Hawaii legislator releases letter from racist Trump supporter

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Hawaii State Rep. Beth Fukumoto is a former Republican

RACIST HATE MAIL isn’t unusual for Hawaii's state Rep. Beth Fukumoto, a 33-year-old lawmaker who resigned in March from her leadership role in the state’s Republican Party over what she called Donald Trump’s “marginalizing rhetoric” toward minorities and ethnic groups.

The Hawaii legislator shared the letter, dated Aug. 9, 2017 in an effort to bring awareness to racist rhetoric happening in the country.

"I'm so moved by what's happening nationally and I feel so frustrated and sad," Fukumoto said. The letter “was more upsetting than usual,” she told Huffington Post.

“One of the reasons that I switched parties is that I felt the Republican Party was unwilling to confront racism,” said Fukumoto, once consider one of the GOP's rising stars. “Racism specifically in the party and racism as promoted by the nominee at the time, and now the president.”

In the one-page typed letter, the sender mocks Fukumoto's Japanese heritage and links that to the attack on Pearl Harbor.

The sender goes on to make vulgar statements about immigrants by calling them "parasites," and takes jabs at minorities by saying, "We Trump people hate illegals, black thugs, Muslims and bombs, and gays who do nothing but ***** 24 hrs a day." 

When she was a Republican, Fukumoto said, her colleagues would dismiss her any time she spoke of the racism and sexism she experienced or when she would point out the offensive rhetoric in Trump’s presidential campaign. She said Republican lawmakers would constantly tell her that it wasn’t true and claim, “You’re making it up. Nobody really thinks like that.”

After the events of Charlottesville, she said more leaders from both parties need to make an effort to not only condemn the hate, but to vote against hate.

"We have so many political leaders who are saying nothing or aren't saying enough," Fukumoto said. "I don't think all Republicans are racist, but I think that a significant portion of the party has been co-opted by this white nationalist undertone."

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