Backlash Over West Allis AAPI Hate Crime Amendment

WEST ALLIS, WI— The West Allis Common Council voted Wednesday 9-0 to approve a resolution authored by Alderman Angelito Tenorio condemning anti-Asian American and Pacific Islander hate crimes. Tenorio is Asian American.

Alderman Tracy Stefanski amended it to include all hate crimes during a meeting of the Licensing and Health Committee on Wednesday and now faces backlash for the move. Stefanski is white.

Stefanski sent an email to the council prior to the meeting explaining his action.

"I am sending this email to everyone in advance for you to review in preparation for tonight's meeting. Please note that I completely understand and support Alderman Tenorio's efforts here on his resolution condemning hate crimes against the AAPI community. I just feel we are doing a disservice to the rest of the people we represent in West Allis. It is our jobs as Alderpersons to represent everyone.

"So, I have made an amendment to Alderman Tenorio's resolution that I think not only addresses what he is looking to accomplish but it also represents all of our constituents. Please review this prior to tonight's meeting for consideration."

Here is the original resolution.

Here is the amended resolution.

Tenorio told Patch that he voted in favor of the amended resolution because he agreed that hate crimes against any minority group are bad. But he added that he plans to reintroduce his original resolution explicitly condemning anti-AAPI hate crimes at the next council meeting.

"We need to name what's specifically happening to the AAPI community," Tenorio said. Stefanski's amendment was a defensive response, and Tenorio said he felt hurt by it.

"By naming what is happening to the Asian American community, that isn't being divisive. It is spotlighting what is happening right now," he said.

Tenorio added Stefanski could have come up with a separate resolution that condemned all hate crimes.

"I’ll be reintroducing the resolution condemning anti-AAPI violence with my original language, so if you live in West Allis, please contact your alderpersons to support this effort," Tenorio said.

Stefanski Responds

Stefanski said he felt "sick" over what happened in the meeting. "I feel badly over what happened and what Alderman Tenorio was trying to do," he said. "The beginning of my amended resolution encompasses the beginning of his."

Stefanski added he didn't dismiss Tenorio's concern or ignore it. "I wanted it to be a part of it. He started the discussion, and that is why I went in the direction I did with the resolution," he said.

Stefanski added that he understood diversity as his wife is half African American, and he has family members who are a part of the LGBTQ community. He emailed Tenorio after he brought up the proposed amendment and asked him why he was only bringing up one group. He said he asked Tenorio why the city couldn't condemn all hate crimes.

"Any hate crime is bad no matter who it is," Stefanski said. "We have seen [crimes] against the Latino, Jewish, Muslim, Black and LGBTQ communities."

Stefanski gave Tenorio an opportunity to change his resolution to encompass others, but he declined.

Stefanski said the city has more problems to work on than what he called "these social justice issues." "We have more things to worry about such as keeping taxes down and keeping our DPW and fire and police funded properly to protect the citizens."

Still, Stefanski told Patch he would support Tenorio's resolution when it is reintroduced.

Creating The Resolution

Tenorio said he felt inspired to write the resolution because of the effect of the anti-AAPI rhetoric of former President Donald Trump and his supporters. "We have all heard it: 'the Chinese virus' or 'Kung-flu.' We have seen other conservative Republican leaders use the same rhetoric," he said.

Tenorio added there has been a strong surge of anti-AAPI violence and hate crimes. "The culminating point was the shootings in Atlanta, Georgia, where eight people were killed, six of those were Asian American women," he said.

The AAPI community has felt ignored, overlooked and silenced, and it is very important that the city of West Allis pass a resolution that said, "Hey, we support you and condemn what is happening to the AAPI and want to make the community better," Tenorio said.

As the only Asian American on the Common Council, Tenorio thinks of his mother and relatives when he sees coverage of hate crimes in Georgia and New York. "It is important to me to call out what is happening to the AAPI community and specifically name it [in the resolution]," he said.

Lisa Coons, an Asian American who co-owns Transaction, a West Allis skate and scooter shop, supported the original resolution. "We do go unnoticed, and I feel there are a lot of Asian-operated businesses in West Allis, but we don't know who they are as business owners," she said.

People don't realize the effect of verbal and physical abuse on people in the AAPI community, she said. Two weeks ago, her father was in a bank drive-thru, and someone was blaring their music behind him. When her father turned to see where the music was coming from, "A guy called him out and said, 'Hey, what are you looking at, ugly Chinese guy?'" Coons said.

"We know we are Asian but we embrace the American culture," she added.

"I do feel there is a time to separate the different hate crimes that go on," she said, speaking about Stefanski's amendment. "I don't feel everyone has been brought up equally, and it is a segregated area [in the Milwaukee area]," she said.