Asian-American representatives seek an end to anti-Asian rhetoric ahead of US midterm elections
- Report by advocacy group Stop AAPI Hate links a rise in inflammatory language to an increase in hate crimes against Asian-Americans
- ‘We’ve seen how the rhetoric used about our communities … results in the harm and even murder of Asian-Americans,’ says US Representative Judy Chu
Asian-American leaders and advocates called on politicians and government officials Wednesday to stop anti-Asian rhetoric and scapegoating in the lead-up to the increasingly polarised US midterm elections on November 8.
“Politicians must be careful with what they say,” said Representative Grace Meng, Democrat of New York. “We ask this of politicians from all political parties.”
Meng’s comments came as the activist group Stop AAPI Hate released “The Blame Game”, a report focused on recent inflammatory language by political figures and candidates in the elections. (AAPI refers to Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.)
Voters will choose all 435 members of the House of Representatives and 34 of the Senate’s 100 members, in addition to legions of state and local officials.
Even as deaths and illness from the coronavirus wane, the number of reported hate incident cases has doubled to over 11,000 since 2020, including 2,250 in which Asian-Americans were scapegoated for the pandemic.
China is a source of growing economic, security and diplomatic concern for many Americans. But Meng and others in the 78-member Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus called on lawmakers and government officials to avoid using vague and overly broad anti-China statements.
The incidents the report cited included an online posting earlier this month by former president Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform slamming his former transportation secretary Elaine Chao, referring to her as Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell’s “China loving wife, Coco Chow!”
The report referred back to June 2021, when Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida called China a “hostile foreign power” and said the duty of every governor included protecting against its threatening activities. “China remains the biggest threat,” DeSantis, considered a potential Republican candidate for president in 2024, said.
A Pew Research survey released last month found 82 per cent of American respondents had an “unfavourable opinion” of China, up from 79 per cent in 2020 – results similar to those in many European and East Asian nations.
But, advocates noted, it is Asian-Americans who too often get hurt by broad-brush, race-tinged statements uttered by their own elected representatives that spread bigotry and bias.
“There’s no question that the relationship with the US and China is complex, and there’s considerable tension,” said Cynthia Choi, co-executive director of Chinese for Affirmative Action, a civil-rights group.
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“We’re not attempting to dictate foreign policy. But what we are saying is, no matter what an elected [official] or candidate’s policies are toward China or any foreign country, they are responsible for their words and the harm that extreme inflammatory language causes.”
Discussing the report, Representative Judy Chu, a California Democrat and chair of the Asian Pacific American Caucus, said that “the message we deliver must be one about American strength and increased opportunity, not one of fear and violence”.
“We’ve seen how the rhetoric used about our communities, not just in relation to Covid-19 but also around economic competition with Asian countries, results in the harm and even murder of Asian-Americans here at home.”
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According to a survey by researchers Momentive and AAPI Data, at least three million Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders experienced hate incidents between March 2021 and March 2022.
As the threat has grown, Asian-Americans have tried to fight their corner. Better statistics on the racism problem are part of the response by a community often viewed as “invisible” and a “model minority”. But voter registration drives and campaigns to increase Asian-American candidates have expanded representation, even as public demonstrations and greater attention to legislation bolster awareness.
Activists fear that the scapegoating of community members around espionage and distrust of the Communist Party is likely to grow as the pandemic wanes.
“Over 250 years, we’ve seen the devastating violence and exclusionary policies brought on by scapegoating in the arenas of public health, national security and related to economic issues,” said Manjusha Kulkarni, executive director of the civic group AAPI Equity Alliance. “We simply cannot allow history to repeat itself.”