Full Recount and Disclosure Concerning Steele’s Remarks
and ACAN’s Response Since Tuesday, Oct. 8
Note: This recount is an official ACAN document, intended only for ACAN’s official distribution. No part of this document, including the References, may be reprocessed, translated, posted or reposted without ACAN’s explicit written approval. For any further questions or inquiries, please reach out to Mr. Hugh Li at Hugh.Li@acantx.org.
Ever since the RRISD Board of Trustees candidate forum on Oct. 8 where Place 7 candidate Jim Steele made a controversial remark in his closing statements, there have been continuous debates and accusations among the Chinese American community in Austin. These debates and accusations often portrayed a negative and at times insidious narrative on ACAN’s role in this episode, with scant, mistaken or intentionally distorted facts. Therefore, we have decided to publish a chronological recount of the events leading to this point that are relevant to ACAN, with full disclosure of facts, so that our ACAN members and members of the Chinese American community may know the truth and draw a conclusion by themselves.
Oct. 8 Tuesday Evening
At the RRISD Board of Trustees candidate forum sponsored by RRISD PTA Council and Round Rock Chamber of Commerce, Place 7 candidate Jim Steele made a remark at his closing statement: “Vote for me; I’m American-made”. This was said with his sole opponent in this election, Mr. Michael Wei, a naturalized US citizen born in China, in his presence. There were immediate gasps and upset responses from the audience. Readers are advised to watch the unedited video clip of his statement in Reference A.
Oct. 10 Thursday
Words have reached ACAN leadership team that there had been a controversial remark by Mr. Steele that is creating some strong feelings in the Chinese American community and other immigrant communities because it was targeted at a member of the Chinese American community (that is, Mr. Michael Wei). A number of fact-finding efforts were initiated. Discussions among ACAN officer group ensued, with careful debate on what ACAN can do, with the fact that Mr. Wei also serves on ACAN’s Board of Directors taken into consideration. ACAN officer group consists of 12 ACAN leaders who head various committees or play key functional roles in ACAN. They are all board members too, but Mr. Wei is NOT part of the group. A vote was conducted among the office group members during the day on whether ACAN should issue a statement denouncing Mr. Steele’s earlier remark. The vote result is shown in Reference B.
Upon the vote results, ACAN president Hugh Li proceeded to draft a statement. Mr. Li stated during the day that ACAN should NOT accuse Mr. Steele of racism, because “American-made” can itself be applied to any race. However, it is discrimination based on national origin, which is a form of discrimination prohibited by US federal laws.
Oct. 11 Friday
The first version of the statement was submitted to the officer group for review and comment. Reviewing, commenting and revision continued for the next 3 days, including seeking inputs from an outside attorney to make sure we stay within the bounds of any relevant laws governing 501(c)3 organization, which ACAN is. Meanwhile, we were also waiting for the video clip of Mr. Steele’s closing remarks at the candidate forum (Reference A) to be leased. The release of the ACAN statement was preliminarily set at late Sunday after we received the review by the attorney by Saturday night.
Oct. 13 Sunday night
Mr. Steele’s video was released on Sunday night, which did not warrant any further revisions of the statement (Reference C, herein referred to as “Statement” or “the Statement”). The Statement was sent to ACAN Wechat 群主之群 at about 10:15pm, to be posted to ACAN Wechat member groups. Soon after, Mr. Li was made aware of a Zoom call that Mr. Steele participated in with a group (~20) of Chinese parents that started about 7pm that evening, in which he provided some context to his remarks at the candidate forum, that he was out of speaking time; that his words were misinterpreted and taken out of context; that he never meant insult or discrimination to the immigrant communities; that when he said he was “American-made”, he meant he was a product of the American education system. Again, we advise readers to watch the video clip (Reference A) to draw your own conclusions.
Upon learning of these circumstances, Mr. Li immediately sent out the instruction to halt the release of the Statement because he felt Mr. Steele’s explanations were a positive step towards mutual understanding and the healing of the wounds that his words inflicted earlier in the immigrant communities, particularly in the Chinese American community. This is around 11:53 PM (see screenshot of Wechat communications in Reference D). Fortunately, the Statement has NOT been posted to any official ACAN WeChat groups, ACAN website, or ACAN Facebook pages.
By midnight, however, Mr. Li noticed that Texas Capital News (TCN), a completely separate group from ACAN, had somehow published an article containing a version of the Statement, as well as its rough Chinese translation, which ACAN did not approve or endorse. Mr. Li immediately reached out to TCN to demand the retraction of the article.
Mr. Li also proposed to have a 1:1 conversation with Mr. Steele, so that Mr. Steele and ACAN can come to a better understanding of each other’s perspectives, and bring the matter to an amicable conclusion. Efforts were made through personal channels to make this happen.
Oct. 14 Monday
Early in the morning, TCN retracted the Statement they prematurely published and issued a retraction announcement. But by then it is reasonable to assume that a number of people have seen the Statement, and it has reached Mr. Steele and his campaign.
By that night, Mr. Li has not heard any feedback through the private channel about the proposed conversation with Mr. Steele. An email was then sent to Mr Steele’s campaign email address by Mr. Li seeking such direct contact (See Reference E for the full email)
Oct. 15 Tuesday
At 1:35 pm, Mr. Li received a call from Ms. Mai Linh, a campaign staff of Mr. Steele, who spoke with Mr. Li on behalf of Mr. Steele for about 40 minutes. The conversation covered a range of thorny issues arising from the unintended publication of the Statement, but the overall tone was still amicable. Ms. Linh conveyed Mr. Steele’s narratives about the hurt that he felt about the Statement, his family members that are of different races and nationalities, and the work experiences he had and friendships he struck with immigrants from different countries. Mr. Li explained the shock and hurt the Chinese American community first felt at his remarks at the candidate forum, and the nature of the unauthorized and unofficial release of the Statement, and proffered a proposal to speak with Mr. Steele directly to understand more and to reconcile. In addition, Mr. Li proposed that ACAN may sponsor a candidate forum for just Mr. Steele and Mr. Wei, such that they both have a chance and the time to elaborate on a range of issues of concern to voters in RRISD. The phone conversation ended with Mr. Linh agreeing to relay these messages to Mr. Steele.
Mr. Li debriefed ACAN officer group about the conversation with Ms. Linh, and was now waiting for further communication from Mr. Steele’s campaign.
Oct. 17 Thursday
Email from Mr. Steele was received at about 3 pm (Reference F) . The email is self-explanatory and readers are advised to read the letter themselves and arrive at their own opinions. Some of the key points were highlighted.
Oct. 18 Friday
Mr Li replied to Mr. Steele’ email at about 4:15pm (Reference G) Again, the email is self-explanatory and readers are advised to come to your own opinions. Some of the key points were highlighted.
No further communication or contact happened between Mr. Steele’s campaign and ACAN since Mr. Li’s last email. But on Oct. 21, 陌上美国, a well-known social media account based in St Louis, MO, published a Chinese language article attacking ACAN for accusing Mr. Steele racism, for election interference, and for conflict of interest because Mr. Wei serves on ACAN’s Board of Directors.
Even though ACAN’s perspectives were clearly outlined in Mr. Li’s email response (Reference G) , it is worthwhile to point out to fair-minded readers that.
- ACAN’s Statement was based on information available at the time of the drafting, and the interpretation of Mr. Steele’s own words at the candidate forum.
- ACAN did NOT officially release the Statement. It was NOT posted at any ACAN-owned sites or platforms.
- That Mr. Wei is a Board member of ACAN had NO relevance in ACAN’s decision to issue a statement condemning such a discriminatory insult. However, that this insult was directed against a member of the Chinese American community has EVERYTHING to do with such a statement.
- ACAN called for RRISD voters to reject the discriminatory view that voters should vote for Mr. Steele because he is American-made. This is not election interference in ACAN’s opinion and in the attorney’s opinion.
It is also worth stating that ACAN as an organization has no stake in the RRISD Board of Trustees election and is neutral in all candidates. We do not, have not and will not endorse any political candidates. But because many of our members live in RRISD and rely on the public school system to educate their children, we do hope that the concerns of the Chinese American community in RRISD are properly addressed in the election, and in the makeup of the Board of Trustees that will be formed, because the quality and success of our students’ education is completely universal and nonpartisan.