New York City mayoral candidate Andrew Yang blasted Tuesday what he described as a “racist cartoon” published Monday by The New York Daily News.
Yang issued a statement Tuesday, comparing the cartoon to the stereotypically exaggerated depictions of Asians during World War II which have been “used to divide and exclude people for hundreds of years.”
He echoed his wife, Evelyn Yang’s earlier comments calling out the news outlet for publishing a “racist disfiguration” of her husband.
My thoughts on the racist cartoon of me published by the Daily News. pic.twitter.com/Z9F9O2bNXP
— Andrew Yang???????????????? (@AndrewYang) May 25, 2021
“Yesterday a Daily News cartoon was published that depicted me — or a racialized caricature clearly intended to be me — as a tourist in Times Square. The cartoon stemmed from an interview where I shared that my favorite subway stop is the one I’ve used to get home for 22 years,” Yang explained the origin of the caricature.
Cartoon pic.twitter.com/3s68j4EHct
— Bill Bramhall (@BillBramhall) May 24, 2021
Yang drew parallels between the cartoon — which depicts him as a tourist to New York City, despite him having lived there for 25 years — and the uptick in violence against members of the Asian American community. (RELATED: NYC Mayoral Candidate Soars To The Top Of The Field In Just Over A Week)
The mayoral candidate claimed that he has always been open to differences in opinion with regards to policy, but portraying him “as a perpetual foreigner to this city is wrong and subtly approves racism.”
“Every time you say that I’m not a real New Yorker, you’re telling another Asian American that they don’t belong,” he added.
“I’ve lived here for 25 years in this city,” Yang continued. “My wife Evelyn is from Queens, My children were born at St. Luke’s. I’m a public school parent. Implying otherwise is the repetition of a narrative that’s been used to tell Asians and Latinos and Jews and Muslims and Black Americans that we don’t belong.”