US Senate passes hate crimes bill after attacks on Asian-Americans
- Bill passes the US Senate, with broad support from both parties, by a vote of 94 to 1
- Republican Josh Hawley was the only senator to oppose the anti-hate crimes bill
The measure would expedite the review of hate crimes at the Justice Department and provide support for local law enforcement in response to thousands of reported violent incidents in the past year. Police have seen a noted uptick in such crimes, including the February death of an 84-year-old man who was pushed to the ground near his home in San Francisco, a young family that was injured in a Texas grocery store attack last year and the killing of six Asian women in shootings last month in Atlanta.
The names of the six women killed in Georgia are listed in the bill, which passed the Senate on a 94-1 vote. Biden applauded the measure, tweeting: “Acts of hate against Asian-Americans are wrong, un-American, and must stop”. The House was expected to consider similar legislation in the coming weeks.
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New Yorkers escort elderly and form street patrols to combat anti-Asian attacks
Democratic Senator Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, the legislation’s lead sponsor, said the measure was incredibly important to Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders, “who have often felt very invisible in our country, always seen as foreign, always seen as the other”. She said the message of the legislation was as important as its content and substance.
Hirono, the first Asian-American woman elected to the Senate, said the attacks are “a predictable and foreseeable consequence” of racist and inflammatory language that has been used against Asians during the pandemic, including slurs used by former president Donald Trump.
Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth, a former US Army helicopter pilot who lost her legs during a 2004 attack in Iraq, said she had been asked what country she was from while wearing her US military uniform. Duckworth, the first member of Congress born in Thailand, said there was more work to be done, but the bill’s passage tells the community that “we will stand with you and we will protect you”.
It’s unclear whether the bipartisan bill was a sign of things to come in the Senate, where Republicans and Democrats have fundamental differences and often struggle to work together. Under an agreement struck by Senate leaders at the start of the year, Republicans and Democrats pledged to at least try to debate bills and see if they could reach agreement through the legislative process. The hate crimes legislation is the first by-product of that agreement. Some said it doesn’t need to be the last.