Biden signs a bill to curb the recent rise in anti-Asian hate crimes, calling hate in the US an 'ugly poison'
- Biden signed a bill into law that addresses the spike in anti-Asian hate crimes over the past year.
- "Hate can be given no safe harbor in America," he said Thursday.
- The House passed the bill earlier this week. The Senate passed it last month.
President Joe Biden on Thursday signed a bill into law that would address the rise in violence and discrimination against Asian American and Pacific Islander communities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Biden celebrated the legislation, saying "there are simple core values and beliefs that should bring us together as Americans" and "one of them is standing together against hate, against racism - the ugly poison that has long haunted and plagued our nation."
The bill, called the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, directs the Department of Justice to expedite the review of coronavirus-related hate crimes, provide guidance to state and local governments to improve public reporting on hate crimes, and raise awareness about hate crimes during the public-health crisis.
The president discussed how over the past year - coinciding with the spread of coronavirus across the country - Asian Americans have been "brutally attacked, simply by walking outside or waiting for a bus."
"Silence is complicity, and we cannot be complicit," Biden said. "We have to speak out. We have to act. I'm proud today of the United States."
The federal government has faced pressure to respond to the spike in anti-Asian hate crimes during the pandemic. The nonprofit group Stop AAPI Hate has recorded 6,603 incidents of physical assault, shunning, verbal and online harassment, and civil-rights violations against AAPI communities in the US from March 2020 to March 2021.
The issue sparked national outrage in March after a mass shooting at three massage parlors in Atlanta killed eight people, including six women of Asian descent. Democratic Rep. Grace Meng of New York and Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii introduced the legislation that month.
The House passed the legislation on Tuesday, with 364 supporting the bill and 62 House Republicans opposing it. The Senate overwhelmingly approved the bill last month. Only one member, GOP Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, voted "no," arguing the bill was "too broad."
"Of all the good that the law can do, we have to change our hearts. We have to change the hearts of the American people," Biden said. "Hate can - I mean this from the bottom of my heart - hate can be given no safe harbor in America. I mean it. It can't be dismissed."