Many Chinatown organizations have a nice tradition — raising thousands of dollars in response to global disasters.
This time, there is some hesitancy. The reason is the Sino-Japan conflict over the sovereignty of a group of islands in the South China Sea. Some protest meetings were held last year in Chinatown.
But I urge everyone to please be rational. Whatever the government does, it has nothing to do with the people. Do not break the humane tradition of many Chinatown organizations over the years, who have been at the forefront of charity.
I was shocked when I heard there were more than 70,000 Chinese working in northeastern Japan. The Chinese government sent in planes to evacuate Chinese. Political conflicts and disagreement shouldn’t keep us from working together on humanitarian issues for the benefit of many countries. ♦