The United States House on May 18, 2021, passed the bill to counter a rise in the anti-Asian Hate Crimes amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The measure required two-thirds of the Chambers' support and was passed in a 364-62 vote with 62 Republicans voting against the bill.
The President of the US Joe Biden has already extended and voiced his support for the measure and now it has passed the House, the bill will be cleared for his signature. The passage of the bill has come in the view of growing hate crimes against the Asian-American community in the US.
Rep. Judy Chu, Chair of the Congressional Asian-Pacific American Caucas stated that after a year of the Asian American community crying out for help, Congress will take a historic action to pass long-overdue hate crimes legislations and send the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act to US President’s desk.
COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act: What will change with the new bill?• The bill passed to prevent hate crimes against Asians will create a new position at the Justice Department to speed up the review of the potential COVID-19 related hate crimes and incidents reported at the federal, state, and local levels. • It will also direct the departments of Justice and Health and Human Services to work with the community-based organisations for issuing guidance raising awareness of the hate crimes during the pandemic. • The newly passed bill will also require the US attorney general to issue the guidance to work with the local and state law enforcement agencies for establishing online reporting of them. |
Increasing hate crimes against Asians in the US:
The recent bill was introduced in light of the increasing number of crimes against the Asian-American community.
The passage of the anti-Asian hate crimes bill has come less than 2 months after a gunman had killed eight people in three Asian-owned spas in the greater Atlanta. Six of the victims were women of Asian descent.
On May 18, the US House also planned to pass a separate resolution condemning the massacre in Georgia on March 16, 2021.
Background:
The legislation, known as the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, was introduced by Democratic Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii and Democratic-Republican Grace Meng of New York. In April 2021, the legislation passed the Senate by an overwhelming vote of 94-1.
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