AAPI groups urge GOP, Democrats to avoid xenophobic, racist messages

SCREEN CAPTURE

A commercial for Don Blankenship use of racist messages is reaching its intended audience.

TRYING TO BE PROACTIVE, a letter from 35 Asian/American organizations was sent to both the Republican National Committee and the Democratic National Committee urging candidates on both sides of the aisle to avoid xenophobic rhetoric and reject racism.

“It’s campaign season again and disappointingly we find ourselves responding to more racism and xenophobia in political ads. This has to stop,” said Gregg Orton, director of the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans.

The letter was in response to an ad used by a candidate for the U.S. Senate in West Virginia that used a racist term to describe Chinese/Americans.

Don Blankenship, the former Chairman and CEO of Massey Energy, is facing five other candidates in the Republican primary in West Virginia on today (May 8), but he chose to attack Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, and McConnell’s wife,  U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao, who is Chinese/American.

 In a clearly anti-Asian advertisement Blankenship speaks to camera, denigrating Asians as “China people” and refers to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s “China family.”

Asian Americans Advancing Justice, an affiliation of five civil rights organizations, issues the following statement:

“Asian Americans Advancing Justice is outraged and exasperated that once again, as midterm elections start to heat up, a candidate for elected office believes that saying blatant racist statements is appropriate. This most recent ad is yet another example in a long line of political advertising used to incite animosity or race-based fear of Asian Americans and other communities of color.

"It is clear this ad uses the myth of Asians being perpetual foreigners as a way to raise fear and concern. This is the same kind of tactic that led to shameful moments in U.S. history such as the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II," said the statement.

"Americans have had enough of this stereotyping and fear-mongering. We reject these racist remarks. America and Americans are better than this.”

The problem is, the racist code used in such ads are effective. The offensive campaign of Blankenship has him surging in the last hours leading up to the polls. If he wins, it would only encourage other conservative candidates to stoop to the lowest rung possible and employ similar messages.

“The truth is that when racist or xenophobic language is used by any political party, it is painfully personal for that community, and in context to the AAPI community, reinforces the damaging narrative that we are ‘outsiders’ to the civic engagement process,” said Orton.

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