April 10, 2009
Councilmember Chu Responds to Comments Made by Texas Representative
Betty Brown
(San José, CA) Today,
San José Councilmember Kansen Chu sent a letter to
Texas Representative Betty Brown calling on her to apologize
for comments regarding Asian names and voter identification.
On April 7, 2009 during Texas House testimony, Representative
Brown requested that Asian voters "adopt a name we could
deal with" when voting and filling our identification
forms.
“I find such statements from a Representative
of a respected State an unfortunate blemish in an America
that accepts all races, all genders, and all values.”
said Councilmember Chu.
The letter was also copied to Texas House
Speaker Joe Straus and George Wu, Executive Director of OCA.
In part, the letter states:
In San José, a City of nearly
1 million residents in the heart of Silicon Valley, Asian-Americans
are hard working citizens across all social and economic levels.
Most are law abiding citizens who are living to achieve their
American dream as Americans. In a land of immigrants where
all are embraced and accepted for their cultural heritage,
it is almost a crime to ask proud and hardworking Americans
to be stripped of their namesake. One would never ask other
ethnic communities to change their names. Doing so would also
shred identities and values on which this diverse country
is built on.
“I'm respectfully asking Representative
Brown to retract and issue an apology for these highly insensitive
comments," said Chu. “I hope she will do the right
thing and I look forward to hearing from Representative Brown.”
A copy of the letter to Representative Betty
Brown can be viewed here:
http://www.sanjoseca.gov/district4/Docs/04-10-09BettyBrown.pdf
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Edesa Bitbadal, Councilmember's Office
office 408-535-4904
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