Joe Tsai goes after ‘overt racism’ in Rudy Giuliani Michigan hearing

It’s no secret that Joe Tsai believes the Trump administration has pushed an agenda that endangers Asian-Americans, particularly in the President’s comments about COVID-19. Back in September, he told Yale students to be wary of “the guy in the White House”...

“I say, history does repeat itself because of what I’ve seen in the recent environment with sentiment in society against, for example, Asian-Americans because of COVID and because you know the guy in the White House is communicating a message that affects all Asian-Americans.

“You know during World War II, when America went to war with Japan, Japanese-Americans were rounded up and put into these internment camps because they were not trusted as Americans. It only happened 60, 70 years ago, it could repeat itself. So for me, going back in history is very important.”

Then, early Friday morning, Tsai went after comments by a pro-Trump witness in a Michigan legislative hearing two days earlier. The hearing was part of an increasingly quixotic attempt by the president’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani to change the presidential election results.

A Republican poll watcher in Michigan called for national identification cards because “all Chinese look alike.” adding “If some Chow shows up, you can be anybody and you can vote.” The woman, Hima Kolanagireddy, did not cite or allege any voter fraud.

After midnight New York time, Tsai tweeted out a video of the key quote and made his feelings about anti-Asian bias clear once again.

A little more than an hour later, Tsai expanded his criticism, going after the “puppet masters” who put Kolanagireddy on the stand. He did not further describe the “puppet masters.”

Tsai’s tweet followed one from Michigan state senator Stephanie Chang on Thursday night. Chang, the first Asian-American in the Michigan Senate, had been the subject of anti-Asian slurs during her election campaign.