On Tuesday afternoon, the House passed the anti-Asian hate crimes bill to counter the surge of violent acts against Asians, with a bipartisan vote of 364-62. The bill now goes to President Joe Biden's desk, where he is scheduled to sign it by the end of the week after the Senate passed it last month with just one downvote from Republican Sen. Josh Hawley.
Anti-Asian hate crimes bill speeds up the investigation
The bill does more than only combat anti-Asian racism; it also orders the Departments of Justice (DOJ) and Health and Human Services to provide new recommendations on increasing violence against Asians due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The bill speeds up the Department into Justice's investigation of anti-Asian hate crimes. It also appoints an individual to be in charge of the operation, as per Daily Mail.
On the sixth day of his administration, Biden signed an executive order titled "Memorandum Condemning and Combating Racism, Xenophobia, and Intolerance Against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States," just days after his inauguration. Attorney General Merrick Garland ordered a review of how the DOJ would better use its resources to fight hate crimes against Asian-Americans in late March.
Around the same time, the Biden administration announced that $49.5 million from COVID-19 relief funds would support victims through community services.
Last month, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga raised the rise in hate crimes in the United States with Biden during their in-person bilateral meeting, telling reporters that he had taken it up with him.
Stop AAPI Hate, which stands for Asian-American and Pacific Islander, released a report in March stating that 3,795 cases were registered to the organization between March 19, 2020, and February 28, 2021. One source of worry is that hate crimes remain underreported. According to one bill provision, the DOJ would collaborate with local law enforcement and community groups to exchange data about hate crime reporting.
A bill was introduced to combat the surge in Asian hate crimes
Per The Hill, Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Rep. Grace Meng (D-New York) introduced a bill that would create a position at the Justice Department to expedite a review of COVID-19-related hate crimes, provide grants to states to provide hotlines for reporting hate crimes, and law enforcement training on how to prevent and identify hate crimes. The bill's passage came less than two months after a gunman opened fire in three Asian-owned spas in Atlanta, killing eight people, six of whom were Asian women. The House also intends to pass a special resolution condemning the March 16 massacre in Georgia.
Authorities said the 21-year-old man accused of the killings was a frequent visitor to at least two spas, while other assaults were spontaneous. Many of those committing these offenses in New York, according to investigators, has a history of mental illness.
Stories of hate crimes targeting Asian Americans have risen dramatically in the last year. "After a year in which we've had 6,600 recorded anti-Asian hate crimes and incidents. And after a year of the Asian American community crying out for support, today, Congress is taking historic action to pass long-overdue hate crimes law," said Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, USA Today reported.
Despite increased mainstream attention and political action against anti-Asian hate, violence against Asian American and Pacific Islander groups has increased. As COVID-19 spread, an increase in anti-Asian aggression was first recorded in March 2020.
According to a report from California State University, San Bernardino's Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, there was a more than 164 percent surge in anti-Asian hate crime complaints to police in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the same period last year in 16 major cities and jurisdictions.
Related Article: Asian Hate Crime in New York: Man in Critical Condition at Hospital Following Attack
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