FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: Mary Tablante, Asian American Scholar Forum, media@aasforum.org
Washington, D.C.— Asian American Scholar Forum condemns recent anti-Chinese comments from public officials, particularly language they used against Chinese students.
Rep. Bob Good (VA-05) told Newsmax, “Frankly, I don’t think we ought to have Chinese nationals in institutions of higher learning, certainly at the graduate level.”
Mike Pompeo, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency recently tweeted, “The Chinese Communist Party is inside every major American university today with research dollars and with their students. Our national security depends on fixing this.”
Gisela Perez Kusakawa, AASF Executive Director, issues the following statement:
“It is shameful and harmful that those who are meant to serve the public are spewing anti-Chinese sentiment that have the power to cause harm to Asian Americans. This targeted language aimed at Chinese students endangers Asian American and immigrant students at universities across the country. The horrific incident of an 18-year-old Indiana University student who was stabbed ‘for being Chinese’ showed us how words and rhetoric can lead to physical harm. Students should be able to receive their education in a safe environment and not be treated as national security scapegoats. We care about the safety of students and academics and strongly urge public officials to do better and learn about how anti-Chinese rhetoric feeds xenophobia and anti-Asian hate and violence.”
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Asian American Scholar Forum (AASF) promotes academic belonging, openness, freedom, and equality for all and represents more than 7,000 scientists, researchers, and scholars in the U.S.. In response to heightened anti-Asian sentiments in the U.S. and increasing profiling of Chinese Americans and immigrants in science, AASF has been a leading national voice fighting for the rights of Asian American and immigrant scientists, researchers, and scholars.