Robin Xiong is the primary challenger against incumbent Samuel Zurier in Senate District 3 (Providence). Supported by the Rhode Island Political Cooperative, Xiong is hoping that her progressive policies and professional experience in education, restorative justice and environmental advocacy (to name only three) will appeal to an East Side voting base that leans progressive.

Xiong and her campaign manager Joe Markus took a break from door knocking to sit down with Uprise RI on Saturday afternoon to talk about her campaign. The interview has ben edited for clarity.

Robin Xiong: I was born and raised in Cranston, well, born in Providence at Woman and Infants. My parents came from Laos, so a lot of my experience, even though I was born and raised here, didn’t feel like the typical American upbringing because the sense of othering was very strong, something I was conscious of from a young age. I went through public school up until high school, at Cranston East.

I had an awesome educational experience because I had adults who thought I was gifted. I was very supported. And when I got to college, I found out that was not the typical experience of people in public school systems. That was sad to see because that’s the only resource a lot of kids have access to. I went to Loyola University of Maryland for my Bachelor’s of Arts in Global Studies.

Uprise RI: That’s a good school, I hear.

Robin Xiong: It’s expensive.

Uprise RI: Are you still paying those debts?

Robin Xiong: Yes, I’m very much in debt. I minored in writing and that was fun because I got to explore different parts of my identity that I had not had the chance to, growing up in Cranston.

Uprise RI: What do you mean by that? What parts of your identity?

Robin Xiong: Loyola University of Maryland is a predominantly white institution, so I had to define my own sense of identity. Being Asian was something that set me apart from people I would consider being friends with. So I leaned heavy into community organizations and events. I became secretary and president of the Asian Cultural Alliance and that carried over after I graduated. Although I got a job right out of college in the private sector editing background reports with private investigators, I quit after two years just because I missed that sense of belonging and working within the community. I quit to do a volunteer year with City Year in Providence.

That was what started me in my educational experience. After City Year I was in Providence working in Central High School. I did restorative justice in the Providence, Pawtucket and Central Falls public school systems, which is an awesome experience. I learned how carceral our school system is and about the school to prison pipeline. From there I got a job working for the state’s first ever psychiatric transition program for students who have been discharged from Bradley or Butler. I served students statewide, but working there, I quickly realized a lot of students who would be referred to us were from richer districts. The three years that I worked there, I never once had a student from the Providence public school system or Central Falls or Pawtucket or any of the cities that I had worked in previously.

Uprise RI: Do you think that’s because we tend to criminalize urban core kids more and not treat their outbursts or their “crimes” as psychiatric issues?

Robin Xiong: Absolutely. It stinks because a lot of those kids don’t have resources to identify their needs or advocate for themselves, so they’re just seeing themselves as being bad kids. They’re being told that it’s a behavioral problem from staff and from police officers who are in their schools. Black and brown folks are definitely treated differently in schools.

Uprise RI: It would be interesting to see statistics on that. I’d be interested in seeing how we’re sentencing those kids and how we are taking care of them after their sentences.

Robin Xiong: I can tell you that when I worked in public school systems, those students are super used to having school resource officers, armed police people, in their schools as adults they can supposedly trust in the buildings. But in school districts like Warwick or Foster or East Greenwich – those students are not used to those forces in their schools. There was very a huge divide between the populations that we would service. And that’s because of exactly what you said, they’re just treated differently.

After working three years at Sargent Center I decided to go back to school. I went to Rogers Williams University for my Masters in Public Administration, but I just didn’t feel it would’ve given me the real world skills I needed to serve the students or communities I cared about. So I left that, but I did want to continue my education, so I’m currently a student in the Johns Hopkins Masters of Science in Energy Policy and Climate.

Uprise RI: Very interesting. This would be studying policy and legal aspects through an energy and environmental lens?

Robin Xiong: Yes, and legislation that would allow for a healthier climate in general. I’m in school part-time but I worked for a little bit at Trinity Academy of Performing Arts. But I got worn down. Education, the way it stands now, is hardly being resourced at all. Staff are being overworked, overburdened students are facing mental health crises that are being exacerbated by COVID…it’s a hard place to be right now. I left after a few months and then I started working at the Audubon Society Rhode Island.

Uprise RI: That brings us to today. What motivated you to run for Senate?

Robin Xiong: I guess I would call it a dream of mine to be in office, but it’s a common thing, especially for BIPOC women, to think themselves out of high positions. Imposter syndrome. I was dealing with that a lot, but then I was approached by [State Senator] Cynthia Mendes who dispelled my insecurities and told me I was worth it and I was worthy and if I wanted to do it, it was for me. I don’t think I would’ve done it without the support of the Rhode Political Co-Op because it’s a daunting process. It’s not accessible. I could have easily gotten lost in the boring, bureaucratic paper stuff, but luckily I have them behind me to work through all that and be able to focus on my campaign and what I want to accomplish.

Uprise RI: So what you do at this point is go door-to-door, talk to people, figure out what they are looking for, figure out what they need and then figure out policies that fit that, right?

Robin Xiong: The people I interact with at the doors are excited. A lot of people comment on my age. They appreciate someone who is younger, someone progressive, running for things that they care about, like education and affordable housing. We talked to one constituent who said, “I’m rich, but my daughter will never, ever be able to buy a house in the neighborhood she grew up in.” It was horrible to hear.

Uprise RI: Do you have family in the area?

Robin Xiong: My mom’s side of the family is is still in Cranston and my Dad is one of my best volunteers.

Uprise RI: What are you hearing from people as you go door-to-door? What are the issues people in your district worry about?

Robin Xiong: Education is definitely number one. You get the gamut of parents who understand that education should be high quality and accessible for everyone, but also those who know that’s not the reality. It’s a hard divide because they know it’s important, but given the circumstances and how our our public schools are currently functioning, I don’t think they feel they have a lot of a choice.

Uprise RI: I worry about the concept of school choice, because generally that’s just a way of defunding public schools in favor of privatization. I don’t trust the narrative on that.

Robin Xiong: When it comes to private schools or charter schools, that’s a system of chance. Either you have enough money to be able to afford that or you have to be picked by the lottery and that’s not guaranteeing everyone equal, fair, high quality education.

Uprise RI: What do you think about the state takeover of Providence schools?

Robin Xiong: I feel education is being mismanaged at the federal level and I don’t think that a lot of people making policy and legislation around our schools locally have a good understanding of the issues. Ask any teacher and you’ll see that their list of “to dos” and qualifications are growing and growing and growing. Meanwhile, the schools are literally falling apart. It feels we’re putting the focus on all the wrong places and trying to do everything all at once. We need to take things one step at a time.

Uprise RI: What do you mean? What’s the first step?

Robin Xiong: I think school infrastructure is a good place to start. if our schools are not healthy places to be in, teachers can’t work. When I was in Central High School, we had to relocate classrooms midyear because after the snow, a roof caved in. Black mold was everywhere. My teacher was sick probably 30% of the time. Then me, as a City Year, would have to step in and take over or subs would come in and take over. But when there’s not a constant, qualified adult presence in the classroom, students will not learn and they will not make meaningful relationships with staff and be able to foster the learning that needs to happen. Students can’t drink clean water. In a lot of our Providence Public Schools they’ll tell you, “Don’t use that fountain!” And that’s their only source of drinking for the day besides lunch. A lot of their basic needs aren’t being met in the school building. So just making our schools healthy is a start.

Uprise RI: The General Assembly passed a whole bunch of legislation last session around affordable housing, yet legislators even by their own admission know it’s not enough and not going to have an immediate effect. So tell me, what does affordable housing look like in your mind?

Robin Xiong: That’s another thing that people in this district care about. Obviously, the East Side’s expensive as it is, but with the way the housing market’s going now, renters will soon not be able to afford living here. Affordable housing means that we need to focus on actual affordable housing and not more luxury developments. It means making sure there’s a 4% rent increase cap…

It means protecting our tenants. I know a lot of times I talk to tenants in an apartment building or complex they give me a list of their grievances – things that don’t get fixed and issues that don’t get attended to. Meanwhile, rent is increasing. We need to make sure we take care of the people who are living in these homes and apartment buildings.

Joe Markus (Campaign Manager): I’ll just add that something central to our campaign is breaking the perceived divide between protecting tenants and building new housing. A lot of people think that you can’t do both at once. What we’re trying to do is prove that actually you can. We want to, as Robin said, cap annual rent increases at 4%, make sure that tenants are protected from retaliation and mistreatment from absentee landlords and that sort of thing, but also build 10,000 new green affordable homes to close Rhode Island’s affordable housing deficit.

Uprise RI: That’s in the Green New Deal. Can you tell me more about that? Especially as someone doing a Masters in Energy and Climate Policy.

Robin Xiong: I wholeheartedly favor the Green New Deal. A lot of sources will tell you that we are beyond the point of net zero, that that should have happened years ago. But no time is better than now to start enacting those changes, transitioning off fossil fuels by 2028.

Shutting down fossil fuels in the Port of Providence is huge too. Also, affordable green housing. That’s a big part of it as well because housing is a huge part of our emissions. Walkable cities. Less cars. People centered urban design – because we deserve nice, beautiful green spaces and access to that in our cities. That has huge benefits for mental health as well as regulating temperatures within the city.

Uprise RI: More trees. I’m into that. So the last Senate election in District 3 was a special election and Sam Zurier won. There were two progressives in the race, Bret Jacob and Geena Pham. A lot of people feel that the progressives split the vote between them and gave Senator Zurier the opening he needed to win. What are your thoughts about that, and about being the only progressive in the race this time around?

Robin Xiong: One reason I was embolden to run is knowing that this district is one of the most progressive in the state. People are asking for more and they care about their communities. Talking to my neighbors, I get a deep sense that people are conscious of the things that are wrong with our city. They want education for everybody, housing for everybody, and I think they deserve someone who would challenge Senate leadership on those things.

Uprise RI: Can we talk about criminal justice? One of the bills your opponent introduced (but didn’t pass) would have increased criminal penalties on people driving ATVs and unlicensed mopeds on city streets. I know the issue is one of safety, but increasing criminal penalties seems to be the opposite direction to go, especially when it comes to the over policing and over penalizing of young people of color. Of course this is all related to police reform, LEOBoR and police funding. What are your thoughts on criminal justice?

Robin Xiong: That’s a big question. It’s all racial justice. Reforming the police means that we’re reforming this huge body that disproportionately targets and marginalizes communities of color and young folks. That ATV legislation is dangerous and it’s sad to see our legislative efforts being expended on that when the best studies show that the safest communities are those with the most resources, where people have access to good paying jobs, have stable housing, and community resources for families and for youth. And though not strictly related, repealing the Law Enforcement Officer’s Bill of Rights is important.

It’s important to hold people who are supposed to be enforcing the law to the same standards of any citizen, because otherwise they can just go unchecked. The East Side is proof. There’s a very minimal police presence here and I’d say people feel safe.

Uprise RI: And illegal drug use is about the same here as anywhere.

Robin Xiong: That just speaks to the difference in how certain neighborhoods are policed.

Joe Markus: I think that Robin’s experience with restorative justice will allow her to guide the policy away from thinking away from punitive measures such as throwing a kid in jail for for driving an ATV.

Uprise RI: What other issues are you thinking about?

Robin Xiong: There’s so much to care about right now, especially when our world is literally on fire. But from a basic perspective, if we don’t have healthy people, we can’t have healthy communities. If we can’t have healthy communities, we can’t have a healthy democracy.

Uprise RI: Talk a little bit about healthcare. What does that look like?

Robin Xiong: I think that everyone should have equal access to healthcare – including reproductive healthcare. Not doing so furthers the divide on providing a basic human right to everybody. At the most basic level, everyone deserves to be taken care of, to be able to seek preventative healthcare, and seek elective procedures to keep themselves, and their communities, healthy. Too often it’s tied to employment or limited when you have state provided insurance. We need to pass the EACA. [Equality in Abortion Coverage Act]

Uprise RI: I think if the Supreme Court had issued their ruling a day or two earlier, before the General Assembly concluded their session, advocates would have made their case and the EACA would have passed.

Robin Xiong: Senator Zurrier could have made that case.

Uprise RI: I think he supports the EACA, but he didn’t go to bat for it hard.*

Joe Markus: People think it’s dramatic, but how many people on Medicaid might need an abortion between now and when this bill passes next session?

Uprise RI: More than 77,000 Rhode Islanders lack abortion coverage in their insurance because of the bans in state health insurance plans and Medicare, so certainly there’s a percentage of them who will be affected in the next six months.

Uprise RI: Last question: If you’re at the door and you have to make your case to a voter in 30 seconds, what would you say?

Robin Xiong: What I say is that I care very deeply about this community. It’s my home. I’ve had to fight to find that notion of home because a lot of people would look at me and ask, “Where are you from?” They don’t assume that I’m an American. So I fought very fiercely to find that place and it’s here. When you care about home, you do anything within your power to make it a better place. I think about my students. I think about my little brothers. I think about all the young folks who have a lesser chance of living fulfilling, healthy lives because of the position that older generations have put them in in terms of the environment, education, and the standard of living.

Was that 30 seconds?

Uprise RI: Close enough! Thank you for doing the first interview of your political career with Uprise RI.

*Senator Zurier issued the following about the EACA an email to constituents shortly after session ended: “…Had the General Assembly not adjourned, the Court’s decision might have spurred it into action. After the Dobbs decision came out, the pro-choice community advocated for the General Assembly to return in special session to review and pass the EACA. Special sessions to consider a single bill are rare; however.. The best chance for Senate consideration may arise in the fall, when the Senate is expected to return to session to review judicial appointments. With that said, I would be surprised if the Senate took the first step on this initiative, and I believe the better hope is that the House of Representatives brings up the matter soon, creating momentum that will carry it over to and through the Rhode Island Senate.”