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

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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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Candidate remains blind to racial namecalling resorts to racist namecalling to energize his base

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A scene from a Don Blankenship commercial.

USUALLY I TRY TO IGNORE individuals who are out-and-out racists -- because it's a waste of time and energy trying to change their views -- but, when that person is running for U.S. Senate, it's pretty hard to ignore him.

Candidate Don Blankenship is one of these people who have come out of the woodwork because Donald Trump's racist rants have emboldened them to no longer hide their views. He is one of three Republicans running for the U.S. Senate to represent West Virginia

I've met exactly two people from West Virginia and I have to say that I've been pretty impressed, but just like those two people can't represent the whole state, Blankenship can't -- I fervently hope -- represent the good people of that state.

Now, I'm not a fan of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnel -- far from it, his complicity in the enabling of Donald Trump's views, especially on immigration issues makes him part of the government swamp and why Congress has not been able to do anything on immigration. However, Blackenship's desperate attacks on the incumbent's family -- because his wife is Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, should have remained in the gutter from whence it came.

As reported in AsAm News:

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Don Blankenship escalated his racial attacks on the mixed-race family of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his wife, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, reports CNN.

In his ad, Blankenship refers to Chinese as “China people” and calls McConnell “cocaine Mitch” and his “China family.”

“Swamp captain Mitch McConnell has created millions of jobs for China people, while doing so, Mitch has gotten rich,” Blankenship says in the ad transcribed by Time. “In fact, his China family has given him tens of millions of dollars. Mitch’s swamp people are now running false negative ads about me. They are also childishly calling me despicable and mentally ill. The war to drain the swamp and create jobs for West Virginia people has begun. I will beat Joe Manchin and ditch cocaine Mitch for the sake of the kids.”

According to Time, Blankenship claims McConnell’s father-in-law has given the Senator and his wife millions of dollars and that cocaine was found on a ship owned by the father-in-law’s shipping company. That shipping company is American and based in New York.

“There’s no mystery to what Mr. Blankenship is doing,” said Rep Judy Chu in a statement published in the South Pasadenan. “It is intentional race baiting. I condemn his comments and urge him to stop going down this hateful and divisive path. Unfortunately, one of President Trump’s legacies seems to be the lesson that stoking racial resentments and xenophobia are effective tools for winning an election.” 

Blankenship is in a three way race for the Republican nomination to represent West Virginia. The primary is Tuesday, May 8. 

He has a checkered past. He spent a year in prison after 29 people were killed in an explosion at a mine owned by Massey Energy. Blankenship served as CEO and his company was cited for numerous mine safety violations. 

“By using racially insensitive rhetoric to target Secretary Chao and her family in order to take cheap shots at Senator McConnell, Mr. Blankenship is 

perpetuating the hateful stereotype that being Chinese means you cannot also be a patriotic American. That this kind of rhetoric has been used to justify persecution of Jews and Catholics, the imprisonment of innocent Japanese during World War II, and more, and should give anybody pause,” said Chu.

The fact that Blackenship qualified to be a candidate for a high office and is capable of garnering thousands of votes, speaks volumes about the state of our country. The GOP fear losing West Virginia if Blackenship wins. The situation is serious enought that Trump was convinced to weight in, telling voters to reject Blackenship and vote for one of the other Republicans.

CORRECTION: MAY 7, 9 p.m. - to clarify the GOPO candidates running for the U.S. Senate to represent West Virginia.

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