[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 91 (Tuesday, July 9, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1215-E1216]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            EQUAL RIGHTS FOR ALL AMERICANS, HERE AND ABROAD

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. MICHAEL E. CAPUANO

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 9, 2002

  Mr. CAPUANO. Mr. Speaker, I rise to inform the House of indignities 
inflicted last month on several of my constituents. One young woman, 
Mengyang Jian, was detained, with twenty other United States citizens, 
at Reykjavik Airport. Other Asian-Americans, traveling with American 
passports, about twenty-five in all, were prevented from boarding 
IcelandAir flights at Logan Airport in Boston on the nights of June 11, 
12, and 13. Dr. Tianlun Jian gave me a copy of a document from the 
Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Iceland instructing the airline 
to refuse him passage ``for security reasons.'' All believe that 
travelers with Asian surnames or Asian appearance were treated 
differently from other passengers.

[[Page E1216]]

  The Republic of Iceland took these extraordinary measures in 
anticipation of Falun Gong protests during the state visit of President 
Jiang Zemin. The Icelandic government, as I understand its position, 
consistently maintained that, despite its commitment to free speech and 
peaceful protest, its security forces could not cope with ``thousands'' 
of demonstrators. And, indeed, the airport detainees were eventually 
released and allowed to proceed to the capital and to demonstrate at 
designated sites. I do not wish to portray these events as brutal 
violations of human rights, such as those that Falun Gong practitioners 
do, in fact, suffer in China.
  Nonetheless it is wrong and unacceptable for Asian Americans to be 
treated differently from other Americans. It is wrong and unacceptable 
for foreign governments to discriminate among American citizens on the 
basis of religion or ethnicity. Such discrimination is wrong and 
unacceptable when it happens abroad. It is wrong and unacceptable, and 
most certainly illegal, when it takes place in the Commonwealth of 
Massachusetts or anywhere in the United States of America. The Congress 
must defend the rights of all Americans to equal treatment, and, 
occasionally, we must remind even friendly democratic countries that we 
are one people, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
  The great strength of any democracy rests in its citizens, and my 
constituents report that the people of Iceland themselves demonstrated 
in solidarity with them. Hundreds signed a full-page ad that appeared 
in the June 13 issue of the Morgunbladid, Iceland's major daily paper, 
apologizing in Chinese, English, and Icelandic for their government's 
actions. One of my constituents, So Dai Yee of Cambridge, told me that 
she drew comfort from these ``people with righteous hearts.''
  In closing, Mr. Speaker, I want to pay tribute to the people of 
Iceland who rose to defend human rights.

                          ____________________