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