IMPACT applauds the passage of the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act

With overwhelming bipartisan support, the Senate voted to pass the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act aimed at stopping violence against AAPI communities. With hate crimes against the Asian Americans on the rise during the pandemic, and last week’s devastating shooting in Indianapolis, we are proud to see members of both parties denounce the racist attacks against AAPI communities.

This bill will provide states with much-needed resources to investigate and respond to the growing number of horrific hate crimes against AAPI communities by expediting hate crime cases related to Covid-19 and studying the actual number of annual hate crimes.

“In the past year alone, there have been more than 3,800 reported anti-Asian hate crimes, but those numbers are dramatic underestimates for the accurate national figures we need to make policy,” says Neil Makhija, Executive Director of IMPACT. “All Americans need to understand the experience of Asian Americans. The fact that this is one of the only bills to receive bipartisan support in our current Congress highlights the magnitude of the crisis that AAPI communities are experiencing and the urgency of working together to tackle racism and hate.”

With the passage of this bill, we can begin to restore our community’s faith in our government and move one step closer to fighting racism against Asian Americans.