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May 27, 2021

Rep. Trone Hosts Bipartisan Roundtable with First Lady Yumi Hogan to Celebrate AAPI Heritage Month and Address Rise in Anti-Asian Hate

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Hannah Muldavin, Hannah.Muldavin@mail.house.gov

Rep. Trone Hosts Bipartisan Roundtable with First Lady Yumi Hogan to Celebrate AAPI Heritage Month and Address Rise in Anti-Asian Hate

First Lady Yumi Hogan Praised Rep. Trone for Steps Taken to Prevent Spread of Hate Crimes

Rep. David Trone with First Lady Yumi Hogan. Watch the full roundtable here.

WASHINGTON — As part of his equity and justice roundtable series, U.S. Representative David Trone (MD-06) hosted a virtual roundtable with First Lady of Maryland Yumi Hogan and local leaders from the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) community to honor AAPI Heritage Month and discuss policies and priorities to support the AAPI community across Maryland. You can watch the roundtable here.

The panelists during the roundtable included:

  • Delegate Lily Qi (D-15)
  • Elizabeth Chung, Executive Director of the Asian American Center of Frederick
  • Devang Shah, Co-Chair for Congressman David Trone’s AAPI Advisory Board 
  • Matthew Lee, Co-Chair for Congressman David Trone’s AAPI Advisory Board

During the conversation, the group discussed how they honored their heritage, the importance of teaching AAPI history to our students in schools, the stigma surrounding mental health in the AAPI community, the importance of more diversity and representation in elected office, and how to combat the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes. Last week, Representative Trone voted in favor of the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act to improve hate crime reporting and ensure more support for victims. 

“Injustice and prejudice toward the Asian community is nothing new, but it’s important we continue to have these conversations in our community about how we can stand together against this hate,” said Representative David Trone. “Immigrants make America stronger. We are so fortunate that folks want to come to this country, and we need to help drive that. And we should celebrate those diverse perspectives and cultures because they are the fabric of our nation.”    

“For me, the American Dream means creating a better and safer tomorrow for the next generations to come and making sure they don’t experience the discrimination my generation went through,” said First Lady of Maryland Yumi Hogan. “We are all immigrants to this land, we are different from each other but that’s what makes our nation stronger and we share the same American Dream.” 

The recorded conversation can be found here.

Congressman David Trone was elected to the House of Representatives in November 2018 to serve the 6th District of Maryland, which includes all or part of Montgomery, Frederick, Washington, Allegany, and Garrett Counties. Trone serves on the Appropriations, Veterans’ Affairs, and Joint Economic Committees in the 117th Congress and previously served on the Education and Labor and Foreign Affairs Committees. In Congress, Trone is fighting to make progress on issues that matter to Marylanders, including the mental health and addiction crises, criminal justice reform, and funding for medical research.

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