White House holds a roundtable on the rise of #AAPIHate

Hundreds attended a recent rally in New York City.

What a difference a few months can make. In December 2020 all we were hearing about were the racially offensive terms for the coronavirus from the Trump White House. On March 4, 2021 we have the Biden White House actually "listening" about the rapid surge of hate directed at Asian Americans.

On Thursday (March 4), Domestic Policy Advisor Susan Rice, White House Public Engagement Director Cedric Richmond, Acting Director of the White House Initiative on AAPIs Laura Shin, and Domestic Policy Advisor to the Vice President Rohini Kosoglu hosted a virtual roundtable listening session with Asian American and Pacific Islander advocates and community leaders from across the country to discuss the increasing rates of anti-Asian harassment and violence. 

“No one in America should fear violence because of who they are, what they look like or what part of the world they or their families came from,” said Acting Deputy Attorney General John Carlin. “The Department of Justice and our component agencies are committed to bringing all of our tools to bear in supporting AAPI communities as we address the horrific rise in hate and bias incidents occurring across the country.”

The roundtable comes amid an alarming spike in hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, a rise that was exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, which originated in China

Participants shared their perspectives on the climate of fear that Asian American communities are facing. They also shared the important work they are doing across the country, recommendations for preventing and addressing violence against Asian American communities, and highlighted the coalition building that is happening across communities.

Rice and Rep. Richmond expressed gratitude for the participants’ courageous leadership in addressing acts of violence and bias against Asian American communities. 

They reiterated President Biden’s commitment to ending anti-Asian violence and bias, and confronting the role that some federal leaders played during the COVID-19 pandemic in promoting unfounded fear and bias against Asian American communities. 

Ambassador Rice and Congressman Richmond also underscored that the President has made it the policy of his Administration to condemn and combat xenophobia against Asian Americans. 

Biden has also made the issue a priority, ordering the DOJ in January to “explore opportunities to support, consistent with applicable law, the efforts of State and local agencies, as well as AAPI communities and community-based organizations, to prevent discrimination, bullying, harassment, and hate crimes against AAPI individuals.”

Cynthia Choi of Chinese for Affirmative Action used data from #StopAAPIHate to show that in the year since the pandemic has gripped the nation, almost 3,000 incidents of verbal and physical attacks, harassment and bullying have occurred against Asian Americans.

In his Presidential Memorandum Condemning and Combating Racism, Xenophobia, and Intolerance Against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States, Biden charged the DOJ with partnering with Asian American communities to prevent and better collect data on hate crimes against Asian American communities. The President also directed Federal agencies to ensure their official actions mitigate anti-Asian bias.

Among other things, the DOJ plans to make clear that this issue is among the department's highest priority, engage in increased outreach, and dedicate resources to combat the threat. 

DOJ is taking a fresh look at ways of reinvigorating the Department’s Hate Crimes Enforcement and Prevention Initiative, to identify how we can best expand data collection and reporting regarding hate incidents against AAPI persons. On that front, the DOJ plans to:

• Launch a new community outreach and engagement program designed to improve identifying, reporting, and preventing hate crimes and build trust with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement;
• Translate the DOJ hate crimes resources website and complaint portal to the 4 most common AAPI languages, beginning with Chinese (Traditional and Simplified) and conduct outreach to reach those limited English proficient communities;
• Work with state victims’ programs to help them address hate crimes;
• Establish a new grant program to help states, localities, and tribal law enforcement agencies to conduct educational outreach and training on hate crimes and to investigate and prosecute hate crimes;
• Launch a new Hate Crimes program under the Matthew Shepard/James Byrd Hate Crimes Program to support funds and training and technical assistance to support outreach, education, reporting, investigation and prosecution of hate crimes; and
• Review how the department collects and uses hate crime data and statistics.

The U.S. Department of Justice's John Carlin took part in the White House roundtable.

“I want to be clear here: No one in America should fear violence because of who they are, or what they believe,” said the DOJ's Carlin.

“We will not tolerate any form of domestic terrorism or hate-based violent extremism, and we are committed to putting a stop to it.”

Organizations that took part on the March 4 White House roundtable, included:

• Asian Americans Advancing Justice: John Yang
• Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus: Aarti Kohli
• Asian Pacific Islander American Health Forum: Juliet Choi
• Asian American Federation: Jo-Ann Yoo
• Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Organizations: Jeff Caballero
• Asian American Journalists Association: Naomi Tacuyan Underwood
• AAPI Civic Engagement Fund: EunSook Lee
• Chinese for Affirmative Action: Cynthia Choi
• Coalition of Asian American Leaders: Bo Thao-Urabe
• Empowering Pacific Islander Communities: Tavae Samuelu
• National Asian Pacific American Bar Association: Priya Purandare
• National Council on Asian Pacific Americans: Gregg Orton
• OCA – Asian Pacific American Advocates: Thu Nguyen
• Sikh American Legal Defense & Educational Fund: Kiran Gill
• South Asian Americans Leading Together: Mahnoor Hussain
• Southeast Asian Research Action Center: Quyen Dinh