May 23, 2022
Stop AAPI Hate — one of the nation’s leading coalitions documenting and addressing anti-AAPI hate and discrimination — released the following statement in response to the Justice Department’s report Raising Awareness of Hate Crimes and Hate Incidents During the COVID-19 Pandemic, which contains guidelines on combatting hate crimes and hate incidents across the country.
The report and guidelines, released Friday, came days after 10 African Americans were killed because of their race in a supermarket in a predominantly Black neighborhood in Buffalo, after three Korean American women were shot in Dallas at a nail salon, and one person was killed and four others were shot at a Taiwanese church in Laguna Woods.
The following statement can be attributed to Manjusha Kulkarni, one of the co-founders of the Stop AAPI Hate coalition.
“The past weeks have been heartbreaking and devastating. The shooting in Buffalo is one of the worst hate crimes in recent history, and the shootings in Dallas and Laguna Woods are only the most recent in a horrifying epidemic of attacks on AAPI communities.
There is no question that the federal government must step up to take responsibility as communities of color are angry, fearful and in mourning.
These new guidelines focus on hate crimes and hate incidents directed at AAPI communities. We recognize and appreciate that the Justice Department actively sought and accepted feedback from community-based organizations in crafting a more inclusive and comprehensive approach to combating hate. As a result, the new guidance from the Justice Department supports investment in community-based organizations, prioritizes language access and cultural competence, and promotes public health, allyship and public education.
We further recognize that we cannot address anti-AAPI racism without addressing anti-Black racism, xenophobia and white supremacy. The safety of communities of color is interconnected.
Therefore, we urge the Justice Department to look beyond law enforcement approaches given the long history of police violence against Black communities, racism in the ranks, and connections to white nationalism.
We look forward to working closely with the Biden administration to take federal action that addresses the root causes of systemic racism and oppression.”