Angry Connecticut Attorney General responds to official's ignorant comment about Asian Americans

WNPR

Attorney General William Tong corrects a Connecticut legislator's comments.

Connecticut officials are aghast at comments by a state lawmaker that questioned the discrimination suffered by Asian Americans.

Rep. Michael Winkler's comments drew an angry retort from the state's Attorney General William Tong. 

"Let me assure you that Asian Americans count and the hate and discrimination against us is real, and it has gotten people hurt and killed,” said Tong.

Winkler made his comments during a meeting of the Planning and Development Committee during which he dismissed discrimination against Asian Americans.

In an exchange with Greenwich Housing Authority board chairman Sam Romeo, Winkler said he did not believe there was racism in Greenwich. Romeo responded and noted that 37% of the population of the Fairfield County town is classified as “minority.”

"Yes, you count Asians and other minorities that have never been discriminated against," Winkler said to Romeo.

"Every immigrant group that has come in has risen through and above the Blacks, while other immigrant groups, one after the other -- the Polish, the Irish, whatever -- came in and rose up. Blacks have always been at the bottom and remain there." said Winkler. "And so, they're the group that I look to when I'm trying to judge how well people are doing for the most downtrodden, the most oppressed."

Winkler's comments prompted an immediate response from state Sen. Tony Hwang.

“For anyone who says there is no bias or racism against Asian Americans ... those kind of statements are absolutely unacceptable anytime,” said Hwang, who was born in Taiwan. “I demand that he apologize and understand what he said was beyond inflammatory, beyond derogatory and beyond ignorant.”

Later in the meeting, Winkler apologized for his comments, which were broadcast live on YouTube. Word quickly spread through the state government and prompted a response from Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, who released the following statement:

“I’d like to say I cannot believe that Representative Winkler would say that Asian-Americans do not count and have not been discriminated against. Except, I can believe it because I was asked myself as a member of the House of Representatives during a debate whether Asian Americans count as people of color. 

"Let me assure you that Asian Americans count and the hate and discrimination against us is real, and it has gotten people hurt and killed,”  

“The Chinese Exclusion Act was real. The forced internment of 120,000 Japanese Americans on U.S. soil was real. The beating death of Vincent Chin was real. Donald Trump’s malicious scapegoating of Asian-Americans for his own failure to respond to the coronavirus pandemic was real. The murder of six Asian women in Atlanta just last week was real. 

"The history of bias and hate against Asian-Americans in this country is long and largely invisible, an unfortunate reality that has been highlighted by the ignorant comments made by Representative Winkler. 

"The myth of the so-called ‘model-minority’ is a dangerous fiction that for too long has allowed this country to erase and ignore this shameful history. 

"I invite Representative Winkler to seize this moment as a teaching opportunity, to educate himself by speaking to his Asian American neighbors and colleagues, and to commit to joining me and others in fighting discrimination in all forms.”