Civil Rights Commission issues report on federal reponse to anti-Asian racism

Law enforcement agencies across the United States need to be more vigorous in investigating alleged hate attacks against Asian Americans, says a new report.

The United States Commission on Civil Rights released the report Tuesday, "The Federal Response to Anti-Asian Racism in the United States." Based on extensive research, expert and public testimony, the report assesses the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes in the US from 2019 through 2021, and the federal role in preventing and enforcing federal hate crime laws.

“The report indicates that language barriers are impeding the reporting of incidents and that many incidents that do not meet the legal criteria for hate crimes, such as racial slurs or being spat on, still evoke fear but go unaccounted for in official statistics. said Commission Chair, Rochelle Mercedes Garza.

This report examines three main areas: 1) national trends and data regarding the rise of hate incidents and hate crimes against members of Asian communities; 2) local and state law enforcement’s prevention and reporting practices regarding hate crimes; and 3) federal efforts and policies that encourage greater participation in reporting hate crime incidents, as well as prosecution and enforcement efforts to prevent hate crimes.

“Ultimately, the absence of adequate performance metrics poses a significant challenge in assessing the federal government's effectiveness in combating the surge in hate crimes against the Asian community," said Garza. 

"While these barriers continue to exist, the Commission has outlined holistic strategy to combat anti-Asian hate incidents, ranging from data collection improvements and legal enforcement to community support and education initiatives.”

While anti-Asian sentiment is part of US history, the bias encouraged a rise in attacks against all Asians during the Donald Trump administration when through the use of racist slurs and innuendoes, Trump linked the COVID-10 virus to China and by inference, Chinese people. That surge of anti-Asian hate continues to this day.

Key findings in the report show that more comprehensive and national data is necessary to fully understand the extent of the harm that is being felt by Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) communities.

The report found:

● A major impediment to understanding the severity and magnitude of hate crimes against persons of Asian descent is the lack of comprehensive data. 

● The transition to the NIBRS data collection has been slow for some agencies: for 2021, the number of participating agencies within the FBI hate crime database was 11,834, compared to the 15,138 participating agencies for 2020 data, and many of the agencies that have not submitted 2021 data are the largest jurisdictions. 

A major impediment to understanding the severity and magnitude of hate crimes against persons of Asian descent is the lack of comprehensive data, states the report. "Without mandatory national data collection and training law enforcement on how to accurately identify and report hate crimes, preventing these crimes is substantially challenging."

As a result, the report concludes, hate crime victims are less likely to report incidents due to fear of retaliation, concerns that justice would not be served, and distrust in the criminal justice system.

Another major barrier to gaining a comprehensive understanding of the magnitude of hate violence against Asian communities may be due to incidents not rising to the legal benchmark of a hate crime. Many incidents that are reported to community organizations, such as being spit on or called racial slurs are not accounted for in official numbers, yet still invoke fear in community members

In addition, the report finds that federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies and victim services must identify deficiencies in and bolster their Limited English Proficient (LEP) programs to ensure all community members are reached.

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Rep. Grace Meng, left, gets a briefing on the report from Civil Rights Chair Commission Chair
 Rochelle Mercedes Garza.

Among the eight members of the Commission is Queens resident Glenn Magpanta, the only Asian American on the panel. Magpantay was recommended and sworn in this past February and Rep. Grace Meng, D-NY, and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, D-NY.

“As the only Asian American Pacific Islander currently serving on the Commission, this report has a deep personal connection to me,” said Filipino American Magpantay. “I am the survivor of a hate crime for being gay from 25 years ago and the victim of a hate crime for being Asian from 25 months ago.

Rep. Judy Chu, chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, welcomed the report but acknowledged that more needs to be done to address the continuing attacks against Asian Americans.

"While there have been comprehensive efforts to address the alarming increase in anti-Asian hate crimes since the coronavirus pandemic began, like the enactment of the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, the findings in this report show that more must be done to ensure this law is fully implemented and the civil rights of AANHPIs are fully protected."

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow me at Threads.net/eduardodiok, @DioknoEd on Twitter or at the  blog Views From the Edge.

Civil Rights Commission backs senators asking for more gov't action vs. anti-AAPI acts

ASAM NEWS

The US Commission on Civil Rights has agreed to the demands outlined by a group of Senate Democrats advocating for more “concrete steps” in combating the surge in hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI), reports NBC .
In a letter addressed to Assistant Attorney General Eric S. Dreiband, the senators expressed their “deep concern” about the rise in discrimination directed against AAPIs and urged the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to take more active measures in responding to the rise in racism and xenophobia.

The senators called upon the Civil Rights Division to implement the measures.

In response, the commission reportedly voted unanimously to address the spike in anti-Asian racism amid the pandemic and issue protocol to federal agencies in how to prevent it.

These measures include requiring federal civil rights offices to secure rights within their jurisdiction as well as demanding federal officials to demonstrate the protection of all communities regardless of race or national origin. The commission also emphasized that federal agencies improve civil rights performance by “disaggregating data and improving data collection, prioritizing civil rights in highest level agency strategic planning, and increasing necessary staffing,” according to NBC.

“In this instance, this type of engagement might include working with Asian American organizations or organizations that provide assistance to Asian residents in our country to provide leadership and assurance that anti-Asian harassment, slurs, bullying, aggression, and violence are not to be tolerated and provide a direct line of communication for organizations to report instances of the same,” the commission document read.

According to the NBC report, prior to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights’ vote, “there had been no such coordinated effort across the federal government on combating the discrimination and attacks.”

In April, the Center for Public Integrity (CPI) similarly reported that “Neither the Justice Department nor the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have announced efforts to prevent the public targeting of Asians, which ranges from bias incidents to hate crimes.”

Amid the national surge in anti-Asian discrimination, groups like the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council, a nonprofit based in Los Angeles, have launched a reporting site on March 19 to monitor hate incidents– the group reportedly received more than 1,100 reports in just two weeks. The majority of reports involved verbal attacks, but the reports also involved cases of physical assaults, job discrimination, vandalism, and businesses denying service to Asian customers, according to Manjusha Kulkarni, the group’s executive director.

The New York City Human Rights Commission also recently launched a similar initiative by creating a team dedicated to responding to COVID-19 discrimination as reports of anti-Asian racism rise in the city, reports CNN.

Since February, the commission has received 248 reports of harassment and discrimination related to the coronavirus, more than 40 percent targeting individuals of Asian descent–a steep rise from the five anti-Asian discrimination incidents reported during the same time last year, according to the commission’s records.

“All New Yorkers are facing extraordinary levels of stress right now; discrimination and harassment should not be among them,” NYC Commission on Human Rights Commissioner Carmelyn Malalis told CNN. “Even in the midst of a pandemic, human rights cannot be violated, and we encourage anyone who has experienced Covid-19-related discrimination to report it to us.”

Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), one of the lead signatories in the original letter to the Department of Justice, expressed that the commission’s response was a “good first step” in combating anti-Asian racism.

“Federal agencies should heed the USCCR’s guidance to use all the tools at their disposal to stem the tide of discrimination against Asian Americans that President Trump and his administration have been stoking,” Hirono told NBC.

Frustrations surrounding federal responses to anti-Asian discrimination have only been exacerbated by President Trump’s and his administration’s referral to COVID-19 as the “Chinese Virus,” “Wuhan Virus,” and the “Kung Flu” as well as the treatment of Asian American journalists at White House press briefings.

Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill, another central signatory of the letter to the Department of Justice, affirmed that “The enemy in the fight against COVID-19 isn’t the Asian or Asian-American community, but rather a virus that endangers us all,” she told NBC.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. also helped spearhead the letter with Sens. Mazie Hirono, D-HI, and Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., saying in a statement to NBC that she was “glad” to see this development from the commission and that she will continue to work toward ensuring the enforcement of these measures.

“My colleagues and I will keep pushing to ensure the federal government is using all tools available to keep families safe,” Warren noted.