My name is Zhenya Li. I am representing the Maryland Chinese American Network (MD-CAN). You just heard about our governor, Mr. Hogan joined other governors in issuing statement on the rise in anti-Asian hate. And you will also hear from our first lady, Mrs. Hogan’s statement on this issue.
As proud Marylanders, we join this National Coalition of the Asian American Advocacy Groups’ effort to urge our Federal and local government to take real steps in addressing the anti-Asian crimes and crimes against any racial groups.
We ask our elected officials to work on closing the loopholes in laws and policies that resulted in decriminalizing assaults against vulnerable population and releasing criminals back to the street. We want to strengthen the police protection for the community
Equally important is that we Asian Americans are an integral part of the American history and culture. We are one nation one color. Asian Americans are not just “model minority” who work hard and take care ourselves and our families, we played a significant role in building our country. We ask our local public schools to recognize Asian Americans’ great contributions in building our country by enriching the Asian American part in the public schools’ US history curriculum. We denounce the racial preferences and the biased terms such as “Asians are overrepresented” used to reduce the number of Asian American students either in college admission or the gifted programs within public schools. We ask to reinstate the Department of Justice’s lawsuit against Yale University regarding discrimination against Asian American applicants. As you may know, the Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) adopted a universal selection process to intentionally exclude Asian American students from its magnet middle school programs. In March 2019, the Department of Education Office for Civil Rights started an investigation on MCPS of discrimination on the bases of racial and national origin in magnet program admission. We ask the investigation to go to its completion. Stop the discriminatory admission policies based on racial quotas. All students should be admitted based on merit with assistance given for economic need.
Thank you for the opportunity.