A Republican candidate seeking to replace the late Ron Wright in Congress has unleashed a blistering attack against China and potential Chinese immigrants.
“I don’t want them here at all,” Sery Kim, a former official in President Donald Trump’s administration, said Wednesday night during an Arlington forum for Republicans seeking Wright’s U.S. House seat. “They steal our intellectual property, they give us coronavirus, they don’t hold themselves accountable.”
Kim, who is from South Korea, told the applauding crowd that it was safe for her to criticize the Chinese.
“Quite frankly, I can say that because I’m Korean,” Kim said.
Kim’s remarks come as hate crimes against Asian Americans have risen since the coronavirus pandemic began in China.
On Tuesday, President Joe Biden unveiled a plan to protect Asian Americans from discrimination and hate crimes, including establishing a Justice Department program to curb attacks on them.
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According to a study by the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism at California State University, 16 of America’s largest cities saw a 2020 increase of 149% in hate crimes against people of Asian descent.
Dallas patent lawyer Wei Wei Jeang, a Taiwanese immigrant, called Kim’s remarks “irresponsible.”
“Kim’s preposterous statement is a regurgitation of Trump’s talking points whenever the topic of China comes up,” Jeang said. “This kind of rhetoric did and will continue to divide the country rather than heal us.”
Jeang pointed out that Chinese immigrants did not bring the coronavirus to America and “have nothing to do with the intellectual property theft allegations against the Chinese government.”
“This kind of language will further bolster and encourage violence against the Asian American population,” Jeang said. “Kim’s statement is especially senseless when you realize that the people who will be unduly influenced by this kind of rhetoric can’t differentiate Chinese from Koreans from Japanese, and her clueless put-down of one segment of the Asian American population will cast an unjustified negative light on everyone, including herself.”
Kim’s remarks were denounced by AAPI Progressive Action, a liberal group that seeks to politically empower Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
“Sery Kim’s words and actions are grotesque and immediately disqualifying,” said AAPI Progressive Action’s executive director, Varun Nikore. “At a time where AAPI hate has reached new heights and a shooter gunned down innocent AAPI victims in Georgia, Kim’s statements perpetuate the cycle of hatred we’re seeing across the country.”
Nikore said Kim’s comments are dangerous.
“Kim’s attempt to race to the bottom of the Trump barrel is sickening and frankly will not work,” he said. “Her racist and ignorant remarks should be condemned by every politician in the state and the country.”
Asked if she worried about the reported violence against Asian Americans, Kim replied, “No.”
“The biggest difference right now is people are filming it — and the media choosing to report it,” she said. “Asians have always faced violence. It’s not worse than before.”
During the forum, Kim, an immigrant from Seoul, said China was responsible for violence against Asians.
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“I am Asian American and I have never felt discrimination because I blame China for the problems they have actually created,” Kim said. “They are the ones that caused COVID. They are the ones that steal our technology. They are the ones that manipulate the borders. They are the ones that make you feel guilty because you want to shop at the small business down the street, as opposed to paying for the child labor that they have with the Uighurs.”
The forum, which featured the major Republican candidates in the 6th Congressional District race to replace Wright, was sponsored by the Arlington Republican Club and Arlington Republican Women. Because 11 Republicans participated, the candidates were questioned by author Nick Adams in groups.
Wright died in February after contracting COVID-19. Elected last year to his second term representing Tarrant, Ellis and Navarro countiess, Wright was also battling cancer.
Kim was on a panel with Wright’s widow, the Republican activist Susan Wright, and Army veteran Michael Egan.
Neither candidate questioned or commented on Kim’s remarks.
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Kim, who has openly sought the endorsement of Trump, parroted the former president’s claims that China is responsible for COVID-19, though she stopped short of calling it the China virus, as Trump frequently does.
Kim served as assistant administrator in the Office of Women’s Business Ownership at the Small Business Administration under Trump.
“We were lied to for the last one year and two months and stayed at home, because China created coronavirus in a Wuhan lab,” Kim said.
Kim’s remarks about opposing Chinese immigrants — and saying she can do so because she’s Korean — went viral on social media after a tweet by The Dallas Morning News.
.@seryfortexas on Chinese immigrants coming to America: “I don’t want them here at all. They steal our intellectual property, they give us Coronavirus, they don't hold themselves accountable, and quite frankly I can say that because I'm Korean.” pic.twitter.com/ejVllqRFuC
— Gromer M. Jeffers (@gromerjeffers) April 1, 2021
Hey Asian Am. Twitter! Let @seryfortexas that there is no place for racism in America — especially against fellow Asians when we are being murdered in the streets. She is a disgrace to us all. https://t.co/U8UG0tHkNN
— Ben Huh 허대영 (@benhuh) April 1, 2021
Former Dallas County Republican Party chairman Jonathan Neerman tweeted, “I don’t think that’s how it works …”
She also received other criticism and some praise, as well as hateful tweets that insist she’s Chinese, as Jeang predicted.
At the forum, Kim referred to her family’s immigrant history. Her parents waited 10 years to immigrate to America.
“I’m the child of janitors,” she said. “I grew up with absolutely nothing. My parents cleaned your toilets and emptied your trash cans, while I slept on your floors. And now I get to represent you in Congress.”
After her panel concluded, audience members rushed to greet Kim while she was still seated on the stage.
She had promised them, among other things, to counter the agenda of progressive House Democrats such as New York’s Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and Minnesota’s Ilhan Omar.
“I just asked you to consider Sery Kim for Congress, not because I’m so much better than anybody else but because I will take the fight to the squad and they will not know what hit them,” Kim said to cheers.
California GOP Reps. Young Kim and Michelle Steel, both of Korean descent, have backed Kim for Congress. On Thursday the lawmakers called Kim’s comments “hurtful” in a statement to CNN, but they didn’t revoke their endorsement.
“Sery’s comments were unacceptable and hurtful, especially at a time when hate targeting the (Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders) community is on the rise, and we made that clear to her today,” Young Kim and Steel said in a statement to CNN.
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