On July 14, 2020, a 90-year old Asian grandmother was attacked by two masked individuals during a routine stroll around 16th Avenue in the Bensonhurst area in broad daylight.
Yesterday, on March 16, 2021, eight people, many of them women of Asian descent, were killed and others injured by a man targeting Asian businesses in the Atlanta area.
These two incidents months apart represent a significant rise in violence against the Asian community during the COVID-19 pandemic. Organizations have recorded more that 3,000 anti-Asian attacks since March of 2020. Verbal harassment, physical assault, and other forms of racism are unacceptable, and should be recognized for what they are: hate crimes.
I urge you to condemn this hate and work to draft and pass legislation to protect our communities against hate crimes, including the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities.
