Dear Editor,
Everything Hong Guo says and stands for is not only anithetical to the principles of a tolerant, inclusive, and respectful multi-cultural society, but also reveals a total disrespect for what our system of democracy is supposed to uphold.
When political candidates propose that voters put them into positions of public responsibility on the basis of race, ethnicity, and/or religious affiliation, rather than knowledge, intelligence, altruistic principles, and actual qualification for office, then we know we are crossing into territory that has little to do with the principles of democracy and more to do with biased hegemony and the wholesale promotion of distrust and divisiveness. Our leaders should govern for everyone — a guiding principle that Ms. Guo is apparently not supportive of.
I can only hope that there are enough Canadian-Chinese voters in Richmond who do not agree with or respect Hang Guo’s aspirations to gain prominance and power through the fermentation of racially-based divisiveness in an already challenged community. If we want to see an example of what such strategies lead to, just look at what is happening to the U.S. because of Donald trump’s strategy of insult, divide, and conquer.
A representation of democratic princples or a race-determined platform for the promulgation of a divided hegemonic society? That’s the choice Guo is offering us citizens.
Ray Arnold
RICHMOND
