Member of the Hawaii House of Representatives Beth Fukumoto (D) received a racist letter from someone purporting to be from “La, Calif”. The letter included sarcastic sympathy for Japanese-Americans forced into internment camps and sexist name-calling, aimed at the Japanese-American politician.
The letter reads:
“Dear Bitch
1)your poor grand parents got put into a camp in the USA? Boo hoo hoo–you Japs murdered thousands of servicemen at Pearl Harbor–did you forget that detail?
2)you know how many refugee folks got accepted by Japan last year? 27 total. But…America should open their doors to millions of parasites.
Pull your head out of your ass loser. We Trump people hate illegals, black thugs, Muslims and bombs, and gays who do nothing but bitch 24 hrs a day–and bleeding heart traitor morons like you who “condone” it–go to Hell.
[illegible] La, Calif”
Fukumoto posted the letter to her FaceBook account with the following comment:
“I just got this in the mail today. It’s so painfully relevant to everything we’ve been watching on the news the past few days. #Racism & #WhiteNationalism are real issues in America – even in Hawaii. Our President’s words have consequences, and it’s time for all of our political leaders – Republicans, Democrats and everyone else – to work together to oppose his continuing incitement of hate in our country.”
The letter could possibly be a reaction to Rep. Fukumoto’s decision to resign from the Republican party and instead seek membership in the Democratic party. Her reasoning had much to do with her disagreement with President Trump’s policies regarding women and minorities.
Speaking at the Women’s March in Honolulu in January, Fukumoto revealed her decision process in a speech:
“In the last couple years, I’ve watched leaders in the Republican Party become less and less tolerant of diverse opinions and dissenting voices. Today, I’m facing demands for my resignation from leadership and possible censure because I raised concerns about our President’s treatment of women and minorities. I’ve been asked by both my party and my caucus to commit to not criticizing the president for the remainder of his term and to take a more partisan approach to working in the Legislature. That is not a commitment I can make. As a representative of my community, it is my job to hold leaders accountable and to work with anyone, regardless of party, to make Hawaii a better place for our families. This morning, I sent a letter to my district explaining that I would like to leave the Republican Party and seek membership in the Democratic Party. When I was re-elected in November, I was elected as a Republican, and I want to honor my community’s choice by consulting them before any decision is made.”
Fukumoto has since stepped down from her position as Minority Leader of the Hawaii House of Representatives due to the political party switch.
