Oct. 24, 2021
Dear Sir or Madam,
Political campaigns provide the public an opportunity to better understand and evaluate candidates running for office. They are a necessary part of our democracy. Unfortunately, in Seattle’s mayoral race, City Council President Lorena Gonzalez and her paid consultants have resorted to racist fear mongering tactics. A new ad linking Bruce Harrell to the trauma of a victim of sexual assault is designed to invoke racial bias and stereotypes that persist against Black men in America. It is wrong. It is dangerous and it must stop.
Council President Gonzalez, Seattle deserves better from you.
Unfortunately, we as members of the Chinese American community of Seattle experienced similar race-based fear mongering from Gonzalez’s consultant in 2017 when she worked for then mayoral candidate Cary Moon. Moon advocated at the time for imposing a “foreign buyers tax” on housing purchases in Seattle. Such a policy was a thinly veiled xenophobic and discriminatory attack on false stereotypes of Asians and Chinese people in our community. At the time, Moon suggested rising home prices in nearby Vancouver could be attributed to Chinese buyers and that Seattle could be their next target.
As a community, we voiced our strong objection to these assertions in 2017. Today, with the same consultant using similar race baiting tactics against Bruce Harrell, we feel compelled to speak up again and denounce Lorena Gonzalez and urge her to immediately pull the ads off the air.
We stand with Bruce Harrell and the Black community of Seattle.
The people listed are the ones who support the above letter and ask for the immediate removal of Lorena’s racist ads.
James Wong
Tomio Moriguchi
ShiaoYen Wu
Lo-Yu Sun
Robert Yeh
Ming Fung
Pui Leung
Winston Yeung
Phil Lam
Thuy Vo
Cindy Wong
Sunny Pei
David Della
Evan Lin
Paul Ishii
Dennis Su
Henry Ku
Christine Zhang
Allison Chang
Hellen Lee
David Leong
Jay Lin
Tiadi Fang
Tony Wu
Agnes Lee
Shiong Yu Lee
Will Chen
Rebecca Ku
Chris Peng
Sophia Chang
Ted Lai
Vivian Su
David Vhang
Shu Yu Chen
Shiming Liang
Guosong Liang
Guojian Liang
Shu Xian Liang
Gui Chen
Yijuan Chen
Lian Liang
Huiying Chen
Tony Au
Judy Shu
Mi Po Seto
Jim Chen
Chris Peng
Tanya Woo
Tandy Wo-Eng
Jesse Robbins
Henry Lee
Royal Tan
Jack To
Ngoc Nguyen
Jason Nguyen
Johnny Nguyen
Martin Lau
Danny Lau
Ching Wu
Jovy Guan
Michael Chan
Atsushi Kato
Alexander Tran
Helen To
Han Eckelberg
Bao Nguyen
King Wai
Angel Luu
Ricky Nguyen
Anh Dao
Tony Dao
Tracy Nguyen
Gina Nguyen
Rachel Ramirez
Samuel Leung
Mette Knutzen
King Ho
Brian Lam
Cory Lam
John Choi
Brandon Choi
Aleia Lagonoy
Joe Lagonoy
Junru Hu
Jian Wang
James Lennon
Prosper Van
Linda Carey
Simon Xu
Christopher Hoang
Peter Hoang
Jimmy Doan
Henry Doan
Jeffrey To
Tony Nguyen
Kelly Tran
Pak Yau
Eric Cai
Kenny Nguyen
Thomas Cheong
Thang Tran
Anita Zhen
Shu Yu Chen
Shimin Liang
Guosong Liang
Guojian Liang
Shu Xian Liang
Gui Chen
Yijuan Chen
Lian Liang
Huiying Chen
Taidi Fang
Tony Wu
Jay Lin
Ming Xiao
Jimmy Leung
Jessica Leung
Byron Xiao
Hui Fang Chen
Dong Xiao
Jessica Singh
Li Zhang
Hui Xian He
Chi Jian Huang
Yan Yukuang
Jia Yu
Holli Yu
Su Ping Ye
Sheng Yu Zhao
Evelyn Chan
Huixin Liang
Li Jun Ye
Chiang Hui Liu
Jian Mai
Jinxian Zhong
Gui Hua Deng
Qiu Feng Peng
Li Ping Guo
Pan Huan He
Zhou Guan Hui Qui
Huan Pin Wu
Caijuan Chen
Vince Zhao
Maria Ho
Lan Ying Zeng
Feng Ling Zhou
Rui Qing Guan
Yanli He
Wei-Ping Huang
Jin Wan Feng
Chunjie Redman
ChongLun Chen
Cuiping Zhong
Chang Hong Ma
Chen Huiying
He Guanyuan
Meiling Huang
Su Shuang Kwong
Mandy Peng
Richard Peng
Kaya Peng
Mei C Pan
Lina Chen
Xiong Lun Chen
Yue Hao Lai
Raymond Ye
Denny Ye
Shengyu Zhao
Buying Lu
Cindy Liang
Yuehao Lai
Jennifer Lueng
Jessica Lam
Kenneth Lam
Katrina Wang
Ling Lin
Wenjie Ma
Biyun Lu
Kristy Wen
Dongmei Zhu
Meiling Chen
Jinle Wu
Yunwei Xiang
Sean Hsieh
Ryan Healy
Erin Demmon
Kevin Hsieh
Elaine Ikomo Ko
An additional 130+ names from Chinese elders living in the Chinatown International District.