The president, Joe Biden, traveled to Georgia this Friday with the vice president, Kamala Harris, and will
meet with leaders of the Asian-American community
to convey his rejection of the attacks of those who are being victims, who have come to the fore The scene of public attention for the shooting perpetrated last Tuesday against three spas in the Atlanta metropolitan area, in which eight people died, including six women of Asian descent.
Biden on Friday lamented the racist violence against this community, which "has spread" in the United States "for a long time," and
has urged Congress to quickly pass the COVID-19 hate crimes law
, which, according to the President, seeks to accelerate the response of the federal government to the increase in racist crimes, linked to the coronavirus pandemic.
The president, Joe Biden;
and the vice president, Kamala Harris.
AP
"The law would support state and local governments to
facilitate reporting of hate crimes
and ensure that information about
hate crimes
is more accessible to Asian American communities," Biden said in a statement prior to his arrival in Atlanta.
[Attacks against older adults of Asian origin skyrocket: "Violence must stop"]
He recalled that during his first week in office, he signed a presidential memorandum to condemn and combat racism, xenophobia and intolerance against citizens of Asian origin.
In addition, he ordered the Department of Justice and the Department of Health to help lead plans to stop anti-Asian prejudice, xenophobia and harassment.
The COVID-19 hate crimes law aims to address the rise in violence against Asian Americans by increasing oversight of coronavirus-related hate crimes in the Department of Justice and providing support to the state and local law enforcement agencies.
Three shootings in metro Atlanta leave eight dead
March 17, 202100: 20
A study by advocacy group Stop AAPI Hate revealed that there are more than
3,700 reported hate incidents
against Asians between March 19, 2020 and February 28, 2021. The group emphasized that the count represents only a fraction of the number. incidents experienced by Asian Americans across the country.
[How racism and sexism towards Asian women influenced the Atlanta shootings that left eight dead, according to experts]
Racism and xenophobia against Asians has risen sharply after former President Donald Trump ignored World Health Organization recommendations to avoid terms like "Wuhan virus" or "Chinese virus."
["Religious obsession" and guilt over his sexual urges may have influenced the Atlanta killer]
On March 16, 2020, when COVID-19 began to spread around the world,
Trump tweeted the phrase: "Chinese virus
.
"
Since then, an avalanche of tweets with the
hashtag
#chinesevirus, among other anti-Asian phrases,
began on social networks
.
"The week before Trump's tweet the dominant term [on Twitter] was # COVID-19," said Yulin Hswen, a professor of epidemiology at the University of California, San Francisco.
"The week after his tweet, it was #chinesevirus," he added in a statement to The Washington Post.
Coronavirus: Trump says COVID-19 is a Chinese virus and China reacts
March 17, 202000: 38
Hswen is part of a group of researchers who
analyzed almost 700,000 tweets
containing the hashtags # covid-19 and #chinesevirus published between March 9 and 23, 2020, corresponding to the week before and after Trump's tweet.
The group's analysis found that the week after Trump first tweeted the phrase "Chinese virus," the number of users who tweeted the
hashtag
increased more than 10 times compared to before it was posted.
[Sexual violence and exploitation of immigrants: behind the crime in Atlanta spas there is more than racism and misogyny]
Most of those who tweeted the phrase used it with a
negative connotation
and were more likely to display anti-Asian hatred, according to the study.
Half of the users who tweeted the #chinesevirus
hashtag
used other
anti-Asian
hashtags
, while only 20% of those who used the # covid-19 hashtag did, according to the study.
Rep. Judy Chu, Democrat of California, chair of the Asian-American Congressional caucus, said the perpetrators of anti-Asian violence and hatred "
were stoked by the words of the former president
, who tried to deflect blame and anger from his own sloppy response to the coronavirus. "
"These words matter, especially when they came repeatedly from the White House during the previous Administration. Researchers have found that the
anti-Asian rhetoric promoted by the leaders is directly correlated with an increase in
racist
incidents
against Asians," said Erika Lee , professor of history at the University of Minnesota.
With information from CNBC and The Washington Post.
