Secretary Elaine Chao on the Fears of Asian Americans | Amanpour and Company

turning now to someone who worked in Trump's cabinet but resigned after January 6 saying the events left her deeply troubled in a way I simply cannot set aside Elaine Chao was Transportation secretary under the former president who she's also called out for anti-asian rhetoric after he used a derisive name and suggested that she had ties to the Chinese government ciao as many know has long been married to one of the most powerful Republican lawmakers in the country Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell here she is now with Walter Isaacson thank you Chris John and secretary Elaine Chow welcome to the show nice to be with you you were in president Donald Trump's cabinet you were resigned right after the January 6 invasion of the capital saying you were deeply troubled by it tell me what you think of this week's indictments of him for keeping classified secrets and violating the Espionage Act well I think that's a legal case an indictment is an allegation so let's see what happens but were you kind of surprised when you saw all those pictures and things I mean I'm somewhat surprised that more Republicans haven't talked about it well I wasn't that close to him so you know I don't really have any idea of what happened all right do you think the indictment might affect the race I have no idea you've been a long time Republican traditional conservative you were the labor secretary under President George W bush are you married to Mitch McConnell the Republican leader what do you think of what's happened the drift or the change in the Republican Party since the days of George W bush politics some people may be surprised to hear that I mean I basically I'm in public service I'm an immigrant to this country I came when I was eight years old I knew so little about this country but what my parents imbued upon their daughters was that this is a wonderful country in which opportunities would abound they weren't quite sure what these opportunities would be but they were totally confident that America is a Land of Hope and opportunity you wrote a very moving article in the Washington Post recently in honor of Asian American Pacific Islander month and what you talked about the need or the reason that we should have a museum honoring that culture on the National Mall explain why you feel that well as I mentioned I'm an immigrant to this country my parents left China during the height of the Civil War in 1949 they relocated to a small island which is now very much in the Press called Taiwan and my father took a national examination he scored number one broke all the records and had the chance to come to America he was also one of the youngest sea captains of his uh time at the age of 29. for a young couple who has never seen white people or any Americans it was a tremendous vote of faith in the opportunities that this country provided so my father went first he was alone in America for three years leaving behind his pregnant wife and two young children so we didn't come to America until three years later we arrived and in a boat it took 37 Days on on the Seas and we lived in a one-bedroom apartment when we first came to America and then as our situation got better we moved to Long Island and then to Westchester County and our story is one of millions that Mark The American Journey and being Asian American I've been like all like most Americans have been very very concerned about the increase in violence and antipathy and hatred against the Asian American Community the Asian American story is the American story among men one of many many threads and I was thinking about how best to combat this rise in an anti-asian sentiments and so what better solution would there be but to have a museum that's dedicated to the contributions the achievements of the Asian American community and that's how the idea arose and I think it actually has great currency I want to give voice to the fears of this community there are a lot of people who are really concerned about the increase in hatred and sentiments against Asian Americans it's fueled by what happened to covid everyone suffered during covet but especially this population this community because so many Asian Americans own their own businesses so from a unemployment rate of 2.4 percent pre-covet uh you know the unemployment rate jumped to over 14 percent and on top of that came heaps of abuse and anger and anti-asian sentiments what do you think of the causes of that we've seen covet as you said and that was labeled by the president then to be a China flu that's one reason are there other reasons you think this is happening I think that's one reason and I also think the increasing tensions between the U.S China relations is another you know a lot of people can't tell the difference between the Asian American groups and in fact the Asian American Community is comprised of people from 80 different countries with very very different backgrounds but to many people they really can't differentiate one group versus another and so this increasing tensions between the U.S China relations Is spilling over to all Asian American groups and with obviously very great concern within the community and I think outside the community as well you talk about the need for cultural museum for Asian Americans as part of the Smithsonian well history and culture both history and culture Museum as part of the Smithsonian on the mall what elements of the history and culture would you like to see highlighted for example no that Asian Americans fought in the Revolutionary War how many Asian how many people know that Asian Americans actually were present during the Civil War as well how many people know that the Transcontinental Railroad which was a great uniter of east and west uh America coasts in America that gave rise to this economic Powerhouse that we are today those are done by Asian Americans there were 15 000 Chinese Americans primarily who built the Transcontinental Railroad going from California through the tough tough hard Sierra Madre Mountains across the Plains and connecting with the railroad tracks that were coming from the East and over a thousand railroad Chinese railroad workers died and they were not even allowed to become U.S citizens and then of course we all know most of us I think should know about the Japanese-American incarceration in the internment camps and yet how many people knew that Japanese Americans fought valiantly in the European theater to protect freedom uh in their Homeland when their relatives and loved ones were being interned so there's a lot to know and even now we have so many you know Asian Americans who are contributing to the Vitality of our economy so look at Silicon Valley we've got Asian Americans who are spearheading the drive to Innovation to transformation in America and around the world now this is a community that doesn't uh talk very much that doesn't kind of they're kind of quiet they're reserved but the FBI statistics on how many Asian Americans have been targeted and the increase in hate crimes are stunning in one year alone since covid 70s there was been there was a increase of 77 percent uh in anti-asian hate crimes and on the second year that jumped to 167 percent increase and in the third year we saw increases of over three times the level of anti-asian uh crimes hatred uh you know prior to covet so and I'm sure those statistics are actually understated because once again this is not a community that speaks out very much two of the most shameful periods of American History were the Chinese Exclusion Act in the 1880s and then of course the Japanese internment in World War II to what extent do those two events still impact the psyche of the Asian American Community the Chinese Exclusion Act of the 1890s was not the only piece of legislation that bard Chinese Americans from Full participation in America you know in American Life there were legislations stemming back to the late 1700s and throughout the 1800s I think what's and of course if there are other instances of great Injustice to other groups within our country as well but I think what is really important to remember is that we're a young country that is full of Hope and promise and a willingness to admit our errors and that we have a great capacity to change to transform and to learn from our mistakes you talk about the contributions of Asian Americans and Asian immigrants especially in Silicon Valley and the technology industry what should we be doing on immigration it seems like we're clamping down to some extent on visas and immigration should we be opening it up more this is a huge issue that when President Obama had the complete control of the government meaning the Executive Branch the house and the Senate even he could not come to any resolution of this particular issue uh I think Republicans believe in legal migration and so they are more in favor of a guest worker program where as Democrats would want amnesty and they would not like a guest worker program but with our economy as lacking and needing workers as we do today I mean there are 11 million vacant jobs in America today and the labor participation rate is quite low when I was Secretary of Labor the average labor participation rate was 66.4 percent in a population working population of about 157 million people now that labor participation rate is only 62.3 percent post covet against same you know about the same population but of course it's grown in the last three years so we're missing about six to seven million workers and so we need skilled workers as well we need STEM Science technology engineering and math experts and most of the time they are exported basically from abroad so there are a lot of issues within the immigration field that needs addressing well wait so do you think we should like just staple a visa on anybody who gets a good stem education from the United States that's exactly what Senator Bennett of Utah used to say the late Senator Bennett and we certainly need more stem students so we also need to encourage our you know our children our grandchildren our students here and who are native born to go more into the stem in the stem Fields including more young girls to go into the stem Fields it has a lot of Promise it's the uh you know it's got lots of potential in terms of job opportunities for the future so we need to do both we need to allow more immigration and this is an area again of great discussion and disagreement of these more skilled workers but also we need to in somehow invest and make more interesting uh to our own young people who are native born to study the stems Fields help me make sense of the labor participation rate these days after covet how the nature of work is changing and what seems to me at least to be a very low unemployment rate well last time on every the first Friday of every month comes the unemployment numbers and they're held in great secrecy so it's at precisely 8 30 in the morning I remember that uh what we're seeing now is that after the Great Recession there was a drop-off of workers some who left because of lack of opportunities some who retired and ever since then we have not seen these workers come back and it could be again through competition with government compensation programs I mean the largest of the federal government in the last few years some was justified I mean clearly in March of 2020 the cares Act was necessary because our economy was in such bad shape that the federal government basically funded through the employers the payrolls they had to maintain to keep people workers employed but that's been phased out now and we've actually seem to have really high employment don't we and then some economy sounds pretty good yeah so the subsequent to that there were also very large government injections into the economy so the federal government became a competitor with a private sector in terms of compensation and many of these workers are making very rational choices as to why they're staying out of the workforce we're also seeing an increasing disability so that is also a very um it's certainly a program that is needed by those who need it but that has also taken workers out of the workforce so what we're really concerned now is whether this low unemployment rate this low labor participation rate uh is permanent and we need to get more people back into the workforce because it is vital for our economic recovery and the unemployment rate as you mentioned it just came out in June sept it was June 1st or second second it's uh you know 3.7 percent it's below full employment so every employer in every field is so anxious to be able to hire the workers that they need and not having the workers available is affecting the supply chain and our ability to provide services and keep the economy going in a robust condition in your Washington Post essay we've discussed it a little bit tonight uh you talk about a fear that we we might return to internment camps a fear within the Asian American Community that's pretty startling uh where do you sense that and can you expand on that I don't have to I don't have to sense it I hear it I hear among the community you know I'm I still go to events I have friends I'm part of the community I mean these are fears that's why I say I want to give voice to them because this is a community that hitherto for has been really hard working they don't speak up they don't complain very much and given the level of hatred and violence directed against this community they're fearful that such a unbelievable occurrence a possibility of may exist 75 percent of Chinese Americans have felt the sting and very often the physical attack of anti-asian hatred they've been spat upon they have been cursed at just walking in the streets of New York City so this is not something made up these are people that are just going about their ordinary business they're commuting and then somebody spits on them or someone tells them to go home well America is their home secretary Elaine Chow thank you so much for joining us appreciate it thank you they're great Patriots and I want to emphasize that as well [Music] [Music]

Channel: Amanpour and Company

Views: 11,927

Keywords: interview, CNN, PBS, Christiane Amanpour, world news, news anchor, news show, news, public affairs, late-night TV, journalist, Chief International Correspondent, Elaine Chao, Trump, AAPI, Asian America, China

Id: dhaICvytfis

Length: 17min 53sec (1073 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 13 2023