COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act Expected To Pass This Week, Says Schumer

QUEENS — The COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act — which was introduced by Senator Mazie Hirono and New York's 6th Congressional District representative, Congresswoman Grace Meng, to address the rise in hate crimes against AAPI’s amid the pandemic — will hopefully be passed by Congress this week, Senator Chuck Schumer said on Tuesday.

The Senate Majority Leader, who spoke at a press conference alongside House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senator Hirono, and Representatives Meng and Andrew Kim, said that the Senate will vote on the bill this week, and are expecting to hear from Republicans as early as today as to whether they’ll move forward or block the bill.

During the pandemic, racist and violent attacks on Asian communities have increased exponentially, including a 1,900% increase in New York, reported the Queens Chronicle.

“For more than a year the Asian American community has been fighting two viruses, the COVID-19 pandemic and anti-Asian hate,” said Representative Meng at the press conference, noting that the hate crimes have impacted people of all ages across the country, including in her “home district of Queens.”

In response to this increase, the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act — which was introduced just days before the racist mass shootings in Atlanta this March — would create a position at the Department of Justice that would work with local law enforcement to quickly review COVID-19-related hate crimes, and ensure that they are widely reported and prevented.

“Oftentimes we tell people to just report if something happens to them, but it’s not always so easy to do so. People might not know where the police precinct is [or] people might have language obstacles” said Representative Meng.

She noted that under the new legislation federal agencies would work with community based organizations to expand culturally competent tools for preventing and reporting hate crimes — including an online system for reporting hate crimes in multiple languages — since, as Senator Hirono pointed out, “these crimes are very much underreported.”

Representative Kim, who described the past month since the shooting in Atlanta as “one of the most difficult months of my life," implored other members of Congress to consider this bill as a deciding factor of how Asian Americans are treated in the U.S.

“I really do believe that the next few weeks will determine the next few decades of how Asian Americans are treated and understood and accepted in this country,” he said, adding “so I will do everything I can to make sure that we seize this moment and get this passed.”