JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Local Asian Americans are reacting to the Biden administration’s new steps aimed at stopping the violent attacks on members of the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities.
President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced a half-dozen new actions in response to recent shootings and other violent assaults against members of these groups.
Attorney Nicole Liu, who’s the secretary of Jacksonville’s Asian American Bar Association, is applauding the Biden administration’s efforts. She’s also pointing out that as the first Asian American vice president, Kamala Harris has been vital in making sure Asian Americans’ voices are heard.
All of this comes as violence against members of the Asian American and Pacific Islander community has spiked. In fact, New York police on Wednesday announced the arrest of a man accused of viciously beating a 65-year-old Asian woman. Police said he told her, “You don’t belong here.”
Biden said he’s creating a task force to address COVID-19-fueled xenophobia against Asian Americans. The violence heightening during the pandemic when then-President Donald Trump Trump referred to the coronavirus as “Chinese virus,” “China virus” and “Kung Flu.”
″Terms like ‘China virus’ and ‘Kung Flu,’ what has happened is that people just say, ‘That’s a joke and don’t take that seriously, they are just words.’ I know there are people that feel that way, but those words have been weaponized against us,” Liu said.
Liu points out that the majority of the attacks against members of the Asian American and Pacific Islander community are against women and the elderly. Liu hopes the president’s new task force will help.
“It’s a good thing,” Liu said. “But it’s really unfortunate change happens after tragedy, and I think we all can agree there has been a lot of tragedy lately, and the hope is that the task force will create any future tragedy.”
Liu and others in the Asian American Pacific Islander community say it’s also important that Americans are educated about the contributions that Asian Americans have made to the United States. She points out that May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month and is a great opportunity to educate the public.
″To have more education, and more acknowledgment we helped build this country, we are part of this country. People say, ‘They don’t deserve to be here, they are not American.’ And I think if we have more education where people will see our history, not just our contributions and accomplishment but also the racism and discrimination that we experience regularly,” Liu said.
Nearly 3,800 anti-Asian hate incidents have occurred from March 2020 through February 2021, according to advocacy group Stop AAPI Hate. The group says these numbers only represent a small fraction of the incidents that actually occur.