Sery Kim.Photo: Kris Connor/Getty
A Texas congressional candidate and former Trump administration staffer is facing criticism for racist remarks that shedoes not want Chinese immigrantscoming to the U.S. “at all,” blaming them for stealing intellectual property and spreadingCOVID-19.
“I don’t want them here at all,” Sery Kim said in a forum for candidates of Texas' 6th Congressional District held last week. “They steal our intellectual property, they give us coronavirus, they don’t hold themselves accountable.”
Kim — a Republican who worked in the Small Business Administration under former PresidentDonald Trump— followed her remark with, “And quite frankly, I can say that because I’m Korean.”
Two Korean-AmericanRepublican congresswomensubsequently revoked theirendorsementsof Kim, saying in a statement that they were “hurtful, untrue … [and] unacceptable.”
The Dallas Fort Worth Asian-American Citizens Council also condemned Kim’s remarks in astatementreleased Friday.
“Racist and ethnic slurs, regardless of the source, have no place in today’s society,” the statement read. “Ms. Kim being of Korean descent does not give her license to use harmful language against Chinese or any other ethnic group.”
“I am shocked that in an effort to counter Asian-American hate the liberal media is targeting me, an Asian and an immigrant in an effort to paint me anti-Asian and anti-immigrant just for speaking against the oppressive Chinese Communist Party,” her statement read, adding: “It is indisputable that, even here in TX 06, the Chinese Communist Party is the foremost threat to the free world.”
That report was released the same week that eight people —six of them Asian women— were killed in a spree shooting atthree spasin the Atlanta area.
The shootings spurred a national conversation aboutrising anti-Asian racismand violence and led many Asian American lawmakers tocall for policy measuresto address the issue.
Some observers have blamed Trump — who referred to COVID-19 as the “China virus” and “kung flu” — for fueling the racism.
Rep. Judy Chu, chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus and the first Chinese-American woman to serve in Congress, told PEOPLE earlier that her initial reaction to Trump’s use of derogatory and racist anti-Asian phrases was one of pain: “I felt like it was a stab wound each time he said it. I felt that he was attacking the entire community, but I felt it personally.”
source: people.com
