This petition is a call to action and request for an official declaration and/or acknowledgement from the White House/President Donald J. Trump/other worldwide leaders and individuals with influence condemning the usage of the term “Chinese Virus” when referring to the 2019-Novel Coronavirus (Covid-19).

Acceptable slang terms for the virus are #CCPVIRUS #XIJINPINGVIRUS #XJPVIRUS #MAOVirus.

More from an article published March 19, 2020 by columnist Josh Rogin

(https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/dont-blame-china-for-the-coronavirus--blame-the-chinese-communist-party/2020/03/19/343153ac-6a12-11ea-abef-020f086a3fab_story.html%3FoutputType%3Damp )

“It’s crucial for our health and safety that the United States push back against the Chinese government’s efforts to rewrite the history of the coronavirus pandemic. It’s also crucial we don’t fuel racism or stigmatize Chinese citizens or Chinese Americans while doing so. The key to accomplishing both goals is to separate the way we talk about the Chinese people from the way we talk about their rulers in Beijing.

Part of the CCP’s strategy is to divide us along political, ethnic and racial lines. Chinese officials routinely toss out the racism accusation to rebut criticism of their government. They also accuse the United States of racism to distract from their own horrendously racist policies, such as interning millions of innocent people in Xinjiang on the basis of ethnicity.

Let’s stop saying “Chinese virus” — not because everyone who uses it is racist, but because it needlessly plays into the Chinese Communist Party’s attempts to divide us and deflect our attention from their bad actions. Let’s just call it the “CCP virus.” That’s more accurate and offends only those who deserve it.”

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Comments from Initial Petitioner Edward Chen, Esq., Law Offices of Edward C. Chen.

I am a first-generation Taiwanese-American lawyer who was lucky to have been born in the greatest country in the history of our planet. After learning about the terrible virus several months ago and seeing reports of the conditions in the epicenter of the physical location of the outbreak of this virus from Wuhan, China, I never imagined that I would be drafting this petition now.

Having grown up in the Asian-infused San Gabriel Valley (“626”), and Southern California as a whole during the 90’s - I never really saw firsthand what some of my older friends and colleagues have described to me as racism or hostility towards persons of Asian descent.  

In fact, I recall growing up and have vivid memories of when my friends and I would jokingly use terms like “F.O.B.” when referring to classmates whose parents had immigrated to the states a bit later than mine. Fast forward some fairly vanilla years until present, the same people whom I used to look at as being different have now become an integral part of my general law practice and makes up more than half of my active and current caseload.  I have learned to embrace a part of my heritage and ancestry in an effort to fit in. 

I have always admired and been proud of SoCal and the welcoming/open community that I still reside in today.  Until recently, after hearing reports of the recent coronavirus and learning that the President of our great country insisted upon calling the recent viral outbreak the “Chinese Virus” has prompted and lit up a fire within me to press forward with this cause.

I do not disagree with reports of where the virus originated, but why stop there?  Are we not capable of going one step further and looking at the “why” in things anymore?  If we are able to collectively reason and stand together in declaring the virus what it really is, rather than resorting to the crude (and quite frankly, stupid) way of thinking here, then sure. Let’s call it the the virus that came from China.  Or! We can see through the BS and realize that the actual originators of the virus (the Chinese Communist Party CCP) are the ones at fault here. 

So can we avoid calling all apples in a bunch bad, just because of a few bad apples?  Is it true that everyone who lived in Nazi-controlled Germany during WWII was a Nazi?  (A: of course not).  Can we also use the same the logic and make the reasonable distinction between the region by which a virus originated from and the few people that are the actual culprits here? (Hint: not all Chinese people are CCP members). 

Note:

I realize that my childhood and adult experience as an Asian-American may be much different than those who have experienced and been subjected to the harsh reality of racism and unavoidable fact that many of us in this country come from and have different ethnic backgrounds.  

However, I now truly fear for the well-being of those who are at risk of being stigmatized and wrongfully targeted or harmed just from the fact that our president has chosen to resort to calling it a name that just doesn’t really add anything but risk of harm to your fellow Americans (who just happen to have a different ethnic background than you).

My biggest fear is that the age-old saying that history is bound to be repeated will, in fact, happen here.  For my colleagues that practice law and legal nerds alike - I fear that we are steps away from repeating history here (see e.g. Korematsu vs. United States, 323 U.S. 214 (1944).  

But anyways, most of us are at home and on our phones now (flatten the curve!) so just five minutes of your time to sign this petition would be most appreciated.

Very Truly Yours,

Edward Chen, Esq.  陈佳毅, 律师。

www.edchenlaw.com

 

爱德华·C·陈律师事务所首席请愿人爱德华·陈的评论。
  我是第一代台湾裔美国人美国律师，很幸运能够出生在地球历史上最伟大的国家。在几个月前了解了这种可怕的病毒，并看到有关从中国武汉爆发该病毒的物理地点的 震中情况的报道之后，我从没想到我现在会起草这份请愿书。
  在90年代生长于亚洲的圣盖博谷地（“ 626”）和整个南加州长大后，我从未真正亲眼看到我的一些年长的朋友和同事向我描述的是种族歧视或对人 的敌意亚洲血统。
  实际上，我回想起自己的成长，转变我和朋友何时会开玩笑地使用“ FOB”之类的东西有准确的记忆。当提到父母比我晚一点移民到美国的同学时。 一些相当香草的年代，直到现在，我曾经认为与众不同的那些人现在已经成为我普通法业务不可或缺的一部分，占我目前和当前案件总数的一半以上。 血统，以适应自己。

  直到最近，在听说有关最近的冠状病毒的报道并认识到我们伟大的国家的总统坚持要求将最近的病毒爆发称为 “中国病毒”之后，我才在自己的内心深处燃起了火，以推动这一事业的发展。
  我不同意有关病毒起源的报道，但是为什么为什么要在此止步呢呢？我们是否无法再进一步研究事物中的“为什么”？如果我们能够集体推理并团结一致地宣布该病毒的真正含义，而不是在这里 称为！我们可以通过BS了解到，并且可以该病毒的真正发端者（中共CCP）。 是这里的过错。
  那么，我们是否可以避免仅仅因为少数几个坏苹果而将所有苹果都称为坏苹果？确实，二战期间住在纳粹控制的德国的每个人都是纳粹分子吗？（A：当然不是）。 是否也可以使用相同的逻辑并合理区分病毒的起源地区和这里的真正罪魁祸首？（提示：并非所有中国人都是中共成员）。
  注意：

  我认为，作为一名退休老人，我的童年和成年经历可能与经历过种族主义严酷现实并经历过严酷现实的人们截然不同，而替代的事实是，我们这个国家中的许多人来自不同 种族背景。

  但是，我现在真的担心那些正面临被羞辱，错误地成为目标或遭受伤害的风险的人的福祉，因为我们的总统选择诉诸诸称呼这个名字，但实际上并没有增加任何东西。 同胞的风险（恰好与您不同的种族背景）。
  对于那些同时军队法律和书呆子活动的同事-我担心我们离这里重复历史不远了（例如参见《 Korematsu诉美国》 》，《美国判例汇编》第323卷第214页（1944年）。
  但是无论如何，我们大多数人现在都在家中和在手机上（拉平曲线！），因此，请您在五分钟的这段时间内签署这份请愿书，将是最好的选择。
  真的，是你的，
  陈佳毅，律师。