Thompson: Be wary of Asian American political donors

September 12, 2007

When it came out that the questionable donations came from an Asian American, I had that "oh no, here we go again" reaction whenever something like happens, whether is that whole debacle back in 1996 or the Virginia Tech shooter. Asian Americans start getting painted with one big brush when news like this hits.

I mean, if Norman Hsu had been white, there wouldn't be a presidential candidate saying you should be careful taking donations from white people.

Contributor: 

Harry Mok

Editor in chief

Editor in Chief Harry Mok wrote about growing up on a Chinese vegetable farm for the second issue of Hyphen and has been a volunteer editor since 2004. As a board member of the San Francisco and New York chapters of the Asian American Journalists Association, Harry has recruited and organized events for student members. He holds a master’s degree in journalism from the University of California, Berkeley, where he was also a graduate student instructor in the Asian American Studies Department.

Comments

Comments

if you are Asian American, please support Ron Paul!affirmative action is the worse thing ever, it introduces reverse discrimination against Asian American and White American, Google reverse discrimination by yourselfRon Paul is the only one who brave enough to stand out against the real Racist -- Governmenthere is his words:"In fact it is the federal government more than anything else that divides us along race, class, religion, and gender lines. Government, through its taxes, restrictive regulations, corporate subsidies, racial set-asides, and welfare programs, plays far too large a role in determining who succeeds and who fails in our society. This government "benevolence" crowds out genuine goodwill between men by institutionalizing group thinking, thus making each group suspicious that others are receiving more of the government loot. This leads to resentment and hostility between us."I believe he is the one who will Remove Reverse discrimination against Asian American and White, please help Ron Paul and help Asian AmericanAs a Asian American, you have to score 200 more in SAT in order to get into same Univ as Black,Support Ron Paul to remove Reverse discrimination
Harry,Please be honest here. You don't say racism directly, but you say key words that steer the reader to Fred is a racist like:"if Norman Hsu had been white"you proceed to mention the race throughout the article making it the focal point. Let's be honest here.momo, no it doesn't. Tell me where it says someone from his campaign said that. It doesn't at all. If you want to attack Fred on specific issues, go right ahead, but we don't need to make stuff up.Obviously if this had been true, the story would have had "legs" and would have made much bigger news than it did. Thank goodness that the truth is out there and we don't get carried away with making up controversies.
Also, (again) the Thompson campaign made no racist remarks. The media characterized it that way though. This story has already gone which proves that it was not really an issue. Nice try though.
May be they should stop taking donations from white people, especially Barrack Obama!!
You are just making stuff up! Thompson's campaign said nothing about ethnicity!! Nothing at all! Here is EXACTLY what his campaign said:"You have to look at this with a great deal of skepticism that - having been through this sort of thing in '96 - that nobody thought to say, 'Hey, you know, we better take another look at this before we take all this money,'"He was, of course, referring to campaign contribution scandals, nothing about what the person's ethnicity was. "This sort of thing in '96" was a campaign contribution scandal in '96. Does it matter who it was or their ethnicity? The comments from Thompson's campaign show that the Clintons have a pattern of behavior regarding the taking of illegal campaign contributions.You need to be careful with your slanderous statements. You don't know what you are talking about and you are just making up hate, when there is no hate there. Neither Thompson nor his campaign have ever made any derogatory comments towards Asians, and this is why our family will be supporting him.
I should clarify, our family will support Thompson for many reasons, and the fact that he has never made racist comments back up our great choice in this conservative leader.
Harry wasn't "making stuff up." The story he linked to began with:Hillary Clinton's links to illegal fundraising by Asian-Americans in 1996 should have made her wary of accepting $850,000 from a fugitive Asian-American this year, a rival presidential campaign said Tuesday.kerrhome, you just cited the quote in the article, which began with a racist frame.
Kerrhome, I'm not making anything up. I'm pointing out the double standard Asian Americans often face when they are stereotyped and how the statement from Thompson's campaign perpetuates this.
These candidates need to do one of the following: 1. Put the money in an escrow account 2. Send the money to either the California or Manhattan District Attorney’s office, or the Department of Justice, to be put in escrow.Doing anything other than this makes them complicit in a money laundering scheme. Giving the money to charity, or "giving it back", does not absolve them of guilt.Now, I read that "wealthy businessman" Hsu is going to be released on bail -- AGAIN! WTF??? He's obviously living on stolen money. How about an ankle bracelet? If not, this guy's going to turn up dead somewhere. He "knows too much..."
It's definitely targeting Asian-Americans.Galen is an adviser to Thompson, who chaired a Senate investigation into illegal contributions by Asian-Americans to Bill Clinton's re-election campaign and the couple's legal defense fund in the 1996 election cycle."You have to look at this with a great deal of skepticism that - having been through this sort of thing in '96 - that nobody thought to say, 'Hey, you know, we better take another look at this before we take all this money,' " he said, reports the Examiner.
The ARTICLE began with a racist frame, but Thompson's campaign didn't write the article and NONE of the quotes from his team made ANY reference to ethnicity at all.It was made up!Harry,Tell me EXACTLY what Thompson's campaign said about ethnicity. NOTHING! You cannot point to one reference or statement concerning the campaign that was racist. Keep saying it doesn't make it true.
"You have to look at this with a great deal of skepticism that - having been through this sort of thing in '96 - that nobody thought to say, 'Hey, you know, we better take another look at this before we take all this money,' " he said, reports the Examiner.Who is the subject of all this? Asian American is not mentioned in a quote but that is certainly the implication. I say again, if Norman Hsu was white, would they be talking about it in those terms, referring back to the 1996 scandal with those other Asian American donors?And I never said the campaign or your favorite candidate was "racist." Did I put that word in my post, kerrhome? It seems you're making things up.
kerrhome, Keith pointed this out already but,the first sentence of the articles says:"Hillary Clinton's links to illegal fundraising by Asian-Americans in 1996 should have made her wary of accepting $850,000 from a fugitive Asian-American this year, a rival presidential campaign SAID Tuesday" (emphasis mine).that means Thompson or someone from his campaign said it and referred to "Asian-Americans" specifically, according to the article.