Anti-Asian Hate Crime Bill signed into law

SCREEN CAPTURE

President Biden signs the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act.

President Biden signed the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act into law on Thursday, fulfilling a pledge he made when the bill was first introduced in Congress during the early stages of his administration.

"I believe with every fiber of my being that there are simple core values and beliefs that should bring us together as Americans. One of them is standing together against hate, against racism — the ugly poison that has long haunted and plagued our nation," said Biden before the signing.

Stop AAPI Hate, a community-based organization, began collecting incidents of hate in March 2020 when the nation began implementing safety measures. In the year ending March 2021, the agency documented 6,603 hate incidents against AAPI.

The law will, among other initiatives, direct the Justice Department to more speedily review pandemic-related hate crimes and expand data collection resources for tracking such crimes.

The new law would also direct the departments of Justice and Health and Human Services to work with community-based organizations to issue guidance raising awareness of hate crimes during the pandemic, and would require the US Attorney General to issue guidance to work with state and local law enforcement agencies to establish online reporting of them.


Democrats and AAPI partially attribute the rise in hate acts to Donald Trump,   when talking about the coronavirus, used terms such as the "China virus," "Wuhan Flu" or "Kung Flu" and blaming China for the United State's economic woes.

The bill, known in the AAPI community as the Anti-Asian Hate Crimes Bill, was authored by Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-HI, and Rep. Grace Meng, D-NY, in response to the surge of racist hate attacks against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

In a rare display of bipartisanship, the House of Representatives on Tuesday gave final passage to the bill with a 364-62 vote after the Senate passed the bill last month, 94-1.

“This violence, it did not come from nowhere and none of it is new,” said Vice President Kamala Harris, who introduced Biden.

“But after the president signs this bill today, we will not be done. Here’s the truth. Racism exists in America, xenophobia exists in America, antisemitism, Islamaphobia, homophobia, transphobia, it all exists. And so the work to address injustice wherever it exists remains the work ahead,” she added.

Stop AAPI Hate praised the new law but wants fine-tuning to divert more funding for community groups addressing root causes of the hate, such as "systemic racism and oppression."

"We are encouraged that the federal government has listened to the advice of community-based organizations and has committed to partnering with them further. To see additional change, we need legislation that addresses the root causes of systemic racism and oppression.

“Of all the good that the law can do, we have to change our hearts,” Biden said in his emotional speech. “We have to change the hearts of the American people. I mean this from the bottom of my heart. Hate can be given no safe harbor in America.”

With a rising voice, Biden continued, "Every time we’re silent, every time we let hate flourish, you make a lie of who we are as a nation."