Biden to make a statement against anti-Asian bias, xenophobia

UPDATED Jan. 26, 20:30 a.m. to reflect this morning's press briefing confirming the President's executive orders.

The growing problem of anti-Asian bias and hate crimes  against Asian Americans is going to be addressed Tuesday, Jan. 26, by President Joe Biden.

"America has never lived up to its founding promise of equality for all, but we've never stopped trying. Today, I'll take action to advance racial equity and push us closer to that more perfect union we've always strived to be," the President tweeted Tuesday morning.

Biden will sign an executive order that aims to counter the rise in hate crimes, U.S. and China and the anti-Asian rhetoric used by the Donald Trump administration that is occurring in a unsettled social environment of emboldened white supremacists.

Biden will sign the executive order Tuesday afternoon, dubbed Equity Day, according to the South China Morning News in a story picked up by U.S. news outlets late Monday.

At this morning's press briefing, White House domestic policy adviser Susan Rice  confirmed the Presidential memos that Biden will sign later in the day will center around racial justice and equity.

The President's memo will combat xenophobia against Asian American and Pacific Islanders. 

The memo directs the Department of Health and Human Services, in coordination with the Biden COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force, to consider issuing guidance describing best practices to advance cultural competency, language access, and sensitivity towards AAPIs in the federal government’s COVID-19 response. 

It also directs the Department of Justice to partner with AAPI communities to prevent hate crimes and harassment against AAPIs.

It is also reported by the South China Morning News that he will also use the occasion to end the Department of Justice's China Initiative that targeted Chinese researchers, students and scientists who were allegedly stealing intellectual property for China.

“The community is reacting to the immediate threat before them. They feel besieged because of the mass investigations … Trump’s rhetoric and the spike in hate crimes,” sthe SCMN quoted Aryani Ong, an Asian American rights activist and former civil rights lawyer. “This organizing represents an effort to stand up and announce that Asian Americans belong in the U.S. and deserve to have their rights protected.”

Chinese American organizations have been campaigning against the initiative, which they claim encourages racial profiling, sweeping up innocent people because of their Chinese ancestry, a spike of hate confirmed by the FBI.

Although the initiative has resulted in some arrests and prison time for those found guilty, the work has also swept up some Chinese Americans who were innocent of the allegations but lost their jobs, studies ended or had their reputation ruined because of the perceived connection with Chinese efforts to secure U.S. technology and research.

Since the coronavirus hit the U.S. shores, Trump began referring to he virus as the "China Virus," the "Wuhan Flu" or "Kung Flu" and the incidents of hate have increased dramatically.

The use of the racist phrases "China by top administration officials, led by Trump, has coincided with a surge in discrimination against Asian-Americans, according to a new study.

According to community groups that have been collecting data, since the pandemic began, there have been about 3,000 reports of hate incidents against Asian Americans.

One study by University of California professors, as well as the Tulane School of Medicine, found that years of hate incidents of against Asian Americans were trending downward until this past year.

It also found that bias toward Asian Americans "declined steadily from 2007 through early 2020 but reversed trend and began to increase on March 8, following the increase in stigmatizing language in conservative media outlets," according to the study's abstract.

The executive order will address equity in providing the COVID-19 vaccines to those communities of color, the most reluctant to receive the immunization shots, housing according to CBS. Biden will also suggest changes in terminology that may be outdated, derisive or inaccurate -- such as "model minority" or "illegal alins."

 "The idea that the president of the United States is not going to be hostile and not be a super spreader of hate is incredible," Cynthia Choi, an executive director of the group Stop AAPI Hate, told CBS News. "I hope this order reverses the damage caused under the Trump administration, which used federal dollars and resources to create a hostile climate and led to backlash directed toward our community."

WATCH FOR IT: Views From the Edge will write a separate story about the President's actions this afternoon.