AAPI presidential hopefuls blast Trump's go-back-where-you-came-from attack

Democratic presidential candidates, from left, Sen. Kamala Harris, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and Andrew Yang.

The AAPI candidates for the Democrats' nomination for POTUS joined in the chorus of condemnation of Donald Trump's racist attack against four Congress members of color by "othering" them even though they are US citizens.

“It is absolutely racist and un-American. And it is an old trope, ‘go back to where you came from,’ that you might hear on the street, but you should never hear that from the president of the United States. said Sen. Kamala Harris, whose parents immigrated here from India and Jamaica. 

On Sunday, Trump  in a series of tweets, said some Democratic congresswomen should “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.”

While Trump did not name the targets of his attack, the context of his tweet made it clear it was aimed at a group of four progressive Democratic women of color – Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley. Except for Omar, the House members were born in the US. Omar became a citizen while still in teens.

On Tuesday, the House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning Trump's remarks. Except for four Republicans who voted for the resolution, the tally was along party lines.
Of the three AAPI candidates, Harris issued the strongest reaction, saying Trump should "go back to where he came from."

Trump’s racist tweets “defile the office of the United States” and “take the presidency to a new low,” said Harris.

The 2020 presidential hopeful's comments came after the House of Representatives voted to condemn the US president’s racist tweets on Tuesday night.

In an interview with CNN, Harrs said, "I don't think that we can survive having a president of the United States who uses whatever voice he has in a way that is about dividing and fueling hate in our country." 

She added: “He wants to distract by lighting fires around the issue of race – it’s disgusting.”“I think it is a turn for this president,” she continued. “Could it get any worse? Apparently yes, it just did. How low can he go?”

“He needs to go back where he came from and leave that office,” she told CNN.

"I don't think that we can survive having a president of the United States who uses whatever voice he has in a way that is about dividing and fuelling hate in our country."

Hawaii's Rep. Tulsi Gabbard told ABC News' Senior Washington reporter Devin Dwyer that Trump's remarks had what she described as devastating consequences.

"Stoking these racist feelings and stoking religious bigotry in this country, tearing apart and already divided country for his own political game is beneath the office of the presidency and undermines the very values and principles of our democracy," Gabbard said.

Gabbard further said that Trump was using the platform of the presidency to tell people who are critical of him that they should "go home."

Andrew Yang tweeted out:

In an interview with MSNBC, Yang was asked what his reaction was as a son of immigrants.

“Exactly what you’re suggesting," he responded. "As a son of immigrants myself, I know when someone says to go home in my case I was born in upstate New York, it’s the opposite of what we need from our president to try to call out these false distinctions between different types of people. We’re all Americans. These are members of Congress born in this country this is the opposite of what president should be saying.”

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Opinion: Calling out a racist

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The four congressmembers attacked by Donald Trump.

Finally. Finally. Finally, mainstream media stepped down from it's Ivory Tower of neutrality and called a racist, a racist.

The final straw was the racist tweet posted by Donald Trump last Sunday when he attacked four congresswomen of color. He told them to “go back” to “the totally broken and crime infested places they came from.”

The go-back-to-your-country attack is well-known among people of color. You never hear that phrase used against white people, following the general assumption that only white Americans are "real" Americans. I heard it on the playgrounds as a kid in California's schools. I heard "Go back to Africa" shouted at civil rights demonstrators. I heard it again hurled against anti-war protestors of color usually accompanied by "ching-chong, etc."

It should be pointed out that three of the four targets of Trump's racist vitriol -- Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, and Rashida Tlaib of Mich. -- were born in the US. Only  Ilhan Omar of Minnesota was born in a foreign country and she was naturalized in her teens.

After 10 years working at an ethnic newspaper, I transitioned to a mainstream newspaper where I encountered the Associated Press Style Guide and cautious editors who were ever so careful not to use the term "racist," because as neutral spectators, we can't read the minds of people or make assumptions about their intentions. It was not until I became an editorial writer that I could more freely express my real sentiments. Even then, I had to parse my words for fear of "offending" the newspaper's mostly white, mostly conservative readership.

It was one of the frustrating parts of working in MSM, that we couldn't call something that was so obvious to me, what it was - racist.

In order to appear unbiased, editors and reporters used euphemisms for what they really meant. 

In the Columbia Journalism Review, a paragon of US journalistic arbitration, the discussion about the word racist was the topic of an editorial. Generally, news sites twisted itself into pretzel to avoid using the emotionally loaded word, began the editorial.

"YESTERDAY, THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES“fanned the flames of a racial fire.” According to a panoply of major news outlets, Trump “starkly injected”“racially infused” and “racially charged” words into a morning tweetstorm; the language he used was “widely established as a racist trope” and “usually considered an ugly racist taunt.” The remarks were “called racist and xenophobic”; “denounced as racist”; an “example of ‘racism’” (note the quote marks)."

While opinion columnists didn't hesitate to use the word, in general, newsrooms shied away from saying what they really meant to be saying.

"The Associated Press Stylebook—a trusted arbiter for newsrooms nationwide that is hardly known for its leftist radicalism—ruled in March that we should “not use racially charged or similar terms as euphemisms for racist or racism when the latter terms are truly applicable.”

The hesitancy to use the word is most likely a residual, old-school squeamishness in newsrooms around charged words that—before Trump broke all the rules, at least—smacked of opinion or activism.

My, how the world has changed in just a few months. Finally, the CJR editorial concludes:

"Calling a president’s words 'racist' or 'a lie' can legitimately be thorny. Should we throw the words around? Probably not. But we should use them when they accurately reflect the truth. Very simply, that’s our job. 'Go back to where you came from' is textbook racism. When we contort ourselves to dance around that fact, the truth is injured."

I onlly wish MSM had jumped on the wagon and called Trump a racist from the very beginning when he began questioning the legitimacy of President Barack Obama's birth certificate back in 2008.

Or, when he instituted the Muslim Ban, or when Trump's border policies created a crisis on our southern border and thousands of asylum seekers jailed in concentration camps, or any number of instances when people of color 

It's about time mainstream media remember their mission -- to tell the truth. And if someone or the actions of someone or group is racist -- tell the truth.

Meanwhile ...

The House of Rrepresentatives had its own debate over calling Trump's tweets racist.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi introduced House Resolution 489: Condemning President Trump's racist ccomments directed at Members of Congress.

The resolution says the House of Representatives:

1. "Believes that immigrants and their descendants have made America stronger, and that those who take the oath of citizenship are every bit as American as those whose families have lived in the United States for many generations"
2. "Is committed to keeping America open to those lawfully seeking refuge and asylum from violence and oppression, and those who are willing to work hard to live the American Dream, no matter their race, ethnicity, faith, or country of origin"
3. "Strongly condemns President Donald Trump’s racist comments that have legitimized and increased fear and hatred of new Americans and people of color"

Except for four Republicans and an Independent, the vote passing the resolution was 240 to 187.

The solidarity -- some would say cowardice -- of the Republicans has kept most of the GOP lawmakers from condemning the Trump tweets. Asked directly by journalists, Sen. Mitch O'Conner, GOP Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Sen Lindsey Graham -- one after another -- avoided even saying the word "racist" in the same sentence as Trump or tweet.

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People Acting Stupid: Racist spews hate in Daly City

SCREEN CAPTURE / YOUTUBE

An unidentified woman verbally attacks Filipina American.

ASAM NEWS

FILIPINOS KNOW Daly City, Calif. worldwide as the Filipino American capital of the United States. It is a majority Asian American city with a population of 33 percent Filipino and 15 percent Chinese.

The incident caught on video there at a Lucky Grocery Store shows that racism knows no boundaries.

A woman is seen on camera trying to get under the skin of those customers ahead of her in the checkout line, as well as the cashier.The woman starts out speaking nonsense.

“Look at, honey, Look at honey. Licky, licky.”

It’s unclear what she’s trying to do, but a little later her intentions becomes clear.

“Come on, come on, come on, look at all the groceries they buy. Steal our food. Steal our money, our jobs.”

“So racist, oh my god,” a customer ahead of her responds.

“Got a family to feed,” said another.

“Go back to your country,” the woman responds.

“This is our country,” said a customer.

“You lie, you lie. Just like you got there,” said the racist woman.

“Take our food, Take our jobs. And then they say, oh you’re prejudice. They’re all looking for the dream. Well, screw our dream.”

Danika Aquino explained wny she posted the video online.

“Earlier today our close friends went to our local Lucky supermarket store in Daly City & as they were checking out this old racist disgusting hag was behind them harassing them and making racist comments towards them. This is exactly what America has turned into and we need to put a stop to people like her!”

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