[Nettime-bold] ART-ACT Notes 21b

["Chris Drew" <umcac@art-teez.org>]

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ART-ACT Notes 21b

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


RACISM PLACES SCIENTIST IN CRUEL CONFINEMENT
an editorial by C. Drew

The latest developments at the Los Alamos Lab illustrate how racism hurts us
all by blinding us to real issues and dangers. Right wingers have rattled
the bones of rumored stolen secrets that occurred during the Republican
Administrations of the 80's to unnerve the Clinton Administration. They are
employing the old "Yellow Peril" scare tactics. The panic reaction they have
created has placed an innocent scientist, Wen Ho Lee, into cruel solitary
confinement.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/1999/may1999/chin-m27.shtml

As it turns out, the information right wingers claim to be stolen has been
proven to be available in several unsecured locations on other government
sites (http://www.wsws.org/articles/1999/jun1999/spy-j19.shtml ). There is
not a shred of evidence that Mr. Lee did anything more than work on a
network computer using only password protections to prevent unwarranted
access or took work home with him. Yet, today he is jailed and held in
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?"

Mr. Page explains, "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."

This Asian-American intellectual rots in jail after serving this country
well for 38 years while someone else, perhaps a real thief, in the same Los
Alamos Lab has stolen or "misplaced" two hard-drives with truly sensitive
information. After all the fuss over security, as reflected in the extreme
treatment of Mr. Lee, 26 Nuclear Emergency Search Team members were allowed
to enter and leave the top secret area where the hard-drives are stored
without so much as a signature. Once security clearance was determined, they
had unescorted access to the vault. They were able to open the locks to
access the hard-drives alone as if not one of the 26 was human enough to
ever be compromised. 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 - library books require a
signature. This practice goes back long before the present administration.

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 are obviously not more trustworthy than Mr.
Lee, yet none of them are in jail. We need to demand Wen Ho Lee's release
while awaiting trial. This is proof that racism is dangerous to our national
interests by allowing us to avoid the real issues. It's a matter of Human
Rights. Racist, inhumane, scapegoating is not a solution. Strict common
sense procedures are. 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 21)

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
 <mailto:umcac@art-teez.org>
 Uptown Multi-Cultural Art Center
 http://www.art-teez.org   We dress Chicago and the
 Internet in t-shirt art.  Come get some! 773/561-7676





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