Rep. Grace Meng: How to Stop the Hate

which self enough damage. In order to get rid of this pandemic, it's important for our fellow citizens to get vaccinated. I'm getting vaccinated. We college, we won't just pant to end as soon as possible, So we urge you to get vaccinated and when it's available to you, so roll up your sleeve and do your part. This is our shot. Now it's up to you. America is all aways been at its best when we're looking out for one another

and pulling together and common calls. Now, with the development of safe and effective COVID nineteen vaccines, we've got the chance to rise to the moment again. I encourage every American to get vaccinated as soon as it becomes available to you, and to feel confident is Hillary and I did when we got ours, that it will protect you and your loved ones and bring us all one step

closer to ending this pandemic. Over the last year, the COVID nineteen pandemic has sent shockwaves through societies all around the world, claiming nearly three million lives, creating economic upheaval and exposing systemic inequalities in areas like health and education.

Here in the United States, the pandemic has had another particularly ugly ripple effect, and one that hasn't gotten anywhere near the attention it is earths since the outbreak of the pandemic, there's been a dramatic rise in hate crimes against Asian Americans across our country. These have ranged from verbal assaults, divine and attacks, many of which have been

perpetrated against elderly people, with some causing death. In New York City alone, there's been an increase in more than eight hundred and anti Asian hate crimes reported in compared with these attacks have been fueled both by scapegoating and xenophobic rhetoric from public figures, misinformation and outright disinformation, distributed

and amplified through online platforms and other means. Sadly, they're also just the latest and a long and often overlooked history of prejudice against Asian Americans, prejudice that they have faced throughout our nation's history. So why am I telling you this? Because words matter, especially when they're spoken by people in power. Stereotypes and slurs and misinformation and disinformation

can have real, often horrifying consequences. The people being targeted by this hatred and racism our friends, our family members, our colleagues, our neighbors, and it needs to stop. Today I'm joined by a Congresswoman, Grace Ming of New York, a leading voice in Congress who's using her platform to raise awareness about these attacks, protect the Asian American community, and address some of the other inequalities that have been

worsened by the pandemic. She recently altered the House resolution condemning and denouncing all forms of anti Asian sentiments, including those related to COVID nineteen. Congresswoman, thank you so much for being here today, and thanks for all you're doing to call attention to this important issue. Let's start because a lot of our people live in areas in America who don't have which don't have a lot of Asian Americans. Tell us a little bit about yourself and your district

and what inspired you to run for Congress. Sure. Well, first, I wanna thank you, Mr President for uh an amazing legacy of service to our country and for providing hope for so many across the country still to this day. UM. And I'm honored to have this opportunity to come here and have this discussion with your followers and fans across the country, and thank you for highlighting this important issue. UM.

Just a little background about myself. I was born and raised in Queens, New York, UM, the daughter of immigrants. My parents came to this country in the early seventies. My dad worked at a restaurant for most of my child hood, so I didn't really see him much during the week um or the weekend, but we always saw him on Monday because that's the day he was off and that's when business at the restaurant was the slowest. UM.

And later on he became a restaurant owner himself. Small business owners, similar to the stories of so many immigrant families across the country. Regardless of where they came from. And also in a lot of the rooms that I was in, there just weren't a lot of people who look like me, not a lot of minorities, not a lot of women. And so you know, I, unexpectedly, without any experience, decided to run for the state legislature. I didn't win the first time I ran. I tried again,

and I won. I was there for a few years, and one night suddenly heard the news that my congress member, Congressman Gary Ackerman, was retiring, and we were shocked. He had been there for about thirty years. So within about thirty six hours, I went from helping to recruit candidates to being recruited myself. My husband playing a large role in this uh suggesting that I give it a shot. I thought he was crazy. I had just had two young kids under the age of three at the time.

Was probably the worst decision in terms of balancing mom life and work life, that I could have made. But here I am, um, and so I'm proud to represent one of the most diverse districts in New York and across the country. We have a little bit of everyone from everywhere. We have the best food, and I know, President Clinton, you and your family are no strangers to Queens. We we adopt you as one of our own. UM. And so I'm really privileged to represent a district that's

completely within Queens. And every day is different, and every day you hear new stories, and especially during this COVID pandemic. UM, we have seen the best of people, and we have seen people go through the worst of situations, heartbreaking stories from all corners of our county and our city. For those who are listening who don't know, the New York City Borough of Queens is the most diverse urban area with three million or more people on Earth. It's amazing

there's somebody there from everywhere. But it has always been the borough of New York with the largest Asian population. And both Hillary and I have spent a lot of happy days with various groups and Queens, as well as eating a lot of good food. So let's begin at the beginning. What do you think is the cause of this sudden, absurd and violence against Asian Americans. Well, so it's been about exactly a year actually since our quarantining

began here in New York State. UM, and when we were hearing about the first cases of the virus, I think in March, but in the weeks ahead of that, before the virus actually came to us here in New York, were were already hearing about a different sort of virus, that of discrimination and bigotry. We were hearing about people being attacked in the subway, people shouting and blaming them

for bringing the virus over. UM. We heard about people being afraid to go to your local Chinese take out restaurant because they thought you could catch the coronavirus by going to a Chinese or Asian owned business. UM. And it was really hurtful to hear the and president, the leader of our country, former President Trump, using words like Chinese virus and kung flu. And we continue to hear that language over the next few months and the next year.

And not only that, but we heard leaders of the Republican Party continued to use words like that, and they kept using it, and we kept hearing about more and more attacks, verbal to physical happening throughout the country. So it's really been a really very heartbreaking year for the Asian American community community who really grew up or came to this country under the notion that if you just blend in and fit in and stay invisible, be quiet and do your job. You know you'll make it and

you'll be seen as American enough. And right now we're going through a sort of cultural transformation where we're saying to people, know, you have to get out of your comfort zone. You have to talk about what happened to you, Otherwise it could happen two people you know after you in the future. You have to say it out loud

and report it to protect other people. Um and so that's why you know, we're seeing so many incidents, over three thousand reported and who knows how many haven't been reported. This is not the first time that Asian Americans have been targeted in America. Now, last October, you introduced legislation to promote teaching of Asian American Pacific history in schools across our country. To what extent do you think there's a lack of awareness about the history of Asian Americans

contributing to what's been happening. I've really started to think about this actually during the Black Lives Matters protests last year. So our country is going through this pandemic. Then we witnessed the murder of people like George Floyd, Brianna Taylor, and the real, authentic hurt and pain that are black brothers and sisters were facing in this country. And what we saw, for you know, probably one of the first times, was that the people at these protests and rallies weren't

just black people. They were Asians. They were Latinos, Native Americans, young, old, you name it, kids. And I started to be approached by a lot of Asian Americans, maybe older, maybe newer to this country, who asked why I and why Asian Americans cared so much about George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter protests, And I had the opportunity had to have really raw conversations, uncomfortable but important conversations with them, you know, and realizing that gosh, you know, they didn't

necessarily grow up in this country. They didn't have the history lessons to learn about, even topics like segregation that we assume everyone knows about um. And this led me to think that the history lessons that we as Americans have learned in this country have not been complete. I barely learned about Chinese immigrants building the railroad. I barely learned maybe a paragraph about Japanese incarceration camps. I barely learned about the slaves that built the US capital, the

place where I work every single day. And I realized that to make long term change and the long term solution to addressing systemic bias and eduction and you know, uh, the infrastructure and equities, we have to talk about education. We have to teach history in a more complete and accurate way. Um. And and that's why I propose this legislation. And I to give a shout out to now Secretary Marsha Fudge and Chairwoman of the Congressional Black Haucus, Joyce Batty.

They're working on they've been working on legislation to have black history taught more completely in our curriculum across the country as well. Um. But I think we have a real opportunity here me too. One thing I should have said at the beginning is that just a little fact that's worth noting. While it is true that the first reported case of the coronavirus came out of UHA in China, in fact, we now have evidence from tracing that the

first coronavirus cases in America came from Europe. And look, that's the way these things work. People want to understand things, and we put each other in categories all the time. But if it blinds you to our common humanity and to ordinary notions of justice, and even to looking for the facts, then your society gets in trouble. And we've been in a lot of troubles from the beginning of

this country because we elevated categories over people. And when you do that, you turn people into two dimensional cartoons, and you get a big mess on your hands. And people who feel they're in a dominant category are tempted to abuse others trying desperately to hold on to something that they may be losing by their own behavior. And you've tried to expose all this. I'm really grateful. We'll be right back. Let's talk a little about language and rhetoric,

um and over and over again. You were out there warning the public and elected officials not to blame the Asian America and community for COVID nineteen. You condemn the rhetoric, You condemn those who are stoking it and fueling these hatas. But talk about how that rhetoric and language of people who could command of public following contributed to this. How did you see it and how did you think that it contributed to the coronavirus causing a spike in anti

Asian sentiment. Well, when I first heard the former president use words like Kung fluent Chinese virus, I was really horrified. And every time he said it, I thought, Okay, this will be the last time. He couldn't possibly continue to use it. UM, And even the w h O, the World Health Organization, even his own Secretary of Health suggested that we don't use words like that, but he continued UM.

And So while racially motivated harassment of Asian and Americans is a longstanding issue and certainly didn't start last year, UM, but since COVID nineteen began, the incidents have been, you know, NonStop. And when you have a leader in this country who has a tremendous platform use words and fuel um false facts and and misinformation about the virus UM. And it's perpetuated by the leaders, the top leaders of the Republican

Party in the White House and in the Congress. What happens is people Asian Americans are getting shoved, assaulted, spat on UM. Just two days ago, in a park right near my house, a mom was out with her baby and a man came up to her, spat at her direction, spat in her direction three times in front of her baby, and said, Chinese virus go home. And this happened, you know, five ten minutes from my house. So as a parent, as a mom, it just breaks my heart to have

had to talk to my kids about this. I got two middle school kids. UM, and it just it scares me. It makes me angry. UM and it's just stems from false information, UM and and cowardly acts. I think it's worth pointing out that this is not just a speech she's giving. She represents a this week with a lot of Chinese Americans, I had a lot of other Asian Americans. Asian American children represent of all of our school students in New York City. And we've opened the schools again

and under certain strict protocols. But of those who have returned to the classroom, fewer than twelve or cent or Asian Americans. So we're about a third off. And how much of that do you think it has to do with the discrimination that's occurred. I think it has something to do with it. I literally had a mom friend text me right before UM, I started talking to you saying that it's so nice out it's too bad. I

can't let my kids play outside. There's no way I'm letting them go to the park with all that's happening, and that's just heartbreaking to hear. UM. It's also you know, parents and educators play a huge role in combating against hateful rhetoric and bullying in schools, so they're also scared. Some are also scared to send their kids to schools because they don't want their kids to be made fun of, They don't want them to be bullied, and they know

that conversations and things that are said could be hurtful. UM, And so that that plays a role into you know, some of this as well. Can you tell us a little bit about some of the community efforts that have been made to push back against the discrimination. You know, I have been heartened to see so much support from

other communities. So when I first introduced my resolution for Congress to you know, um, speak out and condemn bigotry towards Asian Americans, some of the earliest supporters where Karen Bass, who at the time was the chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, Hawking Castro, chair of the then then chair of the Hispanic Caucus, Uh Deb Holland, who is now

a secretary, name dropping on my super cool colleagues. Um. But they stood with us, and they stood, you know, publicly at news conferences and at virtual events to condemn this sort of violence and bigotry. And I'm so thankful we we've had groups like the n DOUBLE A C P, A, j C, A, d L, National Urban League, Black Student Associations come out and condemn this. And even though I live in a really diversity in New York, too often

different communities are stuck within their own silos. We don't have enough opportunities to get to work together and to truly appreciate each other. Um. And So even though it's largely stemming from these unfortunate incidents, I will say that it's really been beautiful to see how these coalitions have been building and expanding, and I think in the law own run, this will really make our city and our

country stronger. I also want to point out that when you introduced this resolution last year, they passed I think two hundred hundred sixty four. Now tell us why you reintroduce it. Why did you introduce it again? Since it had already passed, so we we did introduce it last year past the House, and I was disappointed that one and sixty four colleagues, Republican colleagues, couldn't vote for something that literally was symbolic and it wasn't political at all.

I made sure that the content of the resolution wasn't political. UM. And this year in Congress, we have a lot of new members. You know, last year, I guess for some reason, I didn't expect all these hateful incidents to continue and to increase. I kept thinking that the end was near. And this year we've seen more are incidents than ever

being reported and being reported by mainstream media. So we just felt that it was really important to once again take a stance, especially with so many new members of Congress and with a new White House. UM, to take a stance and to remind people that your elected officials denounced this sort of discrimination. And do you think you'll get more Republicans this time? I hope so, I really hope. So.

I think a lot of them are very sympathetic. But one of the unfortunate consequences of all this gerrymandering has been done is that most Republicans are in districts where they're more afraid of a primary than a general election, and everything's been turned into politics. I mean, there was a poll that came out today on the vaccines or recently done by Marris which said that percent of the people who voted for President Trump wouldn't take the vaccine

even though he's taken it. We somehow have to recapture a sense of our common humanity and a feeling that some things are beyond politics. If every single issue is a test of your partisan loyalty, it will all be blind. Before long, we will be blind to anything that affects someone else. And we have to ask people to go back to treating people as they would like to be treated, not necessarily as they feel they have been treated. And I hope you get more than three votes this time.

Me too, Me too. Let's talk about the larger impact on this. A lot of these events, including the violence against Asian Americans, have laid bare structural and equities, a loss the board, and it's all happening at once. I think that's one of the reasons that we're seeing this and one of the reasons I think what you're doing is so important is we've got to settle down and get people to accept joint responsibility instead of reflectively looking

for someone to blame. That. That's true, and it plays a huge role in all of this. People, especially when times are tough, people look for a scapegoat. They need a scapegoat, They need to have a better understanding of why things are happening, UM, and to help explain the inequities that they face, whether it's to themselves or to

the people around them. And when you already feel like that, when you are vulnerable to that sort of frustration and anger, UH, false narratives and false news from a leader with a large platform like the former president UM really adds fuel to the fire. UM. And so that's why it was so so damaging UM two for him to sort of lean in on people who are desperate and looking for help, looking for a scapegoat. We'll be right back. Let's talk about another thing I know you care a lot about.

In the last year, almost three million American women have left our labor force, and these three million women were forced to choose between their jobs and either caring for children or other family members. By and large, so last February, last month, you introduced what you call the Marshall Plan for Moms, which specifically aims to help mothers return to the workforce. Tell us a little about why you did it, what the bill doesn't, What do you think it would

mean for economic recovery? Sure? Well, like you said, millions of women have left the labor force entirely, about one million of those women or moms, they've been forced to choose between their jobs and to care for people in their own family, whether it's their kids or whether it's their their own parents and relatives. Um. I've been working on this Martiall Plan for Moms with Senator Klobachar, Senators Duckworth,

and the former head of Girls who Code Rushima, so Johnny. Um. And it is a resolution that hopefully will lift up the voices and the christ for help that moms are screaming out for help across this country. And we want to make or that as we come out of this pandemic, that we are doing whatever we can to reform and to restructure this infrastructure of childcare and to help them return to the workforce if they want to, and to

help stabilize the childcare industry. Um. You know, moms across the country have been facing a public health, economic and caregiving crisis. Especially moms of color have been pushed to the brink of economic, social, and emotional collapse during this past year. They're shouldering all these burdens childcare, remote learning, remote work, telehealth, um and oftentimes without much support and

in social isolation. And so look, moms are always fighting in uphill, bad at all against gender norms, um ratio and gender pay equity. But you know, this pandemic really exacerbated already struct existing structural inequalities UM and so our plan is really a framework for moms to help revitalize our moms in the workforce. We have an opportunity for transformational structural change, and I really want Congress and our leaders in the government, corporate, all leaders to take advantage

of this moment. I think that some of the things in this relief bill that you just passed like a good beginning on that, including giving cash allowances to families for the number of children they have, and talk a little about that, because most people just know about the check and where the income cut off is. But there

are actually some really remarkable innovative changes here. Definitely, I'm so thankful to our leaders President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Speaker Pelosi, my speaker, UM, Majority Leader Schumer, UM, and of course on my colleagues in putting forth legislation the American Rescue Plan that literally will help rescue families, including moms, including children. UH. This is a dramatic piece of legislation,

incredible steps to lifting families out of poverty. Literally. It includes money, I think about forty billion dollars to help stabilize our childcare industry, so important. Expanding the child tax credit. Families are going to get more than the fourteen hundred UM. More money into families pockets. UM, vaccines in arms, UM, the ability to open our schools back again. UM. Money for internet access so our kids could have access to a good education, UM in an equally accessible way across

the country. So there's a lot for families. UM. We will continue to fight our Our fight is not over, but incredible steps and investments have been made with this latest bill. I think it's important that we publicize this because this is one of the things that I think will help bring America back together again. Of all the advanced industrial economies, the United States historically has given the least support two families, and that the job of balancing

work and family and supporting both. And I remember, I still believe that the most popular bill I ever signed was the very first one, the Family Medical Leave Law, And that was way back in that was a generation ago. And yet I was never able to persuade the Congress to pass an optional plan I offered that would give states with stable unemployment funds the option to fund paid leave out of that. So say a little more about this.

This is really a big deal. Definitely, Look, our American Rescue Plan not only addresses the COVID nineteen pandemic and what we need to build back, but like President Biden says, we need to build back better. So with this bill, uh is a tremendous first step in addressing a lot of the systemic inequities and injustices that already exist to lift so many families, so many children out of poverty so that they could have food. This there's an increase

in snap benefits for our kids as well. Kids are going hungry and in my district, and you you see this around the country. You saw kids online at food pantries because their parents had to go to work, but they still needed food they needed, even that one or two meals a day that they couldn't afford UM. And so we're helping to feed kids, we're helping to lift them out of poverty. We're helping to give them internet access so that they could get a good education. But

you're right, we need to do more unpaid leave. There are moms, there are people who have had to leave their jobs, whether they're taking care of their kids or whether they're taking care of sick parents, elderly parents, um who have had nowhere to go. And so it is important as we rebuild, not just rebuild, but rebuild better our childcare industry that people will feel that they have a safe place, safe caregivers to take care of their own kids so that they could pursue a career if

they choose to UM. And that you're right, it's a necessity. It shouldn't be a luxury in America. Let's talk about another thing that the big piece of this, and I know you're interested in it, that's closing the digital divide. We've been talking about doing this for more than twenty years, and my second term I went to Window Rock, a Navajo reservation in northern New Mexico to recognize a young thirteen year old girl who had won an academic contest

and the prize was a computer. She lived on a reservation and she didn't even have a telephone line to hook her computer into. They're still twelve million children who do not have access to affordable broadband in America, and I believe it should be part of any infrastructure plan. It's one of the cheapest things we could do in a hurry that would bring both educational and economic opportunity two people in some isolated urban areas, but in many

rural areas who just don't have access to it. So I never thought about this necessarily as a New York City issue. I will say that when my kids started going to school, though, you know, I remember one night I said, you know, take out your textbooks, show mom your textbooks. And they laughed at me. They said, what textbooks. We don't want textbooks. It's all online. You go on the website. Um, And luckily we had internet access, we were able to click on the link and get get

his homework. But I will tell you and how I learned more about this was I spent the last four years helping out at the d n C the Democratic National Committee, and I traveled around the country free a bit. I went to over twenties states. I've gone to places

in Iowa, to Montana, um and even Arkansas. And I met families who told me that they couldn't do their homework or they couldn't read the news on a regular basis, that they would have to go sit in the parking lot of a fast food restaurant or go to a library if and when it was open to be able to do their homework. And I started to learn more

about this issue. Mr Clyburne from South Carolina has been one of my teachers, my professors UM and I learned that even in my home state of New York, in parts of upstate New York, they can't get reliable internet access. And I learned that in New York City on a good day of kids don't have access to the internet. And so it was actually before pandemic that I started working on this. I even joined me a city girl, joined the Rural Broadband Task Force started by Mr cliburn Um,

and we made a lot of headway. And then COVID hit and then the whole country suddenly realized how serious a problem. This was on a good day before the pandemic, twelve million kids didn't have access to the internet UM. But then during the pandemic, millions more didn't have the

necessary access that they needed it. And so we were really proud to work with Speaker Pelosi, with Clyburn, Chairman Polone, and Senator Marquis and others to bring billions of dollars UM and seven billion of it was secured in this latest bill, the American Rescue Plan to help close this homework gap in the digital divide. And Mr Cliburn and Senator Clobridge are actually just introduced legislation to and fuse I think it's about two billion more UM for the

E rate program. So we are making tremendous progress. It's a bipartisan issue. It affects everyone in America. We see this now. It's a human right. It's like having electricity, it's like having clean water. So we're excited. We're headed in a good direction. We started the E rate way back when I was president, and it's saved schools and libraries in small areas, rural areas two billion dollars a year before I left office. Just having the E right so the system is there, it just needs to be

made universal. And I think that this is one thing I believe you could get a lot of bipartisan support for for people who are just listening in who never thought about some of this the violence against Asian Americans

for example, or some of these other issues. We discussed what advice can you give citizens who aren't in Congress about what they should do to change the environment in their communities, to get people talking about these issues and to get people loving for not just closing the digital divide, but closing the emotional divide that has led to so

much irrational reaction. That's a great term, um, you know, speaking up and saying out loud on any platform that you have, whether it's your family and neighborhood or whether it's a large Twitter following that you might have. It means so much to the Asian American community. We are a community that, stereotypically but to some extent true, has been encouraged to blend in and to stay quiet and

to be invisible. And so when people from other communities are speaking up for us, it's incredibly power full, um, and so impactful. And I think just on issues in general, you know, I just want to say that never underestimate the power of one on almost any issue, and certainly on almost every legislation that I've worked on and that

I've passed. It comes from everyday people in my district and across the country, someone who might not be an expert, but detected a problem that they saw in their neighborhood and their community. And if you do enough research, you realize that that same little problem might be happening to Americans all across the country. And it gives us tremendous opportunity to be able to work together and to hear from the everyday person. And that's how change is made,

one by one by one. Um. And so you know, never doubt and never underestimate your power. A few years ago in Berkeley, California, Yeah, I had one of my Clinton Global Initiative meetings just for university students. I opened the Florida Questions and I asked the students if they add any questions they wanted to ask me, And one said, what advice would you give to your twenty year old self?

And I said, never dise empower yourself, Never dis empower yourself, never underestimate the ability to raise an issue, try to get it right, don't shut out people who want to have a discussion with you, who may disagree with you, Just don't disempower yourself. And to me, that's the most encouraging thing about the current moment. Uh A hundred and fifty three million plus people voting in the last election,

people caring. Even the people who disagree with you and me or nearly everything, they live in a country where they're not dis empowered. In the last few years, the leader of China has decided to stay there for life. The leader of Russia is obviously trying to stay there for life. We at least live in a place wherever free to debate these things and try to work them through. And I'm very grateful that's someone like you. I was

able to work her away into Congress. And uh, I know you've been away from your kids more than you want, but I bet they're doing fine, and I know they're proud of you, and we certainly are. And I thank you for your time today. Thank you, Mr President, Thank you for all that you continue to do for this country. Congresswoman Grace Mayn, thank you. Why am I telling you this is a production of our Heart Radio, the Clinton Foundation, and at Will Media. Our executive producers are Craig Monascion

and Will Manati. Our production team includes Mitch Bluestein, Jamison cat Sufis, Tom Galton, Sarah Harrows, and Jake Young, with production support from Tyler Scott and Otavia Young. Original music by What White. Special thanks to John Sichs, Tina Finois, John Davidson on Hell Arena, Corey Gantley, Oscar Flores, Kevin Thurm, and all our dedicated staff and partners at the Clinton Foundation.

If you have an idea of suggestion for the show, we'd love to hear from you, so please visit Clinton Foundation dot org slash podcast to share your thoughts with us. If you like the show, tell someone else about it. You can subscribe to who Am I Telling You This? On the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. By listening to this podcast, you're helping support the work of the Clinton Foundation, so thank you.