如果世界没有牛顿、爱因斯坦，或许人们今天才刚刚学会开车、学做原子弹。 如果美国没有华盛顿那一帮国父们，或许今天的美国完全就不是这个样子，未必就比墨西哥好多少。 如果美国没有今天去波士顿参加那一场集会的勇士们，很多年后或许我们美国华人的日子还不如今天。 但是我们今天已经可以胸有成竹地告诉后人： 美国华人明天的日子一定会比今天更好。 这是因为去波士顿的那些勇士们今天改写了美国的历史。
根据《美华史记》记载，上个世纪初，大概也是这个时候，在旧金山的华人孩子没有办法上学，因为当地的公立学校不许招收华人子弟入学。 尽管华人家长进行了抗争也无济于事，最后只好被送进专门为华人孩子建立的种族隔离学校。 听说后来有一批日本人的孩子也被送进那个华人子弟学校了。 一转眼二战结束了，在美国的华人学者的成就让美国人不得不对华人刮目相看，对亚裔刮目相看。 又过了几十年，美国的大学里已经有不少亚裔的面孔。 可突然有一天，美国亚裔发现他们的孩子上大学越来越困难了。 这是为什么？ 查来查去，原来是各个名牌大学对亚裔学生设置了种种关卡，比起别的族裔的孩子，亚裔子女上好大学简直难于上青天！
一百年后，历史又开始了一个轮回，这就是不让亚裔孩子平等入学。 尽管借口不同，执行的机构不同，打击的目标不同，但结果却是一个： 不要亚裔孩子平等地接受教育。 可我们的孩子也是美利坚的公民，我们和所有美国人一样爱这个国家，我们也是纳税人啊！ 凭什么我们的孩子就要被刁难，被拔高入学标准，被配额限制？
虽然若干年前就有前辈对这个不平等待遇表示愤怒了，但这些年来对于亚裔子女入学的限制越来越变本加厉。 一个“人人平等”的国家居然可以人为地把入学标准根据考生的肤色进行拔高或降低，这是美国吗？
终于这一座火山爆发了！ 在2014年，SFFA代表亚裔学子状告哈佛大学入学歧视，这一诉讼正式送交联邦法院。 经过几年的准备，这一历史性的官司将于公元2018年10月15日在波士顿联邦法院正式开打！
就在今天，2018年10月14日，来自全美多个州和城市的华人同胞赶赴波士顿，参加这场历史性的集会，为哈佛诉讼造势，向美国社会表达我们的立场。 和一百多年前旧金山那一次不一样的是，这一次我们将把哈佛告到最高法院！
今天一大早，来自各地的同胞们就陆续进入会场：
会场很快坐满了来自全美各地的勇士们：
这是哈佛大学的校刊发布的一张照片：
还有这一张：
SVCA的President 在会场：
Blum 先生在接受记者采访：
行人对这一集会十分关注：
他们的呼声：
这是我从实况转播中截屏的一个侧面：
又见 Blum先生接受采访：
记住他们： 是这些战斗在第一线的英雄们为我们华人写下了辉煌的一个历史篇章：
这位小朋友，她长大后，一定会为她今天的这一刻骄傲：
今天参加集会的同胞们来自很多地方，如加州三番， LA，华盛顿州的西雅图, 东岸从GA，NC, DC, NY, CT, 同时也有人从中部如芝加哥，明尼苏达，南部德州，弗罗里达等地飞过来。 赶来今天到达会场的人虽然不是成千上万，但他们真正代表了我们美国500万华人的大多数的一个根本利益及合法权益：教育平等。 今天虽然到会的没有一个高度一致的“统一思想”，但在反对哈佛歧视这一点上大家早就统一了。 今天这场集会不是一个互相奉承和吹捧的大会，而是一个真正的战前动员会、誓师会、准备会。 明天当我们面对共同的敌人冲锋陷阵的时候，大家将一如既往地携手并肩！
今天是我们美国华人扬眉吐气的一天！
今天发表演讲的除了美国华裔还有印度裔、韩裔、越裔、孟加拉裔的代表。 除了亚裔面孔也有白人、黑人。 除了政治大拿也有发明家、大学生、中学生等。 其中有一位名叫Vijay Jojo Chokalingam的，他就是那位“化妆”成黑人，然后“混”入医学院的大牛。 另外一位是email的发明人，Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai。
明天官司正式开打，请大家争取旁听。 具体信息是:
10/15/2018 10:00 AM in Courtroom 17 before Judge Allison D. Burroughs.
法庭地址：
John Joseph Moakley U.S. Courthouse
1 Courthouse Way, Suite 2300
Boston, Massachusetts 02210
Courtroom 17，5th floor；oveflow seating courtroom 20
明天估計jury 选择和pretrial motions可能会占用相当一部分的上午時间。1-2pm法案庭休息。可以上午十點到一点，下午兩奌到4:30去两拨。 请一定遵守法庭秩序。
美国亚裔在教育方面遭受不平等待遇，有可能几年后就会成为过去。 很多年后，我们的子孙们或许早就忘记了我们，但他们会记住今天。 因为今天是美国的华人命运又一次开始转变的一天，是我们为维护自己族群的合法权益大声疾呼的一天，是我们为争取平等权利吹响胜利号角的一天，是我们改变美国历史的一天，是我们一生中值得骄傲的一天！
美国的历史，今天被华人新写了一页。
附录： Blum 先生在今天集会上发言的讲演稿
Blum Speech: Boston October 14, 2018
My name is Edward Blum and I am the president and founder of Students for Fair Admissions.
In 2014, Student for Fair Admissions sued Harvard and the Univ. of North Carolina in federal court alleging both school’s admissions policies were unfair and unconstitutional. When we filed those lawsuits this organization only had about 100 members, today we have close to 23,000 members.
We could not have achieved this growth without the help of many of the people who sponsored this rally. So, on behalf of our 23,000 members, I would like to thank YuKong Zhou, SB Woo, Yingchou Liu, Alex Chen, Lin Yang, David Wang, Jessica Zhang and May Meng for the dedication and sacrifice you and your organizations have made to make today’s event possible.
As you all know, tomorrow begins a 3-week trial that will expose Harvard’s discriminatory policies targeting Asian Americans to the federal court and the American people. I’m going to tell you about those practices in a minute, but before that, I want to talk briefly about Harvard University.
Let me begin by saying there is far, far more to admire about Harvard than to dislike about Harvard.
From the Krokodiloes—Harvard’s men’s acapella group—to the Dana-Farber Institute at Harvard Medical School, this university is an American gem—one of the most important academic institutions in the world.
We are not here to bash Harvard, or any other university. We are here because Harvard’s admissions policies are discriminatory. And we have petitioned the courts to compel Harvard to stop these unlawful practices.
As we all know, our country is unique. Unlike most nations, we Americans have diverse backgrounds and diverse histories.
Some of us here today trace our roots back to Ireland and Italy and Mexico where famine and poverty drove our ancestors to this country.
Some of us here today have forbears who came to this land shackled in slave ships from West Africa.
Some of us here today trace our roots back to the ghettos of Poland and Ukraine where the devastation of world war and the Holocaust brought our parents or grandparents to this country.
And some of us are here today because you fled the tyranny and repression of XXXXXX XXXXXX.
So, regardless of where you or parents or your great, great, great grand parents came from, we are here today to reclaim the cornerstone of America’s civil rights movement.
And that cornerstone is the proposition that your race and ethnicity should not be used to help you, or harm you, in your life’s endeavors.
Your race and ethnicity should not be a factor when you apply for a job or are considered for a promotion. Neither should race be a factor in determining which congressional district you should be assigned to; nor to strike you from serving on a jury.
And race and ethnicity should not be a factor when a student applies to a university like Harvard or the University of North Carolina or the University of Texas, or any university.
In a multi-racial, multi-ethnic nation like ours, the admissions’ bar cannot be raised for some races, and lowered for others.
We do not believe that students are defined by their skin color, sex, or ethnicity. Your race may define how you look, but it does not define who you are.
Your skin color does not reveal your likes and dislikes, whether you are an outgoing person or more of an introspective one; a leader or more of a follower; or whether you are passionate about sports or passionate about modern jazz.
A student can change her grades, standardized test scores, AP classes and out of school activities.
But she cannot change her race and ethnicity—those are immutable, cosmetic characteristics.
Every one of us is a unique individual and we must be judged as such.
Let me be clear: The mission of Students for Fair Admissions is to end racial classifications and preferences in college admissions. This is not a controversial goal. The American people support us. In poll after poll, over 70% of Americans do not believe that a student’s race should be a
factor in the admissions process.
During the next three weeks, the court and the world will learn how Harvard has systematically discriminated against Asian-American applicants for years.
But, sadly, this is not a new phenomenon: The history of Harvard’s holistic discriminatory practices goes back nearly 100 years. As dozens of historians have detailed, back in the 1920s, Harvard’s leadership believed it had too many Jews because almost a quarter of all Harvard freshmen were Jewish.
In 1920, in a letter to a colleague, Harvard President Abbott Lawrence Lowell warned that the increasing number of Jewish students enrolling at Harvard would ultimately “ruin the college.”
To solve the Jewish overpopulation problem, Harvard invented the “holistic” admissions system, which diminished an applicant’s academic achievements in favor of subjective factors like “leadership” and “sociability.” Within a year, holistic admissions criteria decimated Jewish enrollment.
Today, Harvard’s discriminatory policies now target Asian-Americans.
How do we know this?
During the last 4 years of litigation, Students for Fair Admissions has analyzed 6 years of Harvard’s admissions data; we have deposed about 30 Harvard officials; and we have reviewed thousands of emails and documents.
Here is what the evidence concludes:
First-Harvard intentionally discriminates against Asian-American applicants.
Second-Harvard racially balances its incoming freshman class to ensure a certain racial percentage for whites, Hispanics, African-Americans and Asian- Americans.
Third- Race is not a minor factor, but is a predominant admissions factor.
And finally-Harvard never made any good-faith effort to use race-neutral means to shape its freshman class.
Not only did our experts conclude that Harvard’s admissions practices harm Asian-Americans, but so did Harvard’s own internal experts. Yes, you heard that correctly. Harvard concluded it was discriminating as well.
In 2013, a year before SFFA filed this lawsuit, Harvard’s internal think tank conducted a study that was disclosed to Harvard’s senior administrators showing that Harvard’s policies harmed Asian- Americans.
Rather than address the study’s results, Harvard’s leaders killed it and then buried it. It is one thing to be unaware of an injustice, but to have an internal report detailing discrimination and not do anything about it is simply unpardonable.
As disturbing as this is, there is one fact about Harvard’s admissions policies that is even more
upsetting.
And that is how Harvard’s in-house admissions officials rate Asian-Americans in what is called the “personal rating.”
Asian-American applicants are significantly stronger than all other racial groups in academic performance—such as grades, test scores, AP classes and the like. They also perform very well in non-academic categories and have higher extracurricular scores than any other racial group.
In addition, Asian-American applicants receive higher overall scores from alumni interviewers than all other racial groups. And they receive strong scores from teachers and guidance counselors—scores that are nearly identical to white applicants.
Yet Harvard’s in-house admissions officials assign Asian-Americans the lowest personal score of any racial group.
Harvard consistently rated Asian-American applicants lower than whites, Hispanics and African-Americans on traits like positive personality, likability, courage, kindness and being widely respected.
This is gravely unsettling regardless of your position on race-based affirmative action. Most Americans have come to reject racial stereotypes like these as they should.
When you treat and judge individuals differently because of their race, it frays the social fabric of a college campus, which will ultimately fray the social fabric of a nation.
Let us always remember that a university is more than the sum of its ethnic parts. Students should celebrate their commonalities as much as their differences.
Let me close by saying that, regardless of the outcome of this trial, the movement to end racial classifications and preferences in college admissions will not end. I am confident that the next generation of leaders are in this very gathering here today and I ask that you commit to this worthy goal for the benefit of all Americans.
Thank you.
