Denver, CO, October 26, 2016…The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) is disturbed to learn that voters in Colorado’s Senate District 19 recently received political mailings that incorporate stereotypes about Asians and Asian culture. These mailings include fortune cookies in a box with a photo of candidate Rachel Zenzinger and a printed message with a red airplane with the word “China” on it and money falling from behind the plane.

 

Colorado Citizens for Accountable Government, a political action group, sent the mailing and alleges that Zenzinger voted to use taxpayer money to take a trip to China while she served on the Arvada City Council. Additional mailings used a photograph of Zenzinger that inserted a traditional Vietnamese bamboo hat on her head, as well as references of “putting the Zen in Zenzinger.”

 

The allegations in the mailings have been challenged and are under investigation after a complaint was filed by the Zenzinger campaign with the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office.

 

ADL Mountain States Regional Director Scott L. Levin issued the following statement on the mailings:

 

We are concerned about the use of racial stereotypes and prejudices to sway voters. The use of stereotypes, even unwittingly, can hurt and offend. It is possible to have conversations about a candidate’s political positions and votes without relying on racial stereotypes. We encourage all candidates, as well as the groups that support them, to refrain from using stereotypes about any culture or group of people and instead, to focus on a candidate’s qualifications and substantive positions.

 

As a 501c3 nonprofit organization, ADL takes no position on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate for office.

 

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world’s leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.

 

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