almost 40
years of all his films’ popularity;
Whereas the popularity of Bruce’s films sparked a national
and international interest in the study of the martial arts and the genre of
the martial arts action film, creating a proliferation of films and schools,
and inspiring many youths to become more physically fit and philosophically
minded in their daily lives;
Whereas Bruce Lee has been remembered today in many ways,
having been named one of Time magazine’s 100 most important people of the 20th
century, given a star on the Hollywood walk of fame, and honored on postage
stamps in 8 countries around the world;
Whereas even after Bruce Lee’s death, the Bruce Lee
Foundation, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization formed by his wife
and daughter, enriches lives, open minds, and breaks down barriers through the
active proliferation of Bruce Lee’s legacy of undaunted optimism in the face of
adversity, unwavering humanism, mental and physical perseverance, and
inspirational presence of mind toward the betterment of our global community;
and
Whereas the Bruce Lee Foundation also applies the legacy
of Bruce Lee to the present day global community, showing how relevant Bruce
Lee, his teachings, his thoughts, and his example still are today through their
scholarship program, educational programs and their goal of building the Bruce
Lee Action Museum (BLAM), an educational facility geared toward looking at how
actions can change and mold our lives for the better: Now, therefore, be
it
That the House of Representatives—
(1)honors the life and impact of Bruce Jun Fan
Lee, an American success story whose legacy of persistence and honor resonates
and inspires millions of citizens today; and
(2)recognizes the
profound importance of Bruce Lee’s teachings as a catalyst for popular culture
and Chinese American history in the United States.