In Atlanta speech, President Biden calls for an end to anti-Asian attacks and says that Georgia 'made it possible to pass the American Rescue Plan'
- President Biden and Vice President Harris spoke at Emory University in Atlanta on Friday.
- The two spoke about Tuesday's shootings and addressed the rise in Anti-Asian hate crimes.
- Biden said that, Georgia and its voters, 'made it possible to pass the American Rescue Plan."
In heartfelt speeches on Friday, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris addressed Tuesday's shootings at Atlanta-area Asian-owned spas, honoring the victims and calling for an end to attacks against Asian Americans.
Biden and Harris met with AAPI leaders in Georgia prior to the speech, on a day that was originally scheduled to be a thank you rally for their supporters and a celebration of the passage of the COVID-19 relief bill, the American Rescue Plan.
"Too many Asian Americans are walking down the street and worrying," Biden said, with he and Harris addressing the 3,800 incidents of hate reported by Stop AAPI hate in the wake of the pandemic.
Biden spoke about the "public health crisis of gun violence," in relation to Tuesday's attacks, where a gunman targeted three Asian-owned spas, killing eight and wounding one.
The President also focused largely on the American Rescue Act and singled out Georgia voters and the fight for voting rights in the state. He thanked the voters and Georgia's newest senators, Sens. Raphael Warnock and John Ossoff, saying that because Warnock and Ossoff were elected, "you made it possible to pass the American Rescue Plan."
"If anyone ever wondered if voting can change a country, Georgia just proved it can," Biden said, adding that 88% of adults in Georgia would benefit from stimulus checks.
"The best thing we can do to fight against this virus is setting aside politics and embracing science. The right to vote is fundamental, and record turnout in the midst of a pandemic should be something to celebrate not attack," Biden remarked.
Adding that the administration met its goal of administering 100 million COVID-19 vaccines in sixty days, forty days ahead of schedule, Biden added that, "Now is the time for optimism, but not a time for relaxation."