By: Alfred Acenas
(EBC Hawaii-Pacific

HONOLULU (Eagle News) – A US senator from Hawaii, who co-authored the Covid-19 hate Crimes Act, has expressed optimism with a sense of urgency after the Senate passed the bill by an overwhelming 94-1 margin.

“Today’s historic, bipartisan vote on the Covid-19 Hate Crimes Act sends a powerful message of solidarity to the AAPI community — that the United States Senate rejects anti-Asian hate,” Senator Mazie Hirono said Thursday. “Now, I urge the House to swiftly pass this legislation so the bill can go to President Biden to sign into law.”

The Act is in response to the rise in hate crimes and violence against the Asian American and Pacific Islander community.

Once it is signed into law, the Department of Justice will guide state and local law enforcement agencies on how to establish online hate crime reporting processes in multiple languages. It will also advise them on how to expand education programs to help law enforcement understand and interact effectively with people from other cultures.

Additionally, the Justice Department and the Department of Health and Human Services will issue guidance on how to diminish racially discriminatory language in describing the Covid-19 pandemic.

Living in fear

“For more than a year, Asian Americans all across our nation have been screaming out for help, and in passing the legislation sponsored by Senator Hirono and I, the Senate showed that they heard our pleas,” said Congresswoman and bill co-author Grace Meng. “More reporting of hate crimes will provide us with increased data and a more accurate picture of the attacks that have been occurring against those of Asian descent, and a more centralized and unified way of reviewing these crimes would help to address the problem in a more effective manner.”

The New York congresswoman hopes the bill will take away some of the fear Asian Americans have.

“I have heard from so many Asian Americans who tell me that they are scared to walk outside.  Families won’t let their kids go to the park or play outdoors,” Meng said. People are urging their parents and grandparents to stay inside, telling them that they’ll run their errands and deliver groceries to them.”

She added everyone in the country deserves to feel safe.

“Being forced to endure this terror and fear is unconscionable and unacceptable.”

According to the Census Bureau’s 2018 Population Estimates, there are about 22.6 million Asian Americans, alone or in-combination with other races, and roughly 1.1 million Pacific Islanders living in the United States.
(Eagle News Service)