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March 18, 2021 | by Lauren Dezenski, Allison Gordon and Sonnet Swire
These are powerful responses to anti-Asian rhetoric
Words have consequences. And many lawmakers said as much on Capitol Hill Thursday, in the first House hearing on discrimination against Asian Americans in more than three decades.
As California Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu put it:
"I served in active duty so you can say whatever you want under the First Amendment, you can say racist stupid stuff if you want. But I'm asking you to please stop using racist terms like 'kung flu' or 'Wuhan virus' or other ethnic identifiers in describing this virus. I am not a virus and when you say things like that, it hurts the Asian American community."
Lieu was responding to Texas Republican Rep. Chip Roy, who used “an old saying in Texas” describing lynching, saying Americans “want justice” for victims but that he had concern about “the policing of rhetoric in a free society.”
New York Democratic Rep. Grace Meng responded in kind:
"Your president and your party and your colleagues can talk about issues with any other country that you want, but you don't have to do it by putting a bull's-eye on the back of Asian Americans across this country, on our grandparents, on our kids.”
Violence and discrimination against Asian Americans have spiked over the last year, with more than 500 reported instances of violence in the first two months of 2021, according to a recent report from the organization Stop AAPI Hate -- and likely even more unreported.
While there is no set motive in the Atlanta shootings yet, six of the eight victims’ Asian ethnicity drove concern over yet another example of seemingly random violence against an entire ethic group. The gunman told police he believed he had a sex addiction, police say. But advocates say this feeds directly into a major issue -- and oft-perpetuated stereotype about Asian women.
“The fact that he's even characterizing this as eliminating some sort of sex addition problem is dehumanizing and directed at the women who worked in this industry,” Georgia state Rep. Bee Nguyen told CNN’s “New Day.”
However, "sex" is a hate crime category under Georgia law. The shootings don't have to be racially motivated to constitute a hate crime in the state.
“Six Asian women are dead,” Nguyen said. “And you simply cannot separate the fact that there's hypersexualization of Asian women. It is interlinked to sex-working industry, and you cannot separate the misogyny, the racism and gender-based violence.”
The Point: With an issue this noxious, language matters -- and so does action.
-- Lauren
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"It’s great to have a Buckeye in the Cabinet, and we’re very proud of her."
-- Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, on newly confirmed HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge. She previously represented Ohio's 11th District in Congress.
FILI-BUSTED?
A growing chorus on the left is calling for the end of the legislative filibuster, an otherwise obscure parliamentary procedure used to block a measure from being brought to a vote in the Senate.
Chris explains why lawmakers think the filibuster's end has finally come.
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ALLI'S GOOD READS
Confronting Asian American racism during the pandemic
How Covid-19 has robbed teenagers
Maybe stop posting your vaccine cards on social media
Following the money in college sports
A list of books to better understand Asian American racism in the US
New Orleans' Haitian music roots, explored
On Demi Lovato
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MUSICAL INTERLUDE
The internet was abuzz (for good reason) this week about Harry Styles’ Grammy performance. In Alli's opinion, his joy and dance moves were infectious — and the feather boa was a 10/10. New to the Styles hive? Check out “Cherry” for a slower ballad or “Golden” for a happy tune that will give you all the feels.
Today's episode: From Russia, with hostility.
5 THINGS TO KNOW
Let’s meet Katherine Tai, President Joe Biden’s confirmed pick to be the US trade representative. As the daughter of immigrants from Taiwan, she is the first Asian American and woman of color to be the top US trade negotiator.
Here are five things you may not have known about this Washington attorney:
- Tai was born in Connecticut but grew up near Washington, DC. She graduated from Yale University with a bachelor’s degree in history and earned a law degree from Harvard Law School.
- A fluent speaker of Mandarin, Tai knows China well. She taught English at Zhongshan University in Guangzhou, a port city northwest of Hong Kong.
- Tai most recently served as the top Democratic trade counsel for the House Ways and Means Committee, where she played a crucial part in the negotiations with the Trump administration on the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement and advocated stronger labor provisions.
- Despite her history as a Democratic staffer, she received unanimous support from an evenly split Senate in a procedural vote clearing her path for confirmation. The final vote on Wednesday was unanimous – 98-0.
- In fact, everyone seems to like Tai. Biden himself said, upon nominating her, that “she’s earned praise from lawmakers of both parties and from both labor and business as well. Now, that’s a feat.” He added, turning to her: “I’ve gotten more calls complimenting me on your appointment than you can imagine.”
ONE BIG MOVE
The marble blocks inscribed with the First Amendment have a new home: The National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. They previously hung on the exterior of the Newseum, a museum in Washington, DC, dedicated to journalism that succumbed to financial issues and closed in 2019.
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