‘Is This Patriot Enough?’ Ohio Official Lee Wong Disrobes and Displays Scars in Passionate Remarks Against Anti-Asian Hate
An official in West Chester Township, Ohio features in a now viral video of his remarks against anti-Asian violence at a public town hall meeting this week, during which he removed his shirt to show the scars from wounds he received while serving in the U.S. military.
“I’m sixty-nine years old, and I’m going to show you what patriotism, the questions about patriotism, looks like,” said Township Trustee Lee Wong as he unbuttoned and removed his shirt. Standing up in front of the meeting, he said, showing his scars. “Here is my proof. This is sustained through my service in the U.S. military. Now is this patriot enough?”
Wong is a Trustee of the West Chester Township, a suburb of the Cincinnati metropolitan area. He told The Cincinnati Enquirer that the moment was spontaneous but that “the timing was right in light of what’s happening in this country.”
“For too long, we have, I have, put up with a lot of shit in silence, excuse the language, too afraid to speak out, fearing more abuse and discrimination,” Wong says in the remarks, which by Saturday had been viewed almost 3 million times on Twitter alone.
Lee Wong, an elected official in West Chester, Ohio & @USArmy veteran with 20-years of service, took his shirt off during a town hall meeting on Wednesday and revealed scars he received during his service. “Is this patriot enough?” he asked #StopAsianHate https://t.co/3nCwTlVGxD pic.twitter.com/0R1TX3MTtp
— James LaPorta (@JimLaPorta) March 26, 2021
Wong’s name was a trending topic on Twitter by midday Saturday, though the story was first reported earlier in the week.
Wong immigrated to the United States at 18 years old, which he spoke about during his powerful remarks. “I’m a U.S. citizen for quite a while now, most of you weren’t even born yet,” he said. “I didn’t come to this country to be sitting here, elected official.”
In the clip, Wong explained that incidents of racism in his youth changed the path of his career in the United States. Talking to the Enquirer on Thursday, he said that he “deliberately went to the army to learn about Americanism and democracy.”
But his remarks, and remarkable punctuation, weren’t planned ahead.
“In that moment, I don’t know what came over me. I just knew I had to say something,” Wong said of the move that drew America’s attention.
The position of Trustee is non-partisan, but Wong identifies as a Republican. During his campaign he would sometimes ride from place to place on a Segway, wearing a familiar “Make America Great Again” Trump cap.
Watch the clips above, via the West Chester Township
