Asian Woman Reports Racist Incident With Brooklyn Candidate

ASTORIA-LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS — A longtime northwest Queens resident and community leader said that a Brooklyn City Council candidate mistook her for another Asian woman, a casual act of racism that she and other people of color experience often.

On Saturday, a group of 60 progressive City Council candidates who were endorsed by U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Courage to Change PAC gathered for a rally in front of City Hall.

As the candidates and some staff made their way up to the stage area, Helen Ho, a local leader and volunteer on Julie Won’s District 26 campaign who was wearing a mask emblazoned with the candidate’s name, said that District 39 candidate Briget Rein approached her and mistook her for Won.

“I pass this woman who I’ve never met before and she says ‘hi Julie,’ and I’m surprised so I say ‘I’m not Julie, I’m another Asian woman,’” explained Ho, who said that Rein then apologized but acted distressed when Ho countered that an apology “doesn’t make [the mistake] any less offensive.”

Ho said that Rein “just got very angry that I even thought to correct her” and said “that she had never met Julie before, implying that she wouldn’t know what Julie would look like, which is why I was like why did you assume I’m her?”

Several people who witnessed the incident confirmed with Patch that Rein mistook Ho for Won — including Rein.

"I wanted to meet the woman I hope will be my future colleague and having never met Ms. Won, and when I saw a woman in the candidates' area wearing a 'Julie Won' mask, I wrongly made the assumption that it was her,” said Rein in a statement to Patch.

Ho said that a couple of other District 39 City Council candidates, Justin Krebs and Brandon West, witnessed the incident.

Whereas Krebs said something to Rein that Ho perceived as minimizing her experience — a comment about how it can be hard to tell people apart in masks — West separated Ho from the group and asked if she was ok.

While neither of those two candidates told Patch any more details about the exchange, Krebs told Patch “I should have responded differently and I’m sorry. I’m committed to the work of being a better ally."

Rein also told Patch that she “apologized then and I apologize now. At a time when anti-Asian hate crimes are at an all-time high, I will continue to strive to be a better ally. This mistake is not something I take lightly and I will work even harder to stand in solidarity with my AAPI neighbors,” she concluded.

But for Ho, this mistake is the kind of racist incident that happens regularly, but often goes unshared.

“I think a lot of things I experience are my experiences obviously but they're not unique to me, and I think this is an experience that a lot of people have and can empathize with,” said Ho, adding that her “2021 resolution to not endure things by myself anymore” is one of the reasons that inspired her to share this incident on Twitter — a choice that has resulted in an outpouring of support.

Among the people who retweeted and liked the thread were two other women of color who, as Ho suspected, shared that they have experienced similar kinds of things.

“As an #AAPI woman of color, I have experienced this too and it’s not ok. We won’t tolerate such racism, microaggressions, and erasure no more,” tweeted Queens resident Doreen Mohammed.

Navjot Pal Kaur, who is running to represent New York’s 3rd congressional district, which encompases parts of Long Island and northeastern Queens, tweeted “this happens to me with my last name and the racism of white progressives I have to deal with.”

“Most people will put out statements or hashtags like #StopAsianHate without examining how they themselves are also very problematic,” she added.

For Ho it was also particularly important to share this experience in order to uplift the voices of AAPI women.

“I think in general people really minimize the influence of Asian women, because the stereotype for us is that we're quiet and we're meek and we're docile,” she said.

“It makes me angry that people would not take someone seriously just because they did not feel like there are any consequences, or wouldn't pay someone respect because there wouldn't be any consequences,” she said adding that “everyone makes their own choices but I'm at a point in time when I need to say these things out loud.”