US Congress is told Atlanta shootings were culmination of rising rhetoric and violence against Asian-Americans
- Asian-American congresswomen say the killings ‘are the aftermath of one year of hateful attacks’
- A Texas Republican who objects on free-speech grounds is ‘putting a bull’s-eye on the back of Asian-Americans’, Representative Grace Meng says tearfully
In a hearing that at times turned emotional and confrontational, Asian-American congresswomen told their colleagues on Thursday that the killings Tuesday in Georgia of eight people, six of them Asian women, were a culmination of rising hostility and violence targeting Asian-Americans across the country – fuelled by rhetoric from the nation’s highest office.
The gunman’s “targets were no accident”, said Representative Judy Chu, the California Democrat who leads the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus. “And what we know is that this day was coming.”
“The most recent round of anti-Asian attacks are the aftermath of one year of hateful attacks and four years of ugly comments about immigrants and people of colour,” she added, a reference to the presidency of Donald Trump.
The attacks have shaken the nation. Also on Thursday, the White House scrapped plans for US President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris to hold a political event in Georgia about the economic recovery. Instead, the two scheduled a meeting on Friday with Asian-American leaders in Atlanta to discuss “the ongoing threats against the community,” the White House said.