AAPI Advocates Say Shelley Luther’s Xenophobic Rhetoric Endangers Texas’ Asian American Community
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 13, 2022
Media Contact:
Deborah Chen, debbiechen@ocahouston.org
Houston, Texas – OCA-Greater Houston, one of the state’s leading Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) advocacy groups, condemned Texas House candidate Shelley Luther on Thursday after she called on Texas universities to ban international students from China.
“It is disappointing to see a candidate making ignorant, ill-informed, and hateful statements like this one,” said H. C. Chang, President of OCA-Greater Houston. “Ms. Luther’s xenophobic rhetoric wrongly conflates Chinese students in America with mainland China’s ruling party. It has no place in our discourse and in a state that welcomes diverse perspectives. As reports of anti-Asian violence and discrimination continue to rise across the country, her comments only add to a toxic political climate that endangers Texas’ Chinese and Asian American community. Her refusal to apologize is both abhorrent yet unsurprising. We ask our community to come forward, and voice their rejection of the use of such irresponsible language.”
“We’ve seen politicians push discriminatory rhetoric against Chinese students before as a way to justify broader bans on immigration,” said Linda Ng, National President of OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates. “In 2012, Congress formally expressed regret for the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, along with other ethnic-specific legislation that targeted and scapegoated people of Chinese origin in the U.S. Since then, calls for similar bans have relied on fear tactics and the baseless conspiracy theory that all Chinese students are agents of China’s government. This is deeply damaging and puts Asian American communities at risk.”
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About OCA-Greater Houston
OCA-Greater Houston is a chapter of OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates, a national social justice nonprofit dedicated to improving the social, political, and economic well-being of Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs). Learn more at ocahouston.org and ocanational.org/about.
