Chinanews.com, September 23. According to the US Chinese website, two Asian congressmen in the United States sent a letter to the Justice Department a few days ago, asking them to provide an update on the "New Coronavirus Hate Crimes Act" signed four months ago, and to hate There is another surge in crime expressing concern.
Data map: On April 4th, local time, an anti-hate Asian parade was held in New York. After tens of thousands of people gathered at Foley Square in Manhattan holding slogans, they paraded across the Brooklyn Bridge to Cadman Square in Brooklyn.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Liao Pan
Senator Yoshiko Hirono of the Democratic Congress of Hawaii and Rep. Zhaowen Meng of the Democratic Congress of New York sent a letter to Attorney General Garland on the 20th, urging him to implement key provisions that are "critical to the effectiveness of the law."
The letter mentioned the increase in violence faced by older Asians and the shooting at an Atlanta massage parlour.
A recent report from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) showed that the number of hate crimes in the United States in 2020 hit a new high in the past decade.
The letter read: "While continuing to implement the '2019 New Coronavirus Hate Crimes Act' and working to reduce the violence caused by xenophobia and hatred in our country, we hope that you will pay attention to these issues and update the progress regularly."
A spokesperson for the US Department of Justice confirmed receipt of this letter.
Keiko Hirono and Zhaowen Meng jointly drafted the "New Crown Hate Crimes Act", which was later signed into law by U.S. President Biden.
This law instructs the Ministry of Justice to expedite the review of hate crimes related to the epidemic, establish an online database of such incidents, and seek to provide more support to local law enforcement agencies in combating hate crimes.
Although the two lawmakers praised Garland’s efforts to combat hate crimes in their letter, they also requested the Ministry of Justice to further study the establishment of an online reporting mechanism for hate crimes and discrimination incidents.
The letter quoted a recent analysis by Stop AAPI Hate, which showed that in about 15 months after the outbreak, more than 9,000 incidents of prejudice were reported by Asian Americans, and verbal harassment accounted for nearly one-third of the total number of reported incidents. Second, avoidance incidents accounted for nearly 17% of the total.
Hirono Keiko and Meng Zhaowen said that although not all discriminatory acts are equivalent to hate crimes, "the motives of these acts are the same-fear and xenophobia."
The letter wrote: "To effectively address the root causes of this prejudice and hostility, we need to have a clear and comprehensive understanding of the scope of this problem. It is not enough to have data on hate crimes."
At the end of the letter, the two Asian parliamentarians expressed their concern about another surge in hate crimes. They pointed out that as the epidemic continues, frustration with the new crown "will undoubtedly reappear."