WASHINGTON — It’s been an unsettling, tense few days for Asian American and Pacific Islanders in Washington.
Anti-Asian American activity has become not only more frequent in recent years but has become a persistent source of political tension, particularly in the last week or so:
— Rep. Lance Gooden, R-Texas, said he questioned Rep. Judy Chu’s “either loyalty or competence.” Chu and supporters said they were outraged. Gooden insisted, “It’s not ‘xenophobic’ to question where her loyalty lies.” This time Chu said his views were racist and disgusting.
— A House Republican-dominated committee rejected a Democratic proposal to support federal action against hate crimes involving white supremacists
— The new House committee on the Chinese Community Party held its first meeting. Though Republicans, and many Democrats, agree its purpose is to develop ideas for economic competition, some Asian American lawmakers worry the panel’s supporters have other motives.
While the committee could be productive, Chu said, she’s concerned “If it devolves into xenophobia, into promoting conflict with China, in suppressing everything that is related to China.”
There’s a pattern in all this that’s frightening to many Asian Americans.
“Many scholars and Asian and Pacific Island citizens, I among them, believe that some Americans regard Asians as ‘perpetual foreigners’ somehow attached to Asia no matter how long they have lived here in the U.S., even if they have been here for many generations,” said Gabriel Chin, professor of law at the University of California, Davis.
A lot of people remember when the consequences of such suspicions were dire.
“There is no relationship, none, zero between an American who happens to be of Asian descent and foreign governments. When we conflate those issues that’s how we get a Japanese-American internment,” said Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Los Angeles, citing the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II.
Acts of hate against Asian Americans have been on the rise, notably since the COVID pandemic gripped the country. The FBI found that in 2020, reports of anti-Asian hate crimes increased by more than 70%.
Lawmakers call comments ‘xenophobic’
The Chu-Gooden controversy follows President Joe Biden’s naming Dominic Ng, a California-based bank CEO, as a member of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Business Advisory Council.
Six Republicans, including Gooden, have asked the FBI to look into whether Ng has ties to the Chinese Communist Party. The bank said in a statement that allegations that Ng is or was a foreign agent are not true.
Chu, D-Monterey Park, who chairs the Congressional Asian Pacific Americans Caucus, and two other California lawmakers objected to the Republican effort.
“We are extremely disturbed and outraged — but not surprised — that some of our Republican colleagues in Congress would undermine his candidacy and even question his loyalty to the United States based entirely on loose claims of association trafficked on extreme-right outlets with extensive histories of spreading misinformation,” they said in a statement.
That hasn’t stopped Gooden. In an interview with Fox News last week, he questioned Chu’s loyalty to this country and suggested she should be denied access to security briefings or classified material.
Chu reacted in strong terms, joined by House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and others. Jeffries said “Lance Gooden’s slanderous accusation of disloyalty against Rep. Chu is dangerous, unconscionable and xenophobic.”
Gooden swung back, tweeting “it’s not ‘xenophobic’ to question where her loyalty lies.”
He continued tweeting about her and her supporters. “Democrats cry ‘racism’ any time they don’t like the messenger or the message. It’s really sick and shameful,” he said.
Gooden’s office did not respond to requests for comment.
Chu, though, had much to say. "It’s racist. It’s disgusting. And it’s just lays the groundwork for questioning AAPIs in this country and it lays the groundwork for more AAPI hate,” Chu said of Gooden Thursday while speaking at the House Democrats’ Issues Conference in Baltimore.
“And it also reinforces a terrible stereotype that we have to deal with. For all the time we’ve been in this country, that we are foreigners in our own land. Even though we have been in this country for decades,” said Chu, a Los Angeles native.
“Language matters, and how we use language matters,” said Rep. Ami Bera, D-Sacramento.
Some Republicans were critical of their colleague. China committee Chairman Mike Gallagher, R-Wisconsin, criticized Gooden’s remarks.
“We should not question anybody’s loyalty to the United States,” Gallagher told CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “That is out of bounds. It’s beyond the pale.”
More concern over Asian American bashing
Concern about Asian American-bashing was around elsewhere last week.
The House Judiciary Committee debated a proposal by Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Los Angeles, proposed a statement that he said would clarify that part of the committee’s mission would be to “oversee and support federal efforts to combat domestic violent extremism, with a particular focus on crimes motivated by bigotry.”
During the debate, Rep. Dan Bishop, R-North Carolina, said the proposal was Democrats applying their “woke” philosophy, and said he was unaware what AAPI stood for. Republicans voted against including the statement in their committee agenda plan.
Later, Bishop told The Bee the notion that Asian Americans are often under suspicion is “absurd.”
“Many in Washington devote themselves to finding ways we can categorize, classify us in some sort of way and engender opposition among us, according to the classifications they created. And it goes on forever,” he said.
It’s important to remember that “We’re Americans and to make sure we are treated fairly and well and we ought not have animosity. We ought not build animosities,” Bishop said.
The next day, the new China committee met. The tone at the meeting was one of bipartisanship, a bid to confront the challenges China’s politics and economy pose.
Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Illinois, the committee’s top Democrat, offered a detailed agenda. But he also issued a polite warning.
“We have no quarrel with the Chinese people or people of Chinese origin. That’s why we should never engage in anti-Chinese or anti-Asian stereotyping or prejudice,” he told the panel.
“Comments that question the loyalty of Asian-American Members of Congress are completely unacceptable and must be rejected. These comments only feed the scapegoating and targeting of Chinese Americans, further endangering them and other Asian Americans.”
In fact, he said, “this xenophobia and stereotyping is what the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) would want to happen.”
It was another chapter in a time that makes a lot of Asian Americans nervous.
“The Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese government are engaging in human rights violations, appear to be threatening peaceful neighbors, and committing other acts of wrongdoing,” said UC Davis’ Chin.
“But Chinese Americans are not part of the People’s Republic of China,” he said. “It is reminiscent of World War II, where Japanese Americans were conflated with the Japanese Empire, while lawmakers were able to distinguish between German Americans and Germany, Italian Americans and Italy.”
