US President Biden signs hate crimes law to help protect Asian Americans

After multiple incidents of violence against Asian Americans in the US, President Joe Biden has recently signed a hate crime law. As violence against Asians in America has been on the rise since the Covid-19 pandemic, Biden told Asian American politicians and senior members of Congress that racism has long been toxic.

He says the Asian American community has been made a scapegoat against the backdrop of growing Anti-Chinese sentiment.

“…..an ugly poison that has long plagued our nation.”

“Too many Asian Americans have been waking up this past year genuinely fearing for their safety, just opening their door and walking down the street.”

Activist group Stop AAPI Hate, says there have been 6,603 hate incidents since March 2020, but many more have gone unreported. Unlike his predecessor, former US President Donald Trump, would often refer to the Covid virus as the “China virus” or “Kung flu” which was quickly adopted into the right-wing vocabulary. Biden, however, did not mention the previous president’s racial references to the virus when he signed the law.

Instead, a rare bipartisan support was seen in Congress over the law, which improves access for reporting such crimes and streamlines the procedures for authorities when responding to such crimes.

“I mean this from the bottom of my heart: hate can be given no safe harbor in America. Silence is complicity. We cannot be complicit.”

The US artist behind a portrait of an elderly Thai man who died after a brutal attack outside his San Francisco home, voiced his disgust and sadness at the rise in anti-Asian sentiment in the US. Los Angeles artist Jonathan D. Chang drew the portrait of 84 year old Vicha Ratanapakdee and posted it on Instagram as a tribute to the murder victim.

“My condolences to the family of Vicha Ratanapakdee. I hope justice will be served.”

SOURCE: The Phuket News