Oklahoma senator criticised for Asian-American ‘yellow families’ comment
- Senator Dave Rader of Tulsa made the comment on Wednesday during a legislative committee meeting on racial inequity
- Democratic state congresswoman Cyndi Munson of Oklahoma City, an Asian-American, said Rader’s words were upsetting
A Republican Oklahoma state senator is drawing criticism for referring to Asian-Americans as “yellow families” during a legislative committee meeting on racial inequity.
Senator Dave Rader of Tulsa made the comment on Wednesday to Oklahoma Policy Institute analyst Damion Shade following Shade’s comments during an interim study on racial inequality in economics and the criminal justice system.
“It wasn’t until well into your presentation did you go to yellow families, you left yellow families out for quite a while,” Rader said.
“You mean Asian-Americans?” Shade replied.
“You use black term, white term, brown term so I was just gonna jump in there with you,” Rader said, then began asking questions about Black families.
The word “yellow,” is considered a derogatory term when used in reference to East Asians. In the late 1800s, Chinese Americans were deemed the “yellow peril,” despite living in the United States for years.