By P.C. Staff
A week and a half of racial attacks on Asians and Asian Americans by GOP candidates was more than enough for Congressman Mike Honda. Honda, a Congressman for District 17 in California, responded to his opposing party’s attacks on Asian Americans. “I cannot stand idly by as Asian Americans and all immigrants are disparaged this way,” he said.
Honda’s reference is about the usage of words by Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump and Jeb Bush. Bush used the derogatory term “anchor babies” for Asians, claiming the term “is more related to Asian people.” As for Trump, he made fun of Asians when claiming how they would act in negotiations. “Negotiating with Japan, negotiating with China, when these people walk into the room, they don’t say, ‘Oh hello,’ they say, ‘We want deal,’” said Trump.
Honda says the real issue at hand is more than racism and racial slurs, it’s about reforms. “Instead of xenophobic speech, we need to be focused on the real issue, which is a need for lasting and comprehensive immigration reform,” he said.
Honda took both the “anchor babies” term and the “We want deal” phrase and used it for a better outcome: “It’s really quite simple: You need another term for ‘anchor babies’? Call them what they are: Americans. And, yes, we do want deal: the deal of citizenship guaranteed to every naturalized and natural-born citizen by the 15th Amendment of our Constitution.”
