Melissa Min (L) attends a vigil with her son James in solidarity with the Asian-American community after increased attacks on the community since the start of the coronavirus pandemic a year ago, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, March 17, 2021.
Rachel Wisniewski | Reuters
President Joe Biden urged Congress on Friday to pass “swiftly” hate crime legislation to address the increase in discrimination and violence against Asian Americans during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Covid-19 Hate Crimes Act aims to increase the Justice Department’s oversight of coronavirus-related hate crimes, provide support to state and local law enforcement agencies, and make hate crime information more accessible to Asian-American communities.
The move comes days after a shooting in Georgia that killed eight people, including six Asian women. President and Vice President Kamala Harris will meet with Asian American leaders in Atlanta on Friday.
“While we don’t yet know the motive, as I said last week, we condemn in the strongest possible terms the ongoing crisis of gender-based and anti-Asian violence that has long plagued our nation,” Biden said in a statement.
The approval also comes a day after a congressional hearing on violence against Asian Americans, the first in 34 years.
Biden and several lawmakers and activists at Thursday’s panel urged Congress to pass hate crime legislation passed earlier this month by Rep. Grace Meng, DN.Y. and Senator Mazie K. Hirono, D-Hawaii, was introduced.
Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, is seen at the Senate Committee confirmation hearing for Merrick Garland, nominated to be Attorney General, on Monday, February 22, 2021.
Tom Williams | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
A study by the advocacy group Stop AAPI Hate released Tuesday recorded 3,795 reports of hate speech incidents against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders between March 19, 2020 and February 28, 2021.
The incidents included verbal insults, physical assaults, workplace discrimination and online harassment, among other forms of prejudice. Many of the incidents have been reported retroactively from 2020.
The group emphasizes that the number represents only a fraction of the number of incidents of hate speech that Asian Americans have experienced across the country.
Some political leaders and advocates noted during the congressional hearing that hate crime laws do not necessarily address all forms of hatred experienced by Asian Americans.
Speaking at a press conference in Atlanta on Thursday morning, Georgia state representative Bee Nguyen said, “Hate crime laws are not preventive. They are being used as a tool for prosecution in the aftermath.”
To prosecute hate crimes, the police must prove that incidents are racially motivated.
“While many of the recent anti-Asian incidents may not meet the legal definition of a hate crime, these attacks nonetheless create an unacceptable environment of fear and terror in Asian-American communities,” said Representative Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., During the conference. House panel.