STATEMENT FROM STATE REPRESENTATIVE BETTY BROWN
Thursday, April 9th, 2009
Contact: Jordan Berry - 903.288.7581
State Representative Betty Brown apologizes for her remark in the Elections Committee on Tuesday, April 7th. Representative Brown appreciates Ramey Ko's testimony which made the Elections Committee aware of experiences Asian-American's have when acquiring identification. Representative Brown appreciates the diversity of Texas and the enrichment that the Asian-American community has brought to our great state.
She would like for you to be aware that the quote that is being circulated is one sentence out of a conversation she was having with Mr. Ko, who represents the Organization of Chinese Americans, while he was testifying. The conversation was regarding possible difficulties in translating names. Later in the conversation Representative Brown explained what she had meant by her comment. "I'm not talking about changing your name. I'm talking about the transliteration, or whatever you refer to it, that you could use for us."
Representative Brown expresses gratitude to her Asian-American friends for their demonstration of support by her during this misunderstanding.
This apology is highly disingenuous. She clearly views Asian-Americans as a "them" and not "us." In other words, her words and actions show that in her mind, there are "real Americans" and then there are "Asian-Americans". She is either unable or unwilling to understand that we are all equally American. This degree of intolerance in an elected official is terrifying. Imagine if she had made a similar comment regarding an African-American. Imagine the degree of public outrage that that would engender. This remark is no less an affront to Asian-Americans.
ReplyDeleteI was there. This was not taken out of context. Mr. Ko brought up points that the rest of the committee (Democrats & Republicans alike) took seriously and indicated it included important new information for each of them. Ms Brown was totally unaware that she was completely out of line. The immediate audience reaction seemed to stun her. She was and probably still is totally oblivious to her racist attitude nor does she probably are...
ReplyDeleteHer demeanor during the entire hearing reflected the partisan attitude shon during the whole Senate hearing. She stood out among Tuesday's committee members as the one who wants to take us all back to when poll taxes, literacy tests and keeping "those people" from voting was SOP.
Another example of how many whites think all "others" should bend to meet their needs. They seem to feel they are just a little more "American" than everyone else.
ReplyDeleteActually she doesn't view Asians as any type of Americans. She uses the words "you and your citizens" instead of "our citizens."
ReplyDeleteAnd my personal favorite, about adopting names "easier for Americans to deal with." Apparently citizens of Asian descentand their names are not American.
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ReplyDelete