First Fil-Am elected to NY State Assembly vows to prioritize safety of Asian-Americans

The first Filipino-American elected to the New York State Assembly Steven Raga vowed to prioritize the safety of the Asian-Americans amid incidents of hate crimes.

In the GMA Pinoy TV Podcast, Raga said that he would do all that he could to protect the Asian-American community in New York, urging victims to report hate crimes so that data on such incidents would be accurate.

“Everything that we can do to protect Asian-Americans and help people feel safe no matter what background, that is definitely a priority for us. I know a lot of Filipino-Americans have experienced this harassment or physical violence towards them but have not reported it,” Raga said.

“So it is not in the statistics that people can reference because for a number of reasons they are either shy or embarrassed that it happened to them especially if they are here and already living here. They don’t want their family in the Philippines to hear that this happened to them,” he added.

Raga explained the statistics could be used to say that these incidents were real occurrences in the community.

This could also help other foreign nationals who were also victims and alert other embassies and consulates to address these incidents.

He said that they could also reallocate funding for the community to increase support services for victims.

"And also on the state level if there is funding that we can reallocate to the community to increase the support services for those victims but also find ways to prevent a lot of these individuals from perpetuating these crimes in the first place for whatever reasons,” he said.

Integrity, ethics

Raga said he wanted to do his job the right way with “integrity and ethics.”

He said that he also wanted to help the Filipino community, to give it guidance and support, adding that he was looking forward to developing more Filipino candidates.

“I want to make sure I’m doing the job well, I’m doing it with integrity, with ethics, I’m doing it the right way so you will not hear anything bad that I did on purpose but also making sure that others come after me,” he said.

“Hopefully, I can serve with them. So identifying talent in our Filipino community that might do well, not just to help Filipinos but all New Yorkers. Give them that push, guidance, and support, something that I did not have because nobody was in that position to give me. Now that I am, I feel that I owe it. That could be my role as well so that is something I’m looking forward to developing - more Filipino candidates after this year,” he added.

Proud Pinoy

Raga said that he was proud of the Filipino community in New York, which supported and helped him during the elections.

“I am proud of the Filipino community here. It just shows that the Filipino community wherever we are, we are sleeping giants. All you need is just to wake us up and whatever the alarm is I think that is what right now in New York,” he said.

He also lauded Filipinos for their world-class talent and encouraged them to help and support each other.

“My message is that we can do it. Filipinos are world-class talent. Filipinos are always on the top and have the opportunity to lead. So I think if we collaborate, exchange ideas, and support each other, who knows where we are gonna take it in the next decade? And I am happy to play a role in that as well,” he added.

Raga won the seat for District 30 in Queens, roundly defeating Republican challenger Sean Lally in the 2022 midterm elections with 58 percent of the vote. — DVM, GMA Integrated News