China News Service, September 23. According to a comprehensive report from the US Chinese website, this week, two Asian American congressmen sent a letter to the Justice Department requesting an update on the "New Coronavirus Hate Crimes Act" signed four months ago.

　　Senator Keiko 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 Monday (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 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 violence caused by xenophobia and hatred in the United States, we hope that you will pay attention to these issues and update the progress regularly."

　　A spokesperson for the Ministry 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 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, Asian Americans self-reported more than 9,000 incidents of prejudice, and verbal harassment accounted for the total number of reported incidents. Nearly two-thirds, and 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 read: "To effectively address the root causes of this prejudice and hostility, we need to have a clear and comprehensive understanding of the scope of the problem. It is not enough to have data on hate crimes."

　　The letter also called for expanding the scope of public education activities aimed at raising awareness of hate crimes and using multiple languages ​​to encourage victims to stand up.

　　At the same time, Keiko Hirono and Zhaowen Meng also called for the new crown hate crime law to apply to all hate crimes that occurred during the new crown pneumonia epidemic.

　　At the end of the letter, the two Asian parliamentarians expressed their concern about the renewed surge in hate crimes. They pointed out that as the epidemic continues, frustration with the new crown pneumonia epidemic "will undoubtedly reappear."

　　The letter read: "We are worried that this may have an impact on the persistence of hate violence that people experience. The full implementation of the '2019 New Coronavirus Hate Crimes Act' will help curb the wave of further violence."