California lawmaker blames GOP for Asian American hate
By Gilda P. Balan, Correspondent
SAN FRANCISCO – A lawmaker from California blames the last Republican president for fostering Asian-American hate. This after another GOP lawmaker questioned her loyalty to the US because of her Asian roots.
Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA) said in an online interview that former president Donald Trump “put a target on the backs of all Asian Americans in this country.”
She said during MSNBC’s Alex Wagner Tonight that Trump caused serious harm to her community at the onset of the pandemic when he referred to the coronavirus as the China virus or even kung flu.
Chu said, “This anti-Asian hate which did result in 11,500 anti-Asian hate crimes over these last three years” has to be stopped.
“I hope every decent American will call out these conspiracy MAGA Republicans on this and tell them that they have to stop this for the sake of this country,” she added.
Wagner asked Chu what needed to be done differently as a society. “And what do we do we need to tell the purveyors of this hate, some of whom sit in the US Congress?”
The California congresswoman replied: “We have to tell them to stop these baseless conspiracy theories. They have to stop perpetuating the foreigner in their own land stereotype.”
It was because of the stereotyping of Asian Americans that some Americans “want to kill” Asia Pacific Islanders – Filipinos and FilAms are considered APIs – because of their anger at COVID-19.
Meanwhile, Chu’s partymates in the House are demanding an apology from Rep. Lance Gooden (R-TX-5) over what they said were his “racist” remarks questioning the loyalty of Chu.
Gooden said in an interview over Fox News that Chu – the first Chinese-American woman elected to Congress – needed “to be called out.”
Gooden said during Jesse Walters Primetime last week that he questioned Chu’s loyalty or competence because the Democrat was “totally out of touch with one of her core constituencies.”
He added that Chu was not entitled to security briefings nor get a security clearance because she had defended banker Dominic Ng, who has been accused of working with the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing.
Ng was appointed as chairman of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Business Advisory Council by President Joe Biden.
Chu issued a statement referring to Gooden’s remarks as “racist.”
She said Gooden’s comments questioning her loyalty to the US “is absolutely outrageous.”
Those comments, she said, were based on “false information spread by an extreme, right wing website.”
Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-WA-1), head of the Democrats’ campaign arm, said their colleagues should be accountable for anti-Asian rhetoric
DelBene said that at a time when anti-Asian hate continues to threaten communities, “it’s critical that we condemn these racist and xenophobic attacks.”
The leader of the Democrats in the House, Hakeem Jeffries, called out Gooden for his “disloyalty” to the country for voting to overturn the presidential elections in favor of Trump.
“Look in the mirror, Lance,” said the House Minority Leader, “You have zero credibility.”
Gooden replied by saying Jeffries and Chu were “playing the race card.”
What cannot be denied is that more Democrats have spoken out against Asian hate than their Republican counterparts.
