A leader in the Brooklyn Democratic Party faced repeated calls to resign over the weekend following a tweet other elected officials have called racist.
District Leader Lori Maslow said "I can't even look at Chinese food" in a tweet on Saturday paired with the link to a New York Times piece on tariffs for Chinese goods.
The entire tweet, since deleted, said, "Best news of the day. We’re sick of buying from China. They did this to us. They lied to us. And yes, Trump plays outsized role as well. I, for one, will never, ever buy anything made in China again. Join me. I can’t even look at Chinese food.”
Maslow tweeted an apology late Saturday and followed it up Sunday with a resignation from her position as 6th Vice Chair of the Kings County Democratic Committee. She appeared to still hold her title as district leader for the 41st Assembly as of Monday.
"I sincerely apologize for the poor choice of words I used in a social media posts over the weekend, which were hurtful to members of the Chinese American community. I plan to complete Racial Justice training to demonstrate my commitment to correcting my mistake," her statement read.
Tweets from Kings County Democratic Party Chair and New York State Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte, Assemblymember Yuh-Line Niou, New York City Councilman Brad Lander and the Brooklyn Young Democrats either condemned Maslow's words or called for her resignation.
Niou, who represents parts of lower Manhattan and is of Chinese descent, called Maslow's comments more than "a poor choice of words."
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"The Perpetual Foreigner Stereotype is a hateful harmful type of nativist xenophobia that Asian Americans face day to day. It makes us ALWAYS "the other". And the comments made over and over agin by this writer and so many others are a part of that type of racist rhetoric," Niou tweeted Sunday.
Bichotte said she accepted Maslow's resignation as vice chair and the party issued its own statement on Twitter.
"There is no place for this type of discourse in BK politics. Since the start of the pandemic, Asian-Americans have faced increased threats & racism. Our party stands firmly w/ them and against racism & intolerance," the party wrote on Twitter.
