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Violence against Asian Americans is surging. Will DOJ finally act?
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COVID-19’s dangers aren’t limited to its direct impacts on health. In today’s newsletter, senior reporter Alexia Fernández Campbell writes about one of its many corrosive ripple effects: harassment and assaults aimed at Asian Americans.
— Jamie Smith Hopkins, editor
THIS EDITION: RISING DANGERS
Protestors hold signs at the End The Violence Towards Asians rally in Washington Square Park on Feb. 20 in New York City. (Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)
Merrick Garland promises to prosecute hate crimes against Asian Americans. Here’s why that matters.
By ALEXIA FERNÁNDEZ CAMPBELL
Senior Reporter
Senators grilled Judge Merrick Garland this week about white supremacy and domestic extremism during his confirmation hearing for the role of U.S. Attorney General. One brief exchange, in particular, was revealing.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) described a recent spike in anti-Asian violence as “extraordinarily alarming.” Then he asked Garland to commit to prosecuting hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
“Hate crimes tear at the fabric of our society,” Garland responded. “The role of the [Justice Department’s] Civil Rights Division is to prosecute those cases vigorously, and I can assure you that it will if I am confirmed.”
Garland’s promise to enforce existing hate crime laws highlights the Trump administration’s inaction in response to the surge of attacks against Asian Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic. Even the Biden administration, while acknowledging the problem, has taken steps that are largely symbolic.
Asians have reported being harassed, threatened and even injured by people falsely blaming them for the spread of COVID-19, which was first detected in China. Then-President Donald Trump inflamed the racist backlash by referring to COVID-19 as the “China virus.”
Some incidents targeting elderly people were especially violent.
In late January, video footage showed someone shoving an 84-year-old Thai man, Vicha Ratanapakdee, in San Francisco. He died from the injuries. Days later, a person knocked down a 91-year-old man in Oakland’s Chinatown neighborhood. It’s unclear if those attacks were racially motivated, but New York City police are investigating an assault on an Asian woman in Queens as a potential hate crime.
Asian Americans have been reporting similar incidents since the virus began to spread through the United States last year.
In April, Public Integrity found that federal agencies were doing practically nothing to address the rising dangers Asian Americans face. Neither the Justice Department nor the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had announced efforts. Both agencies were quick to act in similar situations: the CDC during the 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak and the Justice Department after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
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The hostility toward East Asians during the 2003 SARS outbreak was so concerning that the CDC launched a 14-member community outreach team in response — in the same week the agency reported the first five confirmed cases of SARS in the U.S.
Within a month, the outreach team had talked to key leaders in the Asian American community, monitored Asian-language newspapers and websites, conducted community visits and led panel discussions. The team ultimately met with about 500 Asian Americans in seven cities.
The CDC has not announced a similar plan related to COVID-19 and did not respond to multiple requests by Public Integrity in April to explain if it was working on any. The agency did not respond to another request this week.
The 9/11 terrorist attacks set off a wave of hate incidents against Arabs and South Asians. The Justice Department — the country's top law enforcement agency — organized an outreach program to the affected communities. Within a few months of the attacks, Justice Department officials had attended more than 100 meetings and events with leaders from the Arab, Muslim, Sikh and South Asian communities. The agency also coordinated civil rights enforcement to prosecute hate crimes and discrimination cases.
A spokesperson for the Justice Department referred Public Integrity in April to an op-ed published in The Washington Examiner by the head of the civil rights division, who said the agency would prosecute hate crimes “against Asian Americans, Asians, and others to the fullest extent of the law.'
In May, a group of 16 Democratic senators, citing Public Integrity’s investigation, urged the Justice Department’s civil rights division to develop a detailed plan to counteract the discrimination and assaults.
So far, the division has not announced any hate crime charges in connection to the anti-Asian violence. The agency did not respond to a request for comment this week from Public Integrity.
President Joe Biden issued an executive order in January denouncing the incidents. He ordered the Department of Health and Human Services to “consider issuing guidance describing best practices for advancing cultural competency, language access, and sensitivity” toward Asian Americans as part of its COVID-19 response. He also called on the Justice Department to better track hate crimes and to consider working with state and local agencies and community groups to prevent more bullying and harassment.
While Democrats have praised Biden’s executive order, Asian American members of Congress want more action.
“It is a good start, but we need to build it out further,” Rep. Andy Kim (D-NJ) said Friday during a press conference hosted by the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus.
The caucus chair, Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA), said House members plan to hold hearings on the issue and have requested a meeting with the Justice Department. She wants to know if the agency is reaching out to Asian American community groups and to see if attorneys plan to prosecute any cases.
“I think we need help from the Department of Justice to make sure that people are indeed arrested and brought to justice,” she said.
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OTHERS ON INEQUALITY
Farm workers. Several large agricultural states are ignoring the CDC’s recommendation that farm workers be prioritized for the COVID-19 vaccine. From The Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting.
LGBTQ protections. Sweeping legislation that would add sexual orientation and gender identity to civil rights laws has been introduced in Congress. From The Washington Post.
Gender pay gap. Women being paid less than men for the same work extends to the highest levels of corporate executive roles. From ABC News.
Dad-friendly. Research shows that workplace policies that allow fathers more time to handle child care responsibilities end up benefiting women. From The Conversation.
News diversity. Despite pledges to do better on diversity, news organizations have been slow to make gains in hiring people of color, especially in leadership roles. From NBC News.
Disabled representation. Disabled people represent 20 percent of the population but have little voice in news organizations. From Nieman Reports.
Workplaces. New research has found that millennials are less likely to accept a job in a workplace that is not prioritizing diversity, equity and inclusion. From The Washington Post.
Public health. A state senator in Connecticut who is also a medical doctor wants racism declared a public health crisis. From CT News Junkie.
Medical debt. Thousands of people are jailed each year for failing to pay debts. More than half of that debt is health care-related. From ProPublica.
Child poverty. One in three children, and more than half of Black and Latino children, are not eligible for the full child tax credit because their families earn too little. Changing that could make a significant dent in poverty. From The Conversation.
College admissions. The common application program used by more than 900 colleges and universities will make changes to be more inclusive when it comes to gender identity. From The 19th.
Hurricanes’ impact. Evictions and homelessness have surged in southwest Louisiana following hurricanes. From Southerly.
THE RIGHT TO KNOW
Public Integrity datasets investigate stimulus, immigration, voting rights
Many Public Integrity investigations rely upon months of painstaking work building and/or analyzing data and documents that can provide a definitive look at an issue. Because we are a nonprofit newsroom dedicated to collaboration and transparency, the work is open source and free for other journalists and the public to use and localize. Recent examples include:
A comprehensive look at the extent to which immigrants produce the nation’s food supply, and how they’ve been cut out of protections against both the spread of COVID-19 and the economic fallout from it.
A database of companies that have laid off workers after accepting taxpayer-funded Paycheck Protection Program loans designed to prevent layoffs during the pandemic.
An analysis of the inadequate and discriminatory structure of the PPP loan program.
A national dataset of polling place closures from 2012 to 2020 that sheds light on voting access and disenfranchisement.
A repository of secret White House documents last year showing the extent of the COVID-19 outbreak in individual states and recommendations for containing it.
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Our mission is to produce investigative reporting that exposes betrayals of public trust.
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