American Chinese have launched an online campain, demanding an apology from the Cable News Network (CNN) and its Situation Room program for insulting Chinese.

"We are truly stunned and shocked by a recent racist and hatred remark on the Chinese people by your news commentator Jack Cafferty, " said a petition which has won 7,614 signatures since it was posted online on Friday.

In Situation Room aired on April 9th, Cafferty charged the Chinese people with a highly despicable assault by saying, "They (Chinese) are basically the same bunch goons and thugs they have been in the past fifty years," according to the petition.

"It's not common to witness such a blatant discrimination against an ethnic group of people with such a derogatory connotation in a national TV program," said the petition, "We believe his remark clearly exposed his hatred and bigotry against Chinese people as a whole. Without doubt, many people feel hurt, especially, the Chinese people, by this shameless assault."

Cafferty's hatred speech has been recorded and uploaded to Youtube. So far the click rate is approaching 10,000, according to the petition. People from around the world have left comments condemning his vile remark.

The petition demand for an apology from the CNN and Situation Room was created by the Legal Immigrant Association (LIA) and written by Legal Immigrant Association (petition@legalimmigrant.org). This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service.

"As a leading organization of legal immigrants mainly comprised of people from China, we strongly condemn Jack Cafferty's racist remarks and urge the CNN to take immediate action against him," said the petition, "We also demand an official apology from the CNN to all Chinese people. We would reserve our right to take further actions on this matter."

(Xinhua News Agency April 12, 2008)