One Ohio Senate candidate’s decision to use hand-out fortune cookies deriding his opponent as “the best senator China’s ever had” outside the Republican National Convention has the Chinese American community speaking out Tuesday against racial insensitivity.
Ted Strickland, the former Democratic Ohio governor who is looking to replace incumbent Sen. Rob Portman in November, passed out fortune cookies reading, “Rob Portman: the best senator China’s ever had,” presumptively as a comment on Portman’s history of efforts to increase trade with China.
When asked by a Statehouse News Bureau reporter whether he was concerned that his use of fortune cookies might be racially insensitive, Strickland replied, “No, no, no, you know when I say he’s the best senator that China’s ever had. I’m not saying anything bad about China.”
When the reporter told him the cookies are an American invention, Strickland said “we associate them with what we get when we go to eat at a Chinese restaurant.”
In a statement, Organization of Chinese Americans – Asian Pacific American Advocates National President Leslie Moe-Kaiser called the gimmick an example of “politicians … stooping incredibly low to grab political points.”
.@Ted_Strickland did you know that fortune cookies are Chinese AMERICAN? https://t.co/WQefZFP2qK https://t.co/XwCU8uG6bN
— OCA National Center (@OCANational) July 18, 2016
“As others have pointed out, the fortune cookie is actually an American invention, so using it as a means to draw a negative association with the Chinese government’s trade policy is extremely misguided at best,” Moe-Kaiser said, warning against associating Chinese Americans with a negative foreign threat.
Fortune cookies are thought to have origins in Japan, according to some, though there are also several claims for their invention from restaurateurs in San Francisco and Los Angeles in the early 1900s.
OCA Cleveland Chapter President Lisa Wong said “our Ohio elected officials fail to accurately represent our communities when they equate Chinese Americans and our contributions to American culture with foreign trade, highlighting their own blindness to the cultural relevancy of Chinese Americans. We must protest against this insensitive behavior no matter the candidate or their political affiliation.”
Speaking to Kore, Wong expressed her frustration with Chinese Americans being viewed as “perpetual foreigners,” especially as the community continues efforts to decrease stereotypes. “Things like this happening bring us a step back.”
In 2012, the Ohio Republican Party faced heat from the Asian American community after mailing a flyer depicting a Chinese takeout box bearing the image of Rep. Betty Sutton and the text “Betty Sutton is taking our jobs ‘to go.’”
Former OCA Cleveland President Johnny Wu, who headed the organization and led action denouncing the flyer, criticized Strickland’s staff for using the fortune cookies.
“Four years ago, we learned a lesson, so why have we gone back?” Wu said. “One thing [Strickland] could have done is to hire staff members who know about diversity, and know that this is wrong.”
Strickland could not be reached for comment.
