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Rep. Winkler’s comments are repugnant, insensitive, and unacceptable. Their utterance was either an appalling lapse of judgment or a reflection of Rep. Winkler’s latent bias toward the Asian-American community. Neither explanation is acceptable. It’s even more concerning that it took the prodding of colleagues and mounting media pressure to coerce an apology from Rep Winkler. The arrogance of power, in this context, is horrifying. Retracting his comments and apologizing was a necessary start and I’m glad he has done so. However, if he wants to be taken seriously as a legislator and if he wants his apology to mean something, he should follow it with concrete action that shows he is working to understand the bias and hate experienced by Asian-Americans, especially during the COVID pandemic.
