President Joe Biden on Tuesday, March 30, announced new actions to address the surge in anti-Asian violence in the United States.
“Too many Asian Americans have been walking up and down the streets and worrying, waking up each morning the past year feeling their safety and the safety of their loved ones are at stake. They’ve been attacked, blamed, scapegoated, and harassed. They’ve been verbally assaulted, physically assaulted, killed..." Biden said in Atlanta on March 19, 2021
"The conversation we had today with the AAPI leaders, and that we’re hearing all across the country, is that hate and violence often hide in plain sight. And it’s often met with silence. That’s been true throughout our history, but that has to change — because our silence is complicity. We cannot be complicit. We have to speak out. We have to act.”
Among the additional actions include reinstating and reinvigorating the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders with initial focus on anti-Asian bias and violence; funding for AAPI survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault; establishing a COVID-19 Equity Task Force committee on addressing and ending xenophobia against Asian Americans.
According to a White House fact sheet, Biden will appoint a permanent director to lead the initiative in the coordination of policies across the federal government impacting AAPI communities.
The Department of Health and Human Services will also allocate $49.5 million from the American Rescue Plan for community based, culturally specific services and programs," to assist AAPI survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault, who face additional barriers to services and safety, such as language access barriers.
Biden has also established a subcommittee on Structural Drivers of Health Inequity and Xenophobia, which will be focused on combating the rise in anti-Asian hate during the COVID-19 pandemic.
A Department of Justice cross-agency initiative will also be established to address anti-Asian violence, the White House said.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation will also publish a new interactive hate crime page on its Crime Data Explorer website, which will spotlight reports on anti-Asian hate crimes.
The National Endowment for the Humanities also launched a virtual library to expand resources for educators, civic leaders, arts and humanities institutions, and families to provide information on Asian-American history.
"Today's announcements are additional steps in the Biden Administration's work to advance equity for Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities through a whole-of-government approach to racial justice," the fact sheet read.
Biden signed an Executive Order on Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government during his first day in office. Under the order, federal agencies were charged to take a comprehensive approach to advancing equity for AAPI communities.
On March 17, eight people, six of them Asians, were killed in multiple shootings inside three spas in Atlanta.
Read more: 8 dead, 4 of them Asians, in spas shootings in Atlanta
On March 15, a Filipino-Chinese man was attacked in San Francisco, California and was left partially blind after he was punched multiple times in the head.
Read more: Fil-Chinese man partially blind after another Asian attack in San Francisco
In February, a Filipino American had to receive almost 100 stitches after he was slashed by another passenger on the New York City subway.
Noel Quintana, 61, who is based in New York, said the assailant was reportedly kicking his backpack during the train ride and when he confronted him to stop, the man attacked him and slashed his face with a box cutter.
Read more: 100 stitches for Filipino who was slashed by another passenger in NYC subway
On January 31, an 84-year-old Thai national, Vicha Ratanapakdee, was walking in the San Francisco area when an unidentified man ran across the street and violently shoved him to the ground. His head hit the pavement and later died.
Days later, a 91-year-old Asian man was also violently shoved to the ground in Oakland’s Chinatown.