State Rep. Beth Fukumoto says she’s hoping to turn a personal attack she recently received through a profanity-laced letter from a self-proclaimed supporter of President Donald Trump into a teachable moment.
The author of the letter, which was mailed to the lawmaker’s office at the Capitol, attacked Fukumoto’s Japanese ancestry and called
her a “bleeding heart traitor moron” for supporting “illegals, black thugs, Muslims and bombs, and gays.”
Fukumoto (D, Mililani-Mililani Mauka-Waipio Acres) said she thought it was appropriate to release the letter in light of recent events promoting white nationalism and white supremacy, including Saturday’s violent rally in Charlottesville, Va.
“I think it’s more telling
of the political atmosphere
in general right now, and
I think what’s going on in Charlottesville is more of a manifestation of what has been ongoing increases of intolerance,” Fukumoto said Thursday. “I think the letter is part of that atmosphere … and it’s a good time to raise awareness.”
It’s unclear where the letter was sent from; the postmark on the envelope — which was decorated with a penguin and heart sticker — isn’t legible. The author typed a partial name, according to Fukumoto, but she redacted it out of courtesy so as not to discourage the public from contacting her office.
The former Republican left the GOP earlier this year amid growing tensions over her criticism of Trump. Fukumoto, who had been ousted as minority leader by her Republican colleagues in the House of Representatives, was accepted into the Democratic Party in June.
“I worked to fight racist rhetoric when I was a member of the Republican Party, and I left when I realized I couldn’t win that fight from within,” she said in a news release about the hate letter. “The white nationalist undercurrent of the presidential campaign stretched far beyond Donald Trump. His success is the result of white nationalism left unchecked within the GOP for years.”
She called on Republicans to take a stand against racism.
“Today every elected official in the GOP needs to make a choice: Be vocal, public and specific in your opposition to prejudice everywhere — especially in the Oval Office,” she said.
