WASHINGTON — Today, AAPI Victory Fund released a statement congratulating New York City mayoral candidate Andrew Yang on his well-fought campaign and rebuking mainstream media for positioning candidate Yang as a token “foreigner.” 

While the AAPI community is no stranger to the perpetration of hate crimes against them, the media’s portrayal of Yang as a “foreigner” only increases the invisibility AAPI’s face and perpetuates the notion that AAPI’s will never truly be “home” in the places that we live. 

AAPI Victory Fund President Varun Nikore issued the following statement: 

“When AAPI Victory Alliance announced our endorsement for New York City mayoral candidate Andrew Yang, we were thrilled to support a candidate that could help New Yorkers build an inclusive, equitable society where everybody believes they can do anything if they set their minds to it.”

“Candidate Yang ran a well fought campaign, and we offer him the sincerest congratulations. Although his race didn’t amount to a victory, Yang gave the AAPI community a platform on which to elevate pervasive issues that remain increasingly relevant in the minds and hearts of AAPI people across the country.”

“But, in addition to renewed hope, Yang’s campaign also shed light on the insidious ways in which mainstream media feeds the misinformation, hatred and, ultimately violence our community experiences. As legislators work to restore trust and end the hate crimes perpetrated against the AAPI community, the media must fall in line and stop portraying AAPI’s as foreigners in the places we live. Racist cartoons, discriminatory reporting and failing to explicitly report on the connection between violent crime and racism is an egregious failing on the part of the media. 

“Andrew Yang is a New Yorker. He was raised in New York, educated at American schools, he raised his two boys here and built his companies here. To assert anything different is offensive, harmful and outright dangerous. As the AAPI Victory Alliance continues to build national AAPI political power across the nation, we urge every American to remember that their words are powerful and that how we share information about groups of people outside of our own has repercussions that mean life or death.

“AAPI’s are still underrepresented in our American politics. This race showed exactly why. The AAPI Victory Fund will redouble our efforts to ensure an equitable society where everybody has the freedom and opportunity to succeed. AAPI’s are rising. It’s time our political power matches the moment and our communities are represented.”

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