There's nothing about racism in the article. Maybe in the 30-minute keynote video?
There's nothing about racism in the article. Maybe in the 30-minute keynote video?
It's mentioned, but not highlighted. That lawsuit was about racial quotas for admission to the Lowell "magnet school", which is a special high school for academically talented students in the SFUSD system. Chinese students were required to score higher on tests than students of other races to be allowed admittance. Lee was an alum of the school, and was offended by the practice. Here's Lee being interviewed about it in 1995:
"I grew up knowing a lot of racism," said Lee Cheng, 23, a UC Berkeley law student and spokesman for the San Francisco chapter of the Chinese American Democratic Club, the group behind the legal battle.
"I was beaten up as a kid, referred to as a chink, a Chinaman. But in school I was taught that the laws will treat everyone the same, that discrimination was being eliminated.
"Then my friends and I applied to public high school. We discovered that if you are Chinese, you have to do better than anyone else."
http://articles.latimes.com/1995-07-13/news/mn-23543_1_chine...
He makes his feelings even clearer on an even earlier entry to the Wikipedia Talk page about the San Francisco Unified School District:
I'm proud to have gone to a high school whose alumni actually care enough about it to write these wikis. My two cents: the Ho suit should be on both the SFUSD and the Lowell pages. FYI--it won't be the last lawsuit challenging race-based admissions at Lowell. When Ho was organized and filed, I'd just graduated from college. I'm a lawyer now and spoiling to use that degree. The next lawsuit will not result in a settlement. SFUSD racists, make my day.--Lee Cheng '89
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk%3ASan_Francisco_Unified_S...
I've tremendously admired him for his role in pursuing patent trolls, but hadn't known about this earlier history. Wow! I continue to be impressed.