Maura Healey for Massachusetts Governor
Maura Healey visited Cambodian businesses in Lowell on Monday, May 23rd as part of her campaign for Massachusetts’ Governor. She made five stops and spent one hour and 15 minutes speaking with business owners from Mony Var Insurance, to Pailin Grocery Market, to Kim’s Donut on Branch Street, and K-Pharmacy on Westford Street, and even stopped to visit the Bayon statue to learn about Khmer culture which was not on the agenda.
The tour was organized by Congresswoman Lori Trahan who has become very familiar with the Cambodian culture from her district in Lowell and were joined by Lowell’s Mayor Sokhary Chau and incumbent 18th Middlesex District State Rep. Rady Mom.
Standing by the Bayon statue, Congresswoman Trahan reflected on her recent trip to Ukraine where she went to the Poland border to visit the refugee camps. “We saw a similar thing happened with Cambodian refugees in the 1980s, and it was amazing that within 10 years after they arrived in Lowell, we had people run for public office and businesses established here in the community.”
The next 20 minutes, Maura and Congresswoman Trahan was given a tour by Kavut Kret about the four faces of the Bayon statue and Cambodia’s most celebrated King Jayavarman VII and his queen Jayarajdavi.
Next stop was Kim’s Donut – I suggested to Maura to try a glazed donut and she did. I wanted to make a point that Cambodian-made donut isn’t like any other donut, and in my opinion, it tastes better than chain store donuts. That made Maura curious so she asked the owner what makes Cambodian-made donuts special. The owner said, “nothing, I just work really hard.” In the U.S., Cambodian mom and pop donut stores are so successful that a movie was made about it – “The Donut King”, I shared.
Final stop was K-Pharmacy, the only Cambodian owned and operated pharmacy in town. Maura was intrigued. She asked what are the problems they encountered. One of the pharmacists, Helena Lee said, “our biggest problem here is the language barrier. Our patients do not understand the medicine label and instructions how to take them and also about their health problems.” Maura spent the next 10 minutes speaking with the pharmacist and her team as I was preparing for my three minutes exclusive interview.
My questions for Maura were the following:
Soben: How do you feel about today’s visit in Lowell Cambodia Town?
Maura: I’m so happy being here. It’s so wonderful to be in Cambodia Town to see the other businesses that are thriving in this incredibly vibrant community.
Soben: Now that you have experience visiting the town, how relevant do you think having the Genocide Education Act passed?
Maura: It’s so important. When I think about Lowell. I think about how many immigrant communities have developed in Massachusetts that made so much of the state. In this time, we need to do everything we can to protect immigrants, refugees, and educate about Genocide. Unfortunately, many other communities experienced genocide, in Massachusetts we need to talk about it, educate about it in school, and educate the public so these will never happen again.
Soben: We know you worked on the Anti-Hate Crime Bill, tell the public a little more about that?
Maura: We know the importance to fight racism, fight white supremacy, and fight bigotry, so we proposed a law that will make it easier for people who committed hate crime to be prosecuted and to be held accountable.
Soben: Yesterday it was so hot (90 degree on 5/22) and so is today. Is climate change part of your agenda?
Maura: Absolutely, climate change is real and is existential threat. We need to make sure we are dealing with this extreme heat, we need more green space, more forest, we need to protect our waterways, we need to move away from fossil fuel. I have promised as Governor, I’ll be the most aggressive Governor in the country when it comes to addressing climate change. I also know that communities of color, communities with low income are hurt the worst by climate change here and around the globe and we need to fix that.
Soben: Inflation is on everybody’s mind and at the dinner table conversation right now, how will you help Massachusetts with the inflation?
Maura: As Governor, I will work to make Massachusetts more affordable. We need a lot more housing out there and we need to lower the cost. We need to lower the childcare cost, we need to provide the tax relief as well, who right now are paying too much for groceries, for gas, and for electricity bills, so we need to find relief for the people. Part of that will be more housing options, reducing our childcare cost, and provide some relief to the people across the state who are suffering right now.
In summary for our readers, you may recall in 2014 when I endorsed Maura Healy for the Attorney General of Massachusetts. Maura won that election and she is one of the most admired Attorney General in the United States and her work has heavily influenced the lawmakers in Washington D.C. I have served as her New American Advisory Council member during the two terms she served as Attorney General of Massachusetts. I hold the highest regards to her work ethnics, her relentless fight for social and legal justices for everyone in our Commonwealth. Maura has especially fought to protect workers’ rights, LGBQ community, immigrant community, people of color, children and women of domestic abuses, and consumer protection. She has fought and won many big battles against pharmaceutical company, oil company, landlords, and the financial sector. Maura has been the people’s lawyer that she promised to her voters every step of the way.
Now, Maura is running for the Governor of Massachusetts, I believe she will be a great Governor for ALL people. I pledge my support for Maura Healy for Governor in this November election and I ask our readers to give her your vote as well.
