U.S. Army veteran and local Ohio lawmaker Lee Wong caught the attention of the world when he disrobed in the middle of an on-camera meeting and made an emotional plea to anyone questioning his patriotism.
In the days after eight people, six of them women of Asian descent, were killed at Atlanta-area spas, Wong decided to address anti-Asian discrimination by sharing his own experiences. The West Chester Township Board of Trustees chairman lifted his shirt during the session to display scars he received while serving in the Army.
"Here is my proof. This was sustained through my service in the U.S. military. Now is this patriot enough?" he asked attendees.
Looking back, Wong told Cheddar he had no idea he would go as far as lifting his shirt during the session, but it made a huge impact.
"I think they got my message," he said. "The response has been overwhelming. I have a stack of emails here [I am] still going through. It's unbelievable. People, good people, all over the world responded."
Wong said local officials have to be more sensitive. In particular, Wong said that it was "alarming" that Cherokee County Sheriff's Captain Jay Baker would describe the Atlanta shooter as having "a bad day."
"We've got eight people just killed, and how can you be so insensitive when it comes to Asian Americans?" he said. Wong added that when local officials make excuses for criminals, particularly ones that are accused of committing mass murder, it minimizes the plight of a victimized group.
"We are all human beings, all Americans, hard-working, law-abiding citizens, and [Asian Americans] need to be protected," he said.
With the White House announcing plans to establish an equity task force aimed at ending xenophobia against Asian Americans, Wong expressed the need for the federal government to do more when it comes to protecting disenfranchised groups. He said one of the things the government can do is be explicitly clear in its definition of hate crimes.
In the U.S. prosecuting hate crimes has proved to be difficult because there is an elevated burden to show that a crime was committed because of a particular bias. Wong said the definition of a hate crime as it currently stands is "very narrow."
He also noted that the responsibility to protect Asians doesn't solely fall on law enforcement, and he called on everyday Americans to "step up and speak up when necessary," and referenced the now-fired doormen in New York City who watched an elderly Asian woman get violently attacked and initially failed to help.
"Just do the right thing. [People] need to step in and stop this violence instead of close the door, let someone get kicked and beat up right in front of them. No one stopped him. That is troubling," he said.
The crypto industry is still reeling from Terra's recent crash. The company's blockchain was temporarily halted earlier this month after the collapse of its cryptocurrency Luna (LUNA) and its stablecoin TerraUSD (UST), which led to almost $45 billion being wiped from the tokens' market caps within a week. Now, many are left wondering what Terra's struggles mean for the broader crypto market. Reeve Collins, CEO of the NFT platform BLOCKv, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell from Davos 2022 to discuss.
China's largest ride-hailing company will no longer be listed on the world's largest stock exchange. Didi shareholders voted on Monday to delist from the New York Stock Exchange, less than a year after launching a $4.4 billion IPO with the most significant U.S. share offering by a Chinese company since Alibaba debuted in 2014. Since going public in June of last year, around $70 billion has been wiped from Didi's market value and shares of the company have dropped nearly 90%. Now, Didi is expected to begin preparations to list in Hong Kong. Kevin T. Carter, founder and Chief Investment Officer of EMQQ Global, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
This episode of On The Job presented by ADP: Cheddar takes a deep dive into how offices in Silicon Valley are handling return-to-office policies with Jesse Levinson, Cofounder and CTO of Zoox; Bob Lockett, Chief Diversity & Talent Officer at ADP breaks down the importance of flexibility at work and how to approach compensation in order to improve retention; Pamela Rucker, CIO Advisor and Instructor for Harvard Professional Development, explains how A.I. can play a role in sustainability efforts and what business leaders need to know about ESG.
Jeremy Kim and Wootak Kim, content creators and the stars of the ‘Under the Influence’ podcast and YouTube series, joined Cheddar News to talk about using their platform to help other Asian American creators. "When we were kind of like coming up with the show idea, there's like so many other people that we really respect or look up to or that interesting stories that will never get the chance to be seen by anybody else," said Jeremy Kim. "And so that's the kind of the platform that we wanted to create."
Chantel Powell, Co-Founder and CEO of Play Pits, joins Cheddar News to discuss how she's grown her business from making it in her very own home to being sold on the shelves in Target stores across the nation, and break down how her business remained resilient throughout the pandemic.
Coming off of their face masks endeavor, Jill Zarin of "The Real Housewives of New York City," and her daughter Ally Shapiro, CMO of JIll & Ally, join Cheddar News to discuss their latest product: crystal manifestation candles. "We have tigers eye, we have amethyst, we have lapis, and alone those could be almost the price of the candle," said Zarin. "We were really able to do it in an affordable way, and if you don't know how to manifest or what that even means, we do it for you on the candle." Zarin also dished on the new season of "Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip."
