My response to Ryan Zinke

On March 15th, Hawaii Representative Colleen Hanabusa spoke to a Congressional hearing to ask about continued funding for a grant program related to the Honouliuli internment camp, which President Obama designated a national monument in 2015.

To stress the importance of the program, she recounted her grandfathers' experiences in internment camps during World War II -- they were imprisoned without charge, solely because of their ancestry, despite being U.S. citizens. [Source]

Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke, as the head of the department in charge of overseas national parks and monuments, responded to her question.
Rep. Hanabusa begins her story at the 10:05 mark, but the really interesting part happens at the 12:15 mark.

Responding to her story about being singled out for one's ancestry, Zinke then singles her out through her ancestry with a bright, "今日は [good day]," shocking a woman in the background. Hanabusa corrects him with a terse, "I think it’s still ‘お早う御座います’ [good morning], but that’s OK.” Zinke is shaken, but recovers, and the hearing goes on.

Several lawmakers and Asian-American civil rights groups criticized Zinke’s ill-timed greeting. Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) slammed the secretary for what she called his “flippant” and “juvenile” comment. Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) addressed the story by tweeting that “racism is not ok.” And Hanabusa accused Zinke of perpetuating racial stereotypes. [Source]

Astonishingly, Zinke responded to the criticism by doubling down on his comments. “How could ever saying ‘Good morning’ be bad?” Zinke told reporters following a tour of the U.S.-Mexico border. [Source]

Well, Mr. Zinke, let me tell you what I've learned from my mistakes over the years.

It's bad when you use someone's ancestry to treat them differently. As Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., explains, "Whether intentional or not, his comments invoke the offensive stereotype that Asian Americans are perpetual foreigners regardless of how long their families have lived in the United States." [Source] That's Bad, Level 1.

But then, to do it when that person is talking about a painful chapter in their family's history, and with a smirk on your face (like you're cool sporting that ONE word you happen to know), that's multiple levels of bad. "The internees didn't talk about it, the pain was so deep," said Carole Hayashino, the president of the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii. "They didn't share their own camp experience with their families." [Source]

And given that Hawaii is still dealing with the trial of Christopher Deedy over the 2011 shooting death of Kollin Elderts, it's downright embarrassing. (Great podcast series on this by Hawaii Civil Beat reporter Jessica Terrell here.)

So while this simple linguistic faux pas this may seem like "no big deal" to you, it's exactly this kind of thing that causes folks to think the Trump administration is full of racists. You might want to fix that.