AAMP Statement on Tim Ryan Campaign’s One Word Ad
Media Contact:
Sharon Kim, aamp.ohio.sharon@gmail.com, 614–285–7442
As a grassroots organization working to organize and collectively advocate for Asian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Ohioans to achieve racial equity, we are profoundly concerned about the recent One Word advertisement put out by Congressman and U.S. Senate Candidate Tim Ryan. While we strongly resonate with the desire to meet the urgent needs of working Ohioans and change the priorities of the U.S. Senate, the decision from Rep. Ryan’s campaign to alienate AAPI voters through the use of anti-China rhetoric is misguided at best and violent at worst, and does not strategically facilitate a path forward for a Democratic victory in the race for Ohio’s U.S. Senate seat.
This ad utilizes anti-Asian rhetoric popularized by extremist right-wing Republicans in an attempt to mobilize voters out of fear. By aligning his campaign with this right-wing rhetoric, Rep. Ryan is signaling that he is unconcerned with fueling increased violence against AAPIs, and unconcerned with the real issues facing Ohioans. Rather than holding accountable the corporations that are hurting workers everywhere, this ad solely blames China for workers’ woes. This tactic is not new: blaming Asian countries and Asian people for corporate anti-worker choices is a persistent American political trend that has led to projection of that blame onto individuals, like in the case of the violent murder of Vincent Chin, a 27-year-old draftsman in Detroit. There is a clear distinction between inflated “China threat” narratives that feed racism in order to win votes, and legitimate critiques of Chinese government officials and businesses. Congressman Ryan could have made a different choice that represented all Ohio workers, but instead relied on xenophobic and fear-mongering rhetoric, which has dangerous consequences for all Ohioans.
Intentionally or not, the One Word campaign ad builds upon long-standing racist and demonizing narratives about people of Chinese descent, which also end up harming many other AAPIs perceived to be Chinese, including Korean, Filipinx, Vietnamese, and Hmong American communities. According to Stop AAPI Hate, between March 2020 and December 2021, 10,905 hate incidents against AAPI people were reported, including 128 incidents here in Ohio. Despite record reporting levels, we believe hate incidents are still vastly underreported due to fear, shame, and lack of awareness in Asian American and immigrant communities. Nationally, nearly ⅔ of all hate incidents were reported by AAPI women and girls, and 10% of all reported incidents targeted AAPI children. Furthermore, recent census data shows that Ohio’s Asian American population is the fastest growing ethnic group in the state, growing by 58.3% from 2010 to 2020. Ignoring the violence against AAPIs and the real problems facing workers, in favor of Sinophobic talking points–especially as hate incidents against our communities remain at historic levels–is a reckless choice that we cannot support.
Unfortunately, AAMP Ohio could not consider Rep. Ryan for a potential endorsement in the Senate race because his campaign did not respond to our multiple invitations to submit an endorsement questionnaire. Our members chose to endorse Morgan Harper instead. We call on groups that have endorsed Rep. Ryan for Senate to publicly oppose this ad and the use of similar tactics by any campaign that chooses to invoke fear and appeal to racism. We call on Congressman Tim Ryan to pull the One Word ad and eliminate all inflated anti-Asian messaging from his campaign. We also call on Rep. Ryan to return campaign contributions from FirstEnergy, which is embroiled in the largest corruption scandal in Ohio history after bribing officials and funding a false ad campaign based on fear-mongering anti-China disinformation tactics to divide and steal from working class Ohioans. We encourage Rep. Ryan to personally meet with Ohio’s AAPI workers and grassroots AAPI community organizations to learn about issues impacting our families and communities, and ensure that he does not create further division. Lastly, we strongly urge all Ohioans to reject this deeply anti-Asian and hateful rhetoric, choose love and solidarity over fear and separation, and focus on progressive policies that will allow all of us to thrive. Our political candidates and elected officials should fight for all of us.
