Ramsey City Council member blasted over comments about Japanese Americans

The Twin Cities chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League is blasting Ramsey City Council Member Chelsee Howell for comparing the state's COVID-19 mask requirement with the experiences of Japanese Americans who were placed in concentration camps during World War II.

The league said it was deeply concerned with Howell weaponizing the experiences of Japanese Americans to make her point and asked her to immediately take steps to rectify her actions, according to a letter addressed to Howell and posted on Facebook.

"We absolutely object to the use of our community's experiences in your comparison," the league wrote. "In this time of heightened anti-Asian sentiment and radicalized violence, your careless and misinformed comments undermine public health efforts at the disproportionate expense of Communities of Color."

Howell was one of four Ramsey City Council members who on March 9 voted in favor of a resolution preventing the city from using its resources to enforce Gov. Tim Walz's statewide mask mandate.

Mayor Mark Kuzma, who voted against the measure after recently recovering from COVID-19, said he hopes to overturn it.

In discussion before the vote, Howell drew a comparison between President Franklin Roosevelt's 1942 executive order forcing Americans of Japanese descent into internment camps to one issued by Walz requiring that masks be worn in public places to help slow the spread of COVID-19.

"Just because something has been made a law or a mandate does not make it moral or just," Howell said during the March 9 City Council meeting. "While it was considered legal at the time, there are moments in the history of our country where the government has acted unlawfully and reprehensibly from a moral and constitutional perspective. According to the 14th Amendment, the state cannot deprive us of life or liberty. No one has the right to restrict somebody else's ability to breathe. To breathe freely or not to breathe freely, that is an individual's decision, not a decision of the government."

The league called her comments linking the imprisonment of 120,000 U.S. citizens to the current public health measure "troubling."

"You are risking the lives and liberties of your fellow Minnesotans while the state is doing its best to protect all of us," the letter said.

Nearly 90% of Ramsey residents identify as white. About 4% of the northwest metro city's 27,700 residents identify as Asian, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

"We ask that you re-examine your commitment and ability to represent all your constituents," the letter said.

Calls and e-mails to Howell seeking comment were not immediately returned.

Tim Harlow • 612-673-7768