Remembering the Contributions and Sacrifices Chinese Americans Have Made to America ... A Time To Give Back

By Sam Chu Lin

Following the September 11 tragedies, the U.S. declared war on terrorism.  
It was an event in which Chinese and other Asian Americans have played an 
important role.   In a live broadcast, I went on television that day at a 
Los Angeles fire station to report that a local fire and rescue team was 
being dispatched by air to New York City to lend assistance, and that 
Asian Americans were part of that team.

At Ground Zero, a Chinese American Port Authority officer had gone into 
the World Trade Center (WTC) to evacuate people.  He became trapped 
himself, but he was freed from the ruins.  In another incident, a young 
Chinese American man who worked at the WTC, returned to the towers to help 
rescue people, but he was killed.  Weeks later, I was on hand with a 
television crew to videotape and interview a group of runners as 
theyarrived at Los Angeles International Airport.   The last sprinter was 
the sister of a Chinese American airline stewardess who was on board a 
hijacked jetliner that was bound from Boston to Los Angeles.  The finish 
of the cross-country race was symbolic of the completion of that flight.

Matt Fong, former California State Treasurer and a Committee of 100 
member, has his own memories of that fateful September 11 day. He grimaced 
as he watched on television as one of the skyjacked planes crashed into 
the Pentagon and the offices he once occupied.   Before his withdrawal, 
Fong was in the process of being nominated by President Bush as Under 
Secretary of the Army.  Many Army personnel he had worked with, including 
a general, were killed.  The former California State Treasurer said, "So 
many people have sacrificed to make this country great and to give us the 
freedoms that we have.   It's time for all of us to stand up and to be 
counted." Fong continued, "Two Asian Americans, one Chinese American, and 
the other a Japanese American, are now in President Bush's cabinet. It 
demonstrates if we're involved in our government and our society, positive 
things can happen."

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Sam Chu Lin is one of the first Asian Pacific American broadcast 
journalists in the United States.  Based in Silicon Valley, the radio, TV, 
and print journalist reports for KTTV Fox 11 News in Los Angeles and is a 
regular contributor to Asian Week and the nationally syndicated radio 
program "Pacific Time," produced by National Public Radio Station KQED, 
both in San Francisco.  As a CBS News network reporter, based in New York, 
he was called upon to announce to the country during the Vietnam War that 
Saigon had fallen.   More recently he was an advisor to ABC's Nightline on 
a program dealing with the stereotyping of Asian Pacific Americans.
Although he covers news of general interest, the reporter is proud of his 
Asian American heritage and makes sure that many of those stories that are 
important to the Asian Pacific Islander community are not forgotten.  He 
is most proud of the National Headliner's Award for Best Television 
Documentary for a roots story about his family called "Chu Lin is an Old 
American Name."   The reporter has won many awards with his coverage of 
earthquakes and other breaking news stories.  He recently put together a 
ten-year restrospective about the 1992 Los Angeles riots.
Born and raised in Mississippi, he and his family reside in the Silicon 
Valley area of California.  One of his goals is seeking out Asian Pacific 
American heroes and people who are making a difference in society.  He 
recognizes, "There is so little that is written or reported about Asian 
Pacific Americans today.  Once the general public learns more about them 
and the contributions they have made to this country, I think there will 
be a greater appreciation of this community."  (Part 3 of 3)