观看2008年4月26日在哥伦比亚大学师范学院上演的中文话剧“寻找李伟(Finding Li Wei)”，是我在哥大生活中最痛苦和失望的经历之一。当我听到演出中的那些对黑人的种族主义的言论时，特别是一角色的对话针对黑人区的黑人，我几乎崩溃。“我觉得哦，美国人还是挺好的啦。哦，不对，要除了那些黑人区的黑人。哎哟，我最怕黑人了啦！”接着是哄堂大笑，我回家后痛苦不堪，不仅角色的对话伤害了我，还有几乎99％的观众，那些哥大的中国学生。
To the Members of the Columbia University ChineseScholars and Students Association (CUCSSA), and tothose it may concern:
I am writing this note in response to the performanceof "寻找李伟(Finding Li Wei),”a Chinese drama(spoken in Mandarin) held on the night of Saturday,April 26th, 2008 at Teacher's College, ColumbiaUniversity. This was one of the most hurtful anddisappointing experiences for me during my time hereat Columbia University in the City of New York. I wasso devastated to hear the racism and the racist slursagainst Black people in the show itself. Specifically,there was a racist comment made by one of thecharacters in the show and it was targeted towardsBlacks in Harlem. I went home crying after hearing oneof the characters saying, "I feel like Americans arequite nice, but actually no, except for those Blackpeople in Harlem. I'm terrified by Black people!"which was followed by an uproar of laughter in theaudience. Not only did the character's words hurt me,but so too did the outburst of laughter by nearly 99％of the people in the audience, who are Chinesestudents at Columbia University.
I am deeply upset and saddened that Columbia ChineseScholars and Students Association would be associatedwith and originally produce and write something soracist, especially at a time when the 2008 BeijingOlympic Games, an event that people from all acrossthe globe and people of all races will be traveling toChina to see. As a black Columbia student and EastAsian Studies major, I have dedicated so much of myenergy to learning about Chinese language and culture,and even spent quite some time in China for studyabroad. I am so saddened that this act of racismoccurred on my campus and in such a public, blatantmanner, in a play that was written and produced by theColumbia University Chinese Scholars and StudentsAssociation (CUCSSA). In recent weeks, I too have beencoping with the loss of fellow student, Minghui Yu ofthe Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, who was alsoan active member of the CUCSSA. Although I realizethat the physical harassment and death he endured onApril 4th, 2008 was at the hands of a West Harlemyouth, the ethnic background of his assailant is not ajustification for a generic attack on the entireAfrican Diasporic community in Harlem.
Prior to the beginning of the show, I was so excitedto attend and invited five of my friends to attendthis event. I was so excited to be there. Not onlythat, but I also cancelled an event last night that Iam group organizer and creator of, called the ColumbiaUniversity Chinese Karaoke Group, since the eventconflicted with yesterday's performance of "Finding LiWei." To make a long story short, I sacrificed my ownevent to attend this one. In hindsight, I would haverather gone to karaoke.
This incident of racism insulted me and the entireAfrican-American community at my own university and infront of my own eyes! This prejudice will not betolerated. The fact that these racist comments werespoken in Chinese does NOT desensitize the issue. Tomy fellow audience members: I left crying while all ofyou kept laughing and snickering. I am so saddenedthat "Chinese scholars" would write a screenplay thatwould instigate racism in our Columbia community. I amalso especially disappointed, hurt and overwhelmed bythe fact that a "friend" of mine, Guo Rui SEAS '08 wasthe playwright.
Columbia University is one of the most prestigiousuniversities in the world, and it really needs toenforce its supposed intolerance of racist acts oncampus. Within the past year alone, there have beenmany hate crimes on Columbia's campus, with only a fewgaining attention by the administration.. I am sosaddened that yet another one occurred. Members of theCUCSSA, please remember that there are fellow studentsof the African Diaspora and from Harlem who attend theSAME University as you. Show respect, and STOP THERACISM!!!!!!!
