[House Hearing, 117 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


                  DISCRIMINATION AND VIOLENCE AGAINST
                            ASIAN AMERICANS

=======================================================================

                                HEARING

                               BEFORE THE

                  SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE CONSTITUTION, CIVIL 
                          RIGHTS, AND CIVIL LIBERTIES

                                 OF THE

                       COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY

                     U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                    ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS

                             FIRST SESSION

                               __________

                        THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 2021

                               __________

                           Serial No. 117-12

                               __________

         Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary
         
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               Available via: http://judiciary.house.gov
               
                              __________

                    U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE                    
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                       COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY

                    JERROLD NADLER, New York, Chair
                MADELEINE DEAN, Pennsylvania, Vice-Chair

ZOE LOFGREN, California              JIM JORDAN, Ohio, Ranking Member
SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas            STEVE CHABOT, Ohio
STEVE COHEN, Tennessee               LOUIE GOHMERT, Texas
HENRY C. ``HANK'' JOHNSON, Jr.,      DARRELL ISSA, California
    Georgia                          KEN BUCK, Colorado
THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida          MATT GAETZ, Florida
KAREN BASS, California               MIKE JOHNSON, Louisiana
HAKEEM S. JEFFRIES, New York         ANDY BIGGS, Arizona
DAVID N. CICILLINE, Rhode Island     TOM McCLINTOCK, California
ERIC SWALWELL, California            W. GREGORY STEUBE, Florida
TED LIEU, California                 TOM TIFFANY, Wisconsin
JAMIE RASKIN, Maryland               THOMAS MASSIE, Kentucky
PRAMILA JAYAPAL, Washington          CHIP ROY, Texas
VAL BUTLER DEMINGS, Florida          DAN BISHOP, North Carolina
J. LUIS CORREA, California           MICHELLE FISCHBACH, Minnesota
SYLVIA R. GARCIA, Texas              VICTORIA SPARTZ, Indiana
JOE NEGUSE, Colorado                 SCOTT FITZGERALD, Wisconsin
LUCY McBATH, Georgia                 CLIFF BENTZ, OREGON
GREG STANTON, Arizona                BURGESS OWENS, Utah
VERONICA ESCOBAR, Texas
MONDAIRE JONES, New York
DEBORAH ROSS, North Carolina
CORI BUSH, Missouri

       PERRY APELBAUM, Majority Staff Director and Chief Counsel
               CHRISTOPHER HIXON, Minority Staff Director
                                 ------                                

            SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE CONSTITUTION, CIVIL RIGHTS,
                          AND CIVIL LIBERTIES

                     STEVE COHEN, Tennessee, Chair
                DEBORAH ROSS, North Carolina, Vice-Chair
JAMIE RASKIN, Maryland               MIKE JOHNSON, Louisiana, Ranking 
HENRY C. ``HANK'' JOHNSON, JR.,          Member
    Georgia                          TOM MCCLINTOCK, California
SYLVIA R. GARCIA, Texas              CHIP ROY, Texas
CORI BUSH, Missouri                  MICHELLE FISCHBACH, Minnesota
SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas            BURGESS OWENS, Utah

                       JAMES PARK, Chief Counsel
                            
                            
                            C O N T E N T S

                        Thursday, March 18, 2021

                                                                   Page

                           OPENING STATEMENTS

The Honorable Steve Cohen, Chair of the Subcommittee on the 
  Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties from the State 
  of Tennessee...................................................     2
The Honorable Chip Roy, a Member of the Subcommittee on the 
  Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties from the State 
  of Texas.......................................................     4
The Honorable Jerrold Nadler, Chair of the Committee on the 
  Judiciary from the State of New York...........................     6

                               WITNESSES
                                Panel I

The Honorable Doris Matsui, Member of Congress
  Oral Testimony.................................................     8
  Prepared Testimony.............................................    11
The Honorable Judy Chu, Member of Congress
  Oral Testimony.................................................    17
  Prepared Testimony.............................................    19
The Honorable Tammy Duckworth, United States Senator
  Oral Testimony.................................................    21
  Prepared Testimony.............................................    23
The Honorable Young Kim, Member of Congress
  Oral Testimony.................................................    25
  Prepared Testimony.............................................    27
The Honorable Michelle Steel, Member of Congress
  Oral Testimony.................................................    31
  Prepared Testimony.............................................    33
The Honorable Grace Meng, Member of Congress
  Oral Testimony.................................................    36
  Prepared Testimony.............................................    38

                                Panel II

John C. Yang, President & Executive Director, Asian Americans 
  Advancing Justice--AAJC
  Oral Testimony.................................................    39
  Prepared Testimony.............................................    42
Manjusha P. Kulkarni, Executive Director, Stop AAPI Hate, Asian 
  Pacific Policy and Planning Council
  Oral Testimony.................................................    56
  Prepared Testimony.............................................    58
Erika Lee, Regents Professor of History and Asian American 
  Studies and Director, Immigration History Research Center, 
  University of Minnesota
  Oral Testimony.................................................    63
  Prepared Testimony.............................................    66
Charles Lehman, Fellow, Manhattan Institute and Contributing 
  Editor, City Journal
  Oral Testimony.................................................    76
  Prepared Testimony.............................................    78
Wencong Fa, Attorney, Pacific Legal Foundation
  Oral Testimony.................................................    82
  Prepared Testimony.............................................    84
Daniel Dae Kim, Actor and Producer
  Oral Testimony.................................................    86
  Prepared Testimony.............................................    89
Shirin Sinnar, Professor of Law & John A. Wilson Faculty Scholar, 
  Stanford Law School
  Oral Testimony.................................................    94
  Prepared Testimony.............................................    96
Hiroshi Motomura, Susan Westerberg Prager Distinguished Professor 
  of Law and Faculty Co-Director, Center for Immigration Law and 
  Policy, UCLA School of Law
  Oral Testimony.................................................   107
  Prepared Testimony.............................................   109

          LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC. SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING

A video submitted by the Honorable Steve Cohen, Chair of the 
  Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil 
  Liberties from the State of Tennessee for the record...........     3
A video submitted by the Honorable Jerrold Nadler, Chair of the 
  Committee on the Judiciary from the State of New York for the 
  record.........................................................     6
An article entitled, ``Triangle-area Asian Americans suffer 
  `grief, devastation' in wake of Atlanta killings,'' Raleigh 
  News & Observer, submitted by the Honorable Deborah Ross, Vice-
  Chair of the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, 
  and Civil Liberties from the State of North Carolina for the 
  record.........................................................   122
Materials submitted by the Honorable Hank Johnson, a Member of 
  the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil 
  Liberties from the State of Georgia for the record
  A video produced by Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta..   136
  A letter submitted by Asian Americans Advancing Justice-
    Atlanta, March 18, 2021......................................   137
A video submitted by the Honorable Sylvia R. Garcia, a Member of 
  the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil 
  Liberties from the State of Texas for the record...............   149
Materials available online submitted by the Honorable Sylvia R. 
  Garcia, a Member of the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil 
  Rights, and Civil Liberties from the State of Texas for the 
  record.........................................................   152
A statement from Asian American Leaders Table, submitted by the 
  Honorable Cori Bush, a Member of the Subcommittee on the 
  Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties from the State 
  of Missouri for the record.....................................   156
Materials submitted by the Honorable Sheila Jackson Lee, a Member 
  of the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and 
  Civil Liberties from the State of Texas for the record
  A video entitled, ``Victims Recovering From Sam's Club 
    Stabbing''...................................................   158
  An article entitled, ``A Man Who Allegedly Tried To Kill An 
    Asian American Family Because Of The Coronavirus Could Face 
    Hate Crime Charges,'' BuzzFeed News..........................   160
  Photos of Bawi Kung and his son, victims of anti-Asian violence   163
Materials available online submitted by the Honorable Steve 
  Cohen, Chair of the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil 
  Rights, and Civil Liberties from the State of Tennessee for the 
  record.........................................................   168

                                APPENDIX

Materials available online submitted by the Honorable Steve 
  Cohen, Chair of the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil 
  Rights, and Civil Liberties from the State of Tennessee for the 
  record.........................................................   178
A letter from Grace Huang, Director of Policy, Asian Pacific 
  Institute, March 17, 2021, submitted by the Honorable Pramila 
  Jayapal, a Member of the Committee on the Judiciary from the 
  State of Washington for the record.............................   179
A press release entitled, ``AACE Denounces the Rising Violence 
  and Hate Crimes Targeting Asian Americans, Calls for Thorough 
  Investigations and Policies to Address Root Causes: AACE Policy 
  Statement on Anti-Asian Violence and Hate Crimes,'' Asian 
  American Coalition for Education, submitted by the Honorable 
  Mike Johnson, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on the 
  Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties from the State 
  of Louisiana for the record....................................   181

 
          DISCRIMINATION AND VIOLENCE AGAINST ASIAN AMERICANS

                              ----------                              


                        Thursday, March 18, 2021

                     U.S. House of Representatives

            Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights,

                          and Civil Liberties

                       Committee on the Judiciary

                             Washington, DC

    The Committee met, pursuant to call, at 10:09 a.m., in Room 
2141, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Steve Cohen [Chair of 
the Subcommittee] presiding.
    Members present: Representatives Cohen, Nadler, Raskin, 
Ross, Johnson of Georgia, Garcia, Bush, Jackson Lee, Jordan, 
McClintock, Roy, Fischbach, and Owens.
    Also present: Representatives Jayapal and Lieu.
    Staff present: Arya Hariharan, Deputy Chief Oversight 
Counsel; David Greengrass, Senior Counsel; John Doty, Senior 
Advisor; Madeline Strasser, Chief Clerk; Moh Sharma, Member 
Services and Outreach Advisor; Priyanka Mara, Professional 
Staff Member/Legislative Aide; Cierra Fontenot, Staff 
Assistant; John Williams, Parliamentarian; Keenan Keller, 
Senior Counsel; James Park, Chief Counsel for Constitution; 
Caroline Nabity, Minority Counsel; Sarah Trentman, Minority 
Senior Professional Staff Member; and Kiley Bidelman, Minority 
Clerk.
    Mr. Cohen. The Committee on the Judiciary's Subcommittee on 
the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties will come 
to order. Without objection, the Chair is authorized to repair 
to a recess to the Subcommittee at any time.
    I welcome everyone to today's hearing on Discrimination and 
Violence Against Asian Americans. Before we begin this meeting, 
I would like to ask that we have a moment of silence in memory 
of the individuals tragically killed, murdered, in Atlanta, 
Georgia.
    Thank you. I would like to remind Members that we have 
established an email address and distribution list dedicated to 
circulating exhibits, motions, or other written materials that 
Members may want to offer as part of our hearing today. If you 
would like to submit those materials, the site is 
[email protected] .gov. We will distribute them to 
Members and staff as quickly as possible.
    I also ask unanimous consent that our Judiciary Committee 
colleagues, Representatives Jayapal and Lieu participate in 
today's hearing. Hearing no objection, I welcome them to our 
Subcommittee. They will be able to question our Witnesses if 
they are yielded time by Subcommittee Members.
    Finally, I would ask all Members, both those in person and 
those appearing remotely to mute your microphones when you are 
not speaking. This will help prevent feedback, other technical 
issues, and unmute yourself when you are recognized.
    I will now recognize myself for an opening statement. While 
there are still many details to be learned about Tuesday's 
horrific shootings in Atlanta that left eight people dead, six 
of them reportedly of Asian descent, one thing is certain. For 
many Asian Americans, Tuesday's shocking events felt like the 
inevitable culmination of a year in which there were nearly 
3,800 reported incidents of anti-Asian hate incidents that grew 
increasingly more violent over time as the COVID-19 pandemic 
worsened and some people wrongly blamed Asian Americans or 
implied such by calling it the China virus.
    These incidents include cases of verbal harassment, being 
spat at, slapped in the face, lit on fire, slashed with a box 
cutter, or shoved violently to the ground. That number of 
reported incidents is just likely the tip of the iceberg.
    I want to make clear that all Asian Americans who are 
understandably feeling hurt and afraid right now and wondering 
whether anyone else in America cares, that Congress sees you, 
we stand with you, and we will do everything in our power to 
protect you. Anti-Asian hate did not begin with the COVID-19 
pandemic and will not end when the pandemic is over. All the 
pandemic did was exacerbate latent anti-Asian prejudices have a 
long and ugly history in America. It also provided an excuse 
for some to Act on those prejudices. In fact, there has been 
discrimination against lots of people in this country and all 
that has been exacerbated, but the Asian situation has been the 
most extreme.
    Pandemics worsen geopolitical tensions and economic 
competition and the fear and resentment that these situations 
create, have historically provided the conditions for anti-
Asian racism and xenophobia to take root, often leading to 
tragic consequences for Asian Americans. For example, social 
and economic resentment against Chinese laborers in the 1800s 
led to the enactment of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 which 
barred nearly all immigration from China. The 1924 Immigration 
Act effectively barred immigration from all Asian countries.
    In 1942, the United States Government committed the most 
sweeping violation of civil liberties in American history, 
other than slavery itself, when it ordered the forced 
internment of 120,000 Japanese Americans, many of them second 
and third generation Americans during the Second World War, 
based not on any legitimate national security concerns, but on 
the racist and xenophobic assumption that Americans of Japanese 
ancestry would be disloyal.
    In 1982, Chinese American Vincent Chen was beaten to death 
by two White auto workers because his attackers thought he was 
Japanese and therefore responsible for the decline of the U.S. 
automobile industry.
    On September 15, 2001, Balbir Singh Sodhi, a Sikh gas 
station owner in Arizona, was murdered by a man who blamed him 
for the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
    To this list, we now add the more recent victims of anti-
Asian hate as Asian Americans are wrongfully blamed for the 
COVID-19 pandemic. While many of the recent anti-Asian 
incidents may not meet legal definition of hate crime, these 
attacks nonetheless create an unacceptable environment of fear 
and terror in Asian American communities.
    Attacks like the one on 84-year-old, Vichar Ratanapakdee on 
January 28 of this year, was on a walk in his neighborhood. He 
was walking in his neighborhood. He was violently slammed to 
the ground. He died a few days later from the brain trauma that 
he sustained.
    Now, I would like to play a video of that attack caught by 
a nearby surveillance camera.

[Video available at https://www.dropbox.com/s/6huk2gqtx0kgo7y/
Cohen%20Video .mp4?dl=0]

    Mr. Cohen. Sadly, this incident was one of several recent 
ones where elderly Asian Americans were similarly knocked 
violently to the ground. Left unchecked, racist attitudes 
stoked by racist rhetoric can have deadly consequences for 
innocent people as we have just witnessed in that sad clip.
    In such a fraught time as the ones we are living in it is 
incumbent on all elected, all public officials, elected or 
otherwise, and public figures to speak out against the 
irrational hatreds and prejudices that could overtake society 
in the face of a national emergency. In short, words matter.
    Indeed, the wrong words can be very harmful. Leaders who 
promote stereotypes or use rhetoric aimed at a particular 
ethnic or racial group can cause increases the levels of 
discrimination or violence directed against that group.
    When politicians use terms like ``China virus'' or ``kung 
flu'' or to refer to COVID-19 has the effect and intention of 
putting a target on the back of all Asian Americans.
    Use of the right words of our leaders can help calm fears, 
reassure those feelings, those feeling under threat and remind 
everyone that we all share the same basic dignity as human 
beings and that we should treat each other accordingly.
    Thankfully, we have two panels of Witnesses who can help 
show us the way forward and I eagerly await their testimony. As 
best we can tell, the last time there was a congressional 
hearing specifically focused on anti-Asian hate was in 1987 
before this Subcommittee. That hearing took place during 
another time when economic and social problems were getting 
blamed on an Asian country, and by unfair extension, Asian 
Americans.
    We can't ever forget Asian Americans, not Asians, Asian 
Americans. Clearly more work needs to be done. Let us use this 
hearing as a chance to do better.
    Now, I would like to recognize--the Ranking Member is not 
here.
    Mr. Roy, are you taking his place?
    Mr. Roy. Yes, sir.
    Mr. Cohen. In lieu of Mr. Johnson, Mr. Chip Roy of Texas, 
will give the statement for the minority as the Ranking Member.
    You are recognized for five minutes, Mr. Roy.
    Mr. Roy. Well, thank you, Chair Cohen, and I appreciate our 
gathering here today. This is obviously an important subject 
matter.
    To be clear, all Americans deserve protection and to live 
in a free and secure society and the fundamental nature of what 
we expect out of government, right, to secure the blessings of 
liberty as we say in the Constitution of the United States.
    The victims of race-based violence and their families 
deserve justice. The case where we are talking about here with 
the tragedy what we just saw occur in Atlanta, Georgia. I would 
also suggest that the victims of cartels moving illegal aliens 
deserve justice. The American citizens in South Texas, they are 
getting absolutely decimated by what is happening at our 
southern borders deserve justice. The victims of rioting and 
looting in the streets last week, businesses closed--I am 
sorry, last summer--deserve justice.
    We believe in justice. I think there are old sayings in 
Texas about find all the rope in Texas and get a taller tree. 
We take justice very seriously. We ought to do that, round up 
the bad guys. That is what we believe.
    My concern about this hearing is that it seems to want to 
venture into the policing of rhetoric in a free society, free 
speech, and away from the rule of law in taking out bad guys. 
As a former Federal prosecutor, I am kind of predisposed and 
wired to want to go take out bad guys. That is bad guys of all 
colors. That is bad guys of all persuasions. That is bad guys 
targeting people for all different reasons. I think we need to 
be mindful of that.
    So, now we are talking about whether talking about China, 
the ChinaComs, the Chinese Communist Party, whatever phrasing 
we want to use and if some people are saying hey, we think 
those guys are the bad guys, for whatever reason. Let me just 
state clearly, I do. I think the Chinese Communist Party 
running the country of China, I think they are the bad guys. I 
think that they are harming people. I think they are engaging 
in modern-day slavery and I think that what they are doing to 
the Uighurs and I think what they are doing targeting our 
country and I think that what they are doing to undermine our 
national security and what they are doing to steal our 
intellectual property and what they are doing to build up their 
military and rattle throughout the Pacific, I think it is 
patently evil and deserving of condemnation. I think that what 
they did to hide the reality of this virus is equally deserving 
of condemnation.
    There is hardly any getting around that, in fact, happened, 
right? We have got the World Health Organization, on Twitter, 
saying preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese 
authorities found no clear evidence of human-to-human 
transmissions of the novel coronavirus. Well, WHO had to go 
back and redo all that. We know full well, I have got a bill 
that I introduced that posthumously awarded Congressional Gold 
Medal to Li Wenliang for coming out and exposing what the 
Chinese Communist Government has done to hide the virus.
    Dr. Wenliang was a 34-year-old ophthalmologist in Wuhan, 
China who died in 2019 coronavirus after he sought to draw 
attention to the spread of the virus. Research indicates the 
first patient, in fact, did exhibit symptoms in early December 
2019. On January 3rd, after raising concerns about the spread, 
Dr. Wenliang and seven other doctors were detained and 
questioned by Chinese officials. He was forced to sign a 
statement retracting his warnings and confessing he spread only 
rumors. That is the reality. He ended up dying, but he was 
beaten. They were targeted for engaging in free speech to try 
to bring to light what was happening.
    That is the reality of what I tend to refer to as the 
ChinaComs. I am not going to be ashamed of saying I oppose the 
ChinaComs. I oppose the Chinese Communist Party. When we say 
things like that, and we are talking about that, we shouldn't 
be worried about having a Committee of Members in Congress 
policing our rhetoric because some evildoers go engage in some 
evil activity as occurred in Atlanta, Georgia. Because when we 
start policing free speech, we are doing the very thing that we 
are condemning when we condemn what the Chinese Communist Party 
does to their country.
    That is exactly where this wants to go. This is the road 
this wants to head down. Nothing could be more dangerous than 
going down that road. Because who decides what is hate? Who 
decides what is the kind of speech that deserves policing? A 
panel? A panel of this body? A panel in the Executive Branch? A 
panel in the Department of Justice? Then what does that mean? 
Who is deciding?
    When we get into making crimes out of thought, crimes out 
of speech, as opposed to crimes out of the action of the 
evildoers. Find those who perpetrated what happened in Atlanta. 
Find those who engage in hate of all forms and punish the 
absolute hell out of them, but don't go around policing 
thought.
    One other thing, I hope today's hearing will examine the 
discrimination against Asian Americans in educational settings, 
a matter that the Trump Administration prioritized, took 
seriously, and acted upon. In October, for example, the 
Department of Justice sued Yale for race and national origin 
discrimination after determining that Yale was noncompliant 
with title VI of the '64 Civil Rights Act which prohibits 
Federal financial assistance to any program engaged in racial 
or discriminatory practices.
    Following a two-year investigation, the Department of 
Justice concluded that Asian American and White students have 
only one tenth to one fourth the likelihood of admissions as 
African American applicants with comparable academic 
credentials. The Justice Department alleged that Yale 
discriminated against Asian Americans by favoring certain 
applicants based upon their race, rather than looking for race-
neutral alternatives to achieve the university's goals.
    Then Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Rights 
Division explained all persons who apply for admission to 
colleges and universities should expect and know that they will 
be judged by their character, talent, and achievements, and not 
the color of their skin. To do otherwise, would permit our 
institutions to foster stereotypes, bitterness, and division. I 
couldn't agree more. However, only two weeks into President 
Biden's term, the Biden Administration suddenly reversed course 
and dropped the lawsuit against Yale.
    Mr. Chair, I will close, but I will just say I will just 
say I hope this is the direction we will go. I hope we will 
look at this and we will look through the lens of clarity and 
objective truth, trying to seek justice and not trying to 
police speech and trying to achieve the objectives we want to 
achieve. I thank the Chair.
    Mr. Cohen. Thank you, Mr. Roy. Before I recognize the Chair 
for his statement, I would just like to reiterate that while 
speech is important and has meaning, the incidents I mentioned 
in my opening statement were being spat at, slapped in the 
face, lit on fire, slashed with a box cutter, and shoved bodily 
to the ground as the video showed. That is not speech.
    Mr. Roy. Just as a reminder, I didn't say it exactly was 
speech.
    Mr. Cohen. That is not speech. That is action. I would like 
to recognize the Chair for his opening statement, Mr. Nadler.
    Chair Nadler. Thank you. Mr. Chair, we are here today to 
address the horrific rise in violence, harassment, and 
discrimination against Asian Americans that is surging across 
the country.
    As we convene this hearing, our thoughts are with the 
victims, but especially the Asian American victims in Georgia 
who were brutally murdered on Tuesday night. Although the 
motive is still to be investigated, the effect on the Asian 
American community has been profound and it is certainly 
appropriate for us to address the fear gripping the Asian 
American community. So, I want to thank the Chair for convening 
this hearing.
    Hate crimes and hate incidents against Asian Americans have 
been on the rise since 2017. Last year alone, nearly 3,800 
hundred incidents were reported, with about 68 percent of Asian 
Americans reporting that they have experienced racial slurs or 
verbal harassment since the pandemic began.
    Distressingly, one of the largest increases in the country 
of hatred and violence against Asian Americans has occurred in 
my own congressional district in New York City.
    This short clip shows just some of the verbal and physical 
abuse many Asian Americans have faced in recent years.

[Video available at https://www.dropbox.com/s/3pe9ip35m3vfid5/
Nadler%20Video .mp4?dl=0]

    Chair Nadler. Last February, a woman was hit in the face on 
the subway and called ``diseased.''
    Last March, a Chinese-American dad from Queens and his 10-
year-old son were harassed and attacked by an assailant who was 
screaming at him for appearing to be Chinese.
    Last April, an Asian-American woman in Brooklyn suffered 
significant burns after a chemical attack.
    Last July, an 89-year-old grandmother in Bensonhurst was 
attacked and set on fire by two men.
    Just last month, a New Yorker was slashed across the face 
with a box cutter. He needed more than 100 stitches.
    Also, last month, in separate incidents on the same day, 
two elderly women were punched in the face on the subway.
    A few weeks ago, a man was stabbed outside of the Federal 
courthouse.
    Just this Tuesday, a woman in Midtown had an unknown liquid 
poured on her neck as she was picking up packages.
    The common denominator? All the victims were Asian American 
or of Asian descent.
    These are our neighbors, friends, family members, 
constituents, and fellow Americans.
    It is not only severe violence that Asian Americans in New 
York have had to fear. There has also been a barrage of verbal 
attacks and discrimination against the community. New Yorkers 
have had racially derogatory remarks written onto the outside 
of their restaurants and had flyers posted around New York City 
neighborhoods blaming Asian Americans for the virus. Many of 
these attacks go unreported and official statistics represent 
only a fraction of hate crimes or hate incidents.
    These examples are certainly not exhaustive, and the 
harassment, abuse, and violence extend to communities across 
the country. We have Witnessed Asian Americans bloodied and 
beaten in stores; learned that Asian-American parents fear 
sending their children back to schools because of racial 
violence; and observed harrowing videos of verbal attacks aimed 
at Asian Americans in our public spaces.
    Perhaps even more heartbreaking, we have seen our Asian-
American frontline workers battle not only the pandemic, but 
also racism and disproportionately high death rates.
    It is important to recognize that this surge did not 
spontaneously arise only out of fears regarding the coronavirus 
pandemic. Some of this blame lies squarely on political leaders 
who have demonized China, both because of the virus and ongoing 
geopolitical tensions, and in turn, Asian Americans have fallen 
in harm's way.
    Words have power. What we say matters. How we treat each 
other matters. The expectations and standards we set in how we 
address this pandemic matter. The conversation we are having 
today is long overdue, and it is vital that Congress shine a 
light on this issue.
    The last congressional hearing held on violence against 
Asian Americans was in 1987, in this Subcommittee. Thirty-four 
years is too long for Congress to leave this issue untouched. 
Our government must thoroughly investigate and swiftly address 
growing tensions and violence against the Asian-American 
community, especially in light of the pandemic, because lives 
and livelihoods are truly at stake.
    Last week, we reached the one-year anniversary of the 
COVID-19 pandemic in this country, a solemn and difficult 
moment for our Nation as we reflected on all we have suffered 
and lost. Such hardship cannot be used as an excuse for 
dismissing the pain of our fellow Americans, enabling 
discrimination against them, or devaluing their sense of 
belonging and citizenship.
    Today, we are privileged to have our fellow Members of 
Congress, from both sides of the aisle, testifying about their 
personal experiences.
    In addition, we have an expert panel that will walk us 
through the rise in discrimination and violence and its impact 
on the community, as well as historical perspectives and 
challenges to inform our legislative efforts moving forward. I 
look forward to hearing how we can better ensure protection, 
justice, and healing for our Asian-American neighbors, in this 
time of crisis and moving forward.
    Thank you, and I yield back.
    Mr. Cohen. Thank you, Mr. Nadler. We welcome our Witnesses 
and thank them for participating in today's hearing.
    I will now introduce each of the Witnesses and after each 
introduction will recognize that Witness for his or her oral 
testimony. Please note that each of your written statements 
will be entered into the record in its entirety. Accordingly, I 
ask you to summarize your testimony in five minutes.
    To help you stay within that five minutes while you are 
testifying, there is a timing light on your table. Of course, 
we don't have a table. Is there a process? On the screen, they 
can see if it is green, you are good. If it is yellow, you are 
in the last minutes. If it is red, finish it. It means your 
five minutes are up. That is on your Webex view.
    Before proceeding with the testimony, I would like to 
remind all the Witnesses appearing on the panel that you have a 
legal obligation to provide truthful testimony and answers. Any 
false statements you make today could subject you to 
prosecution under section 1001 of title 18 of the United States 
Code.
    Today we have two Witness panels. Our first panel will be 
Members. Our first Witness is Representative Doris Matsui. 
Congressman Matsui represents the 6th Congressional District of 
California and has represented that area of Sacramento environs 
since 2005.
    Congressman Matsui, you are recognized for five minutes. 
Apparently, Congressman Matsui, you are recognized for five 
minutes. Apparently, there is a technical problem with Webex 
and not with my iPad. We are going to recess for as much time 
as is necessary to correct this error. Technology is not 
perfect.
    [Recess.]
    Mr. Cohen. The hearing will now come back to order. Now, 
being in order, I recognize the distinguished lady from 
Sacramento, California, the Honorable Doris Matsui for five 
minutes.

            STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE DORIS MATSUI

    Ms. Matsui. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, Ranking Member, 
and Members of the Committee for this opportunity to testify.
    I am very proud to join this distinguished panel of our 
colleagues and yet, I wish it were not necessary for us to be 
here under such troubling circumstances to address the 
disturbing spike in discrimination and violence against AAPI 
communities across the nation. Just a couple days ago, eight 
people, six of whom were women of Asian descent, were shot and 
killed outside of Atlanta. This latest attack stands as a 
horrible reminder of the fear and pain felt by the AAPI 
communities across this country.
    I have lived an American story. I grew up on a farm in 
California, went to UC Berkeley, and got a great public 
education. I got married and settled in Sacramento with my 
husband where we raised our son and I have had the privilege to 
work in public service in the White House and here in Congress 
where we work together on issues of healthcare, and clean 
energy, and all the issues that define us as a country.
    I have a responsibility and a moral obligation to speak out 
about the normalizing of attacks on the AAPI community. Since 
the beginning of the pandemic, we have heard constant hostile 
rhetoric directed at the AAPI community, including from leaders 
at the highest levels of our government. There is a systemic 
problem here and we are duty bound to stop the spread of 
xenophobic and racist ideas that have escalated to physical 
threats.
    Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who fought against 
discrimination in her remarkable life, used to talk about her 
mother and ask questions about what the difference was between 
a bookkeeper in Brooklyn's garment district and a Supreme Court 
Justice. Her answer: ``One generation.'' This kind of family 
history is essential to understanding American history. We all 
share the charge to ensure that our country not only learns 
from but does not forget its past. Because of my history and 
background, I know I have a duty to speak up. Future 
generations are listening, especially my grandchildren.
    In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive 
Order 9066, approving the removal of American citizens of 
Japanese descent to remote camps. My parents and grandparents 
were among 120,000 forced to leave their homes and businesses. 
They were sent by their own government, our government, to a 
camp in Poston, Arizona. They lived in appalling conditions, 
surrounded by a barbed wire fence, armed guards on towers, 
incarcerated, solely because of their ancestry.
    Despite the good fortune in my life, I am not even one 
generation removed from that experience. I was born in the 
Poston internment camp, but because I was a baby, I have no 
personal memories. My parents rarely talked to me about their 
time there. I had an ordinary childhood. I think my parents 
didn't want to burden me with that experience. They just wanted 
me to move forward and reach for the stars. I would hear 
conversations from time to time about life in the camp. I sort 
of knew what happened, but I did not realize at that time how 
much their lives had been turned upside down.
    It was when I went to college that I met students whose 
parents were very affected by the internment, and we started 
talking. The vast majority of the people who were sent to camp 
were American citizens. You wonder how did this happen? It was 
then that we all realized that we had to learn more about it. 
It is part of our family history. It is part of American 
history.
    During World War II, many were blinded by prejudice. Our 
government and many of its leaders advanced the myth that the 
Japanese-American community was inherently the enemy. Americans 
across the country believed it, acceded to institutionalized 
racism, and acted on it. It was not uncommon to accuse an 
innocent person of violating our country's trust with no 
evidence. This societal shift to accept and normalize 
wrongdoing was exactly what kept Japanese Americans imprisoned 
for over three years.
    These were Americans who previously lived normal lives. 
They owned homes, shops; were farmers, doctors, lawyers, 
teachers, just regular folks who were betrayed by their country 
because of a dangerous spiral of injustice.
    Last year, when I heard at the highest levels of government 
those people use racist slurs like ``China Virus'' to spread 
xenophobia and cast blame on innocent communities, it was all 
too familiar. Comments like these only build upon the legacy of 
racism, anti-Asian sentiment, and insensitivity that seeks to 
divide our nation.
    So, yes, I was deeply shaken by the angry currents in our 
nation. The heated discourse at the highest levels of our 
government cannot be viewed in isolation from the ensuing 
violence in our communities. The fear of ``the other,'' whether 
racial, religious, or tribal, that works to suppress the better 
angels of our nature, we have seen the consequences when we go 
down this path. My family has lived through these consequences. 
This is what we are working to root out from its deepest place 
in our social conscience.
    After the incarceration of the Japanese-American community, 
our country moved on for decades without coming to terms with 
what our government did and what many Americans turned a blind 
eye to. It took decades for testimonies to be heard in 
Congress. It took decades for lawmakers to hear our pain.
    My late husband, Bob Matsui, was first elected to Congress 
in 1978 and served on the Ways and Means Committee. He loved 
that work. Because of his parents' experience, the experience 
of the Japanese-American community, he passionately believed 
that justice could not be denied and therefore devoted an 
enormous amount of time and dedication to the passage of the 
Civil Liberties Act of 1988, by which the United States 
Government apologized and paid token compensation to the 
Japanese Americans who had been incarcerated. Bob said in the 
floor debate on that legislation that he believed it was 
possible because ``this is a great and wonderful country.''
    Today's hearing is another reminder that our country is 
capable of growth, that this legislative body will no longer 
sit in silence while our communities suffer racism and hatred. 
Now, is the time we recommit to moving forward with a shared 
vision for our future built upon basic human dignity. Again, I 
thank the Chair, the Ranking Member and I yield back. Thank 
you.
    [The statement of Ms. Matsui follows:]
    [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
    
    Mr. Cohen. Thank you, Congressman Matsui for that history 
and that testimony.
    Our next Witness is Representative Judy Chu. Congressman 
Chu represents the 27th Congressional District of California 
which includes Pasadena Polytechnic School and the San Gabriel 
Valley, in that order. She has been a Member of Congress since 
2009. Among other things, she is Chair of the Congressional 
Asian Pacific American Caucus.
    Congressman Chu, you are recognized for five minutes. 
Congressman Chu, you need to unmute, unmute.

              STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE JUDY CHU

    Ms. Chu. Thank you so much. Thank you, Chair Nadler, 
Ranking Member Jordan, Subcommittee Chair Cohen, Ranking Member 
Johnson, and other distinguished Members of the Committee for 
the opportunity to testify before you today.
    It is with a heavy heart that we are here today still 
shocked and heartbroken about the murder of eight in Georgia, 
including six Asian-American women by a gunman who targeted 
three Asian businesses, the first one being Young's Asian 
Massage, then driving 27 miles to two other Asian spas. His 
targets were no accident. What we know is that this day was 
coming.
    Because of crimes like this, I as Chair of the 
Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus or CAPAC, urged the 
Committee to undertake this hearing because the Asian-American 
community has reached a crisis point that cannot be ignored.
    Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Asian 
Americans have been terrified by the alarming surge in anti-
Asian bigotry and violence we have Witnessed across our nation. 
In fact, it was over one year ago that CAPAC first began to 
sound the alarm bells about the anti-Asian discrimination we 
were beginning to see due to misinformation and stigma that 
wrongly associated Asian Americans with the coronavirus.
    What started out last January, just dirty looks and verbal 
assaults, has escalated to physical attacks and violence 
against innocent Asian Americans. These attacks have 
increasingly become more deadly. Just as many Asian Americans 
were preparing for the Lunar New Year last month, we saw a 
surge in anti-Asian violence. Many of the victims are older and 
vulnerable like Vicha Ratana-pakdee, an 84-year-old Thai man in 
San Francisco who was killed in an unprovoked assault while on 
his morning walk.
    In New York, 61-year-old Noel Quintana's face was slashed 
from ear to ear with a box cutter in the subway, requiring 100 
stitches.
    In Oakland's Chinatown, a camera captured a 91-year-old man 
being thrown to the ground by an assailant.
    In my own congressional district, a Chinese-American man 
was attacked at a bus stop in Rosemead with his own cane 
causing him to lose part of his fingers. This has become almost 
a daily tragedy and has had a chilling effect on our community.
    Today, we find that there has been nearly 3,800 anti-Asian 
hate crimes and incidents in just a year alone. They were 
stoked by work of former President Donald Trump who sought to 
shift blame and anger away from his own flawed response to the 
coronavirus. He used racial slurs like ``Wuhan virus,'' ``China 
plague,'' and ``Kung flu'' despite the fact that the CDC and 
the World Health Organization warned not to associate the virus 
with a specific ethnicity, country, or geographic region due to 
the stigma it causes.
    Immediately, we in CAPAC took Donald Trump on about this 
racist terminology. We issued statements, held press 
conferences, and sent letters. Our pleas and the guidance from 
experts were ignored. Instead, he doubled down on using these 
slurs, directing more hate and blame at the Asian-American 
community.
    Over the past year, hostile anti-Asian COVID comments on 
Twitter increased by 900 percent and we saw a nearly 150 
percent surge in anti-Asian hate crimes in major U.S. cities. 
Even though Donald Trump is no longer President, I believe the 
most recent round of anti-Asian attacks are the aftermath of 
one year of hateful attacks and four years of ugly comments 
about immigrants and people of color.
    That is why I am so grateful that we have a new President 
Joe Biden, who is working to stop these attacks, not incite 
them. Within his first week as President, President Biden 
issued a Presidential Memorandum to combat and condemn 
xenophobia against AAPIs and ensures the Department of Justice 
works with our community to address these surging hate crimes.
    Congress must do its part as well. That is why CAPAC pushed 
for legislation, such as Congresswoman Grace Meng's resolution 
to condemn anti-Asian sentiment related to COVID-19, which 
passed the House last fall. That is why it is important to pass 
critical legislation like Congressman Beyer's NO HATE Act and 
Congresswoman Meng's COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act that will help us 
to better track and respond to hate crimes and incidents 
against Asian Americans. We are calling for a National Day to 
speak out against Asian hate on March 26.
    It is time that we continue to push back against xenophobia 
every time it rears its ugly head. Asian Americans must not be 
used as scape goats in times of crisis. Lives are at stake, and 
it is critical that Congress take bold action to address this 
pandemic of discrimination and hate.
    I yield back.
    [The statement of Ms. Chu follows:]
    [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
    
    Mr. Cohen. Thank you, Congressman Chu. I remember the smog 
in the San Gabriel Valley.
    Our next Witness is Senator Tammy Duckworth and after her, 
we will hear from Representative Young Kim. Senator Duckworth 
represents the State of Illinois in the United States Senate, 
first elected in 2016. She previously served in the United 
States House of Representatives, and she represented the 8th 
Congressional District of Illinois for two terms. She has an 
outstanding communications team and standing record in 
Congress.
    Senator Duckworth, you are recognized for five minutes.

           STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE TAMMY DUCKWORTH

    Ms. Duckworth. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and it was a pleasure 
to serve alongside you previously in the House. It is good to 
see you up on the dais today. Thank you for this hearing.
    In New York, as you have heard, an 89-year-old was slapped 
and, in California, a 91-year-old was pushed to the ground.
    In the middle of a park, a little girl was shoved off her 
bike and, in the middle of a city sidewalk, a little boy 
watched as his father was beaten up.
    Families have had rocks thrown at them. Nurses have been 
spit on. Heroes, frontline workers, hospital staff have been 
blamed for COVID-19. They have been denied service and treated 
as other-than or less-than, simply because they are members of 
the AAPI community.
    Now, less than 48 hours ago, six members of the Asian-
American community were murdered in Atlanta, Georgia, another 
unspeakable tragedy after a year of unfathomable cruelty. There 
is nothing, nothing we can say today that will piece back 
together the shattered lives of the victims' loved ones. There 
is nothing we can do that will give them the solace they 
deserve, nothing we can provide that will even begin to make 
sense of this senseless tragedy.
    What we can say and should say clearly and unambiguously is 
that blaming the AAPI community for a public health crisis is 
racist and wrong and continuing to treat our fellow Americans 
as others only further divides our country at a time when we 
should be pushing, pulling, tugging at our Nation with all our 
might until it lives up to its founding ideas of equality and 
justice for all.
    Unfortunately, this type of prejudice is far from new. It 
is a similar brand of discrimination to the one that marred 
some of our country's darkest days and toughest fights, from 
segregation to immigration. As Congresswoman Matsui mentioned, 
it is in a similar vein as to what was witnessed in World War 
II as our Nation incarcerated Japanese Americans because of 
their heritage and trapped thousands of families, like 
Congresswoman Matsui's, even as their loved ones sacrificed 
everything on the war front to defend our Nation overseas.
    Fortunately, the United States Government recognized that 
this type of bigotry was un-American. Yet, the risk of 
repeating past grave errors is real and chilling. That is why I 
introduced the Korematsu-Takai Civil Liberties Protection Act 
which would be a first step toward safeguarding freedom and 
establishing a clear statutory prohibition against un-American 
policies that seek to imprison or otherwise detain American 
citizens on the basis of who they are, rather than what they 
have done.
    As the daughter of an American Vietnam Veteran and an 
immigrant with Chinese-Thai heritage, I am deeply committed to 
supporting our community's fight against discrimination.
    I applaud the efforts of this Subcommittee to raise 
awareness of this crisis and to discuss a plan to advance civil 
rights for Asian Americans and protect the well-being of all 
our families.
    The American story as we know it, would not exist without 
the strength of the AAPI community. Quite literally, Asian 
Americans helped build this country. With their bare hands and 
bent backs, they laid the railroad tracks that connected us 
from coast to coast. They tilled the fields and started the 
businesses and also picked up the rifles necessary to develop 
and defend this Nation that we all love. Today, even as we face 
so much bigotry and violence, our community is helping to keep 
the country running.
    So, I just want to take a minute to thank all the 
incredible, heroic, front line workers who are getting our 
Nation through this crisis. From the doctors and the nurses 
risking their own lives to try to save the lives of strangers 
to the cashier at the market who is helping our families stay 
fed, from the janitors sweeping up hospital rooms at night to 
the teachers patiently helping our kids learn their ABCs over 
Zoom, I hope you know that we see you and we see your 
sacrifices and that we are forever in your debt.
    We will never be able to fully express our gratitude for 
all the AAPIs on the front lines, but every hour of every day, 
I am going to keep trying because that is the least that these 
folks deserve.
    So, I just want to say thank you one more time for 
everything that you do. Going forward, I hope that all 
Americans will speak up against such hatred towards their 
neighbors and I look forward to continuing to work with 
President Biden's Executive Order that assists States and 
community organizations make this kind of discrimination a 
thing of the past.
    Please note that we have so much work ahead of us and I 
thank this Committee for holding this hearing to shed a light 
on this very, very serious issue that will divide our Nation 
and make us weaker, not stronger.
    With that, I yield back, Mr. Chair. Thank you.
    [The statement of Ms. Duckworth follows:]
    [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
    
    Mr. Cohen. Thank you, you Senator. It is nice to see you 
and have you back in the House again.
    Now, we would like to recognize a new Member of the House, 
Representative Young Kim. Representative Kim represents the 
39th Congressional District of California which includes the 
northern parts of Orange County. I am not sure if she has got 
the big A in Anaheim, the ballpark or Disney World or Knott's 
Berry Farm or those places. They are all out there. First 
elected in 2020, you are recognized for five minutes, please.

              STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE YOUNG KIM

    Mr. Kim. Thank you, Chair, and Ranking Member and the 
Members of the Committee for holding this hearing today on a 
very important topic that has been prevalent in our national 
conversation, but one that is very, very personal to me as an 
Asian American.
    I represent California's 39th Congressional District. This 
is one of the most diverse districts in the country and it is 
also a home to a vibrant Asian-American community. My district 
is truly a representation of America and what makes our country 
great. Asian Americans have and continue to make countless 
contributions to communities across the country and right here 
in the halls of Congress.
    Since the beginning of COVID-19, we have increasingly seen 
Asian Americans becoming targets of hate across the nation, 
with more than 3,000 hate crimes against the Asian-American and 
Pacific-Islander community. Those crimes have been reported 
nationwide, with an increased number of attacks against 
seniors.
    This week, we saw senseless violence in Atlanta that took 
the lives of six Asian-American women. While the investigation 
is ongoing and we wait for more information, this comes during 
a time when violence and attacks against Asian Americans are on 
the rise. The hate, the bias, and the attacks that we have seen 
against the Asian-American community are unacceptable and they 
must be stopped. This is wrong, and it has no place in our 
political discourse and is contrary to the values America 
stands for.
    This should not have to be said, but I want to be very 
clear. No American of any race or ethnic group is responsible 
for the COVID-19 pandemic. The virus does not discriminate. It 
affects everyone. We must come together as Americans, not just 
to fight COVID-19, but also to stand against the rise of hate 
and discrimination against the AAPI community and any other 
group of Americans. We also cannot forget that discrimination 
we have seen against the AAPI community is not limited to the 
violence and attacks.
    I hope we can look at the nation's elite universities and 
other institutions of learning. We have seen institutions 
discriminating against Asian Americans in their admissions 
process to deny them the entry. Discrimination is wrong and 
goes against our fundamental American values that we hold dear. 
In America, we value the individual, and we believe that people 
deserve to be judged on their merits and not penalized because 
of their heritage, race, or background. These are the values 
that my family and countless of immigrants came here for.
    When our country seems more divided than ever, we should 
work together to unify our country and ensure future 
generations of Americans, regardless of their background, have 
the same opportunity to access the promise of America.
    No matter our race or background, we are all Americans. 
Asian Americans are Americans. As an Asian American and a 
Member of Congress, I feel a duty to speak out. So, I stand 
with the AAPI community today and always.
    I want to thank you for allowing me to speak on this very, 
very important issue. I yield back the balance of my time. 
Thank you.
    [The statement of Mr. Kim follows:]
    [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
    
    Mr. Cohen. Thank you, Congressman Kim. Our next Witness is 
Representative Michelle Park Steel. Congressman Steel 
represents the 48th Congressional District in California which 
includes other portions of Orange County. She was first elected 
in 2020. Congressman Steel, you are recognized for five 
minutes.

           STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE MICHELLE STEEL

    Ms. Steel. Chair Steve Cohen and Ranking Member Chip Roy, 
thank you for holding this important conversation today.
    It has been heartbreaking to see the rise in Anti-Asian 
American hate and harassment over the last year. As we will 
hear today from our Witnesses, and we have been hearing from 
our Witnesses, hate against the Asian-American community is not 
new.
    According to Shan Wu, a former Federal prosecutor, violence 
against Asian Americans has been ``under scrutinized, under 
prosecuted and often condoned.'' This is a long, sad history of 
intolerance and hate directed at our community.
    In the last year, almost 4,000 incidents of verbal 
harassment, physical assault, and discrimination have been 
reported. California is at the top of the list, with 44 percent 
of all incidents reported happening in my home State. New York 
is second on the list, making up 13 percent of all the 
incidents reported. Sixty-eight percent of these incidents and 
crimes were targeted towards Asian-American women. This has to 
stop.
    When I was chair of the Orange County Board of Supervisors, 
I introduced a resolution that called for tolerance and 
compassion towards all residents, and condemned discrimination 
against the AAPI community.
    I was proud this year to introduce a similar resolution in 
Congress, with another Orange County Congresswoman Katie 
Porter. That is because combating hate is not a partisan issue. 
We can all agree that violence against any community should 
never be tolerated.
    As a first generation Korean American, who is now serving 
her community in the halls of Congress, this is my American 
dream. I want future generations of Americans to know they can 
achieve anything in this great country.
    That is why I would also like to use some of my time today 
to talk about the discrimination that the AAPI community is 
experiencing in our nation's education system. It is one of the 
reasons why my colleague Representative Kim and I joined 
Ranking Member Jordan and Subcommittee Ranking Member Johnson 
to request the President of Yale University to testify at 
today's hearing.
    Last year, the Department of Justice filed a case alleging 
that Yale University was discriminating against Asian-American 
and White applicants. The Biden Administration dropped the suit 
last month. This is totally wrong and sets a dangerous 
precedent.
    In 1996, I supported and campaigned for California's 
Proposition 209, which banned racial preferences in public 
hiring, education, and contracting. It was modeled after the 
Civil Rights Act. Before Proposition 209 was passed, the four-
year graduation rate for underrepresented racial minorities in 
the University of California system was 31.3 percent. By 2014, 
that had increased to 51.1 percent. The six-year graduation 
rate is even better, increasing from 66.5 percent in 1998 to 
75.1 percent in 2013.
    Last year in California, Democrats introduced Proposition 
16 to bring back racial preferences in hiring, contracting, and 
our education system. Californians overwhelmingly rejected it.
    As a new Member of Congress and an immigrant to this 
country, we should be encouraging all students and young people 
to succeed, especially in our education system.
    Discrimination is against the fundamental values of 
American culture, and that includes discrimination against the 
AAPI community in the halls of our schools and universities.
    This is wrong. This type of behavior is only hurting future 
generations. We should be working together to stop this 
discrimination and hate in its tracks, and to encourage the 
next generation to achieve their own American dream.
    I thank the Committee for the opportunity to testify and 
share this with you today. I yield back.
    [The statement of Ms. Steel follows:]
    [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
    
    Mr. Cohen. Thank you, Congresswoman Steel. Thank you very 
much.
    Final Witness on this first panel is the Honorable 
Representative Grace Meng. Congressman Meng represents the 6th 
Congressional District of the Empire State, New York that 
includes Flushing, Bayside, Fresh Meadows, and other portions 
of northeastern Queens. She has been in Congress since 2013.
    Congressman Meng, you are recognized for five minutes.

             STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE GRACE MENG

    Ms. Meng. Thank you, Chair Nadler, Chair Cohen, Ranking 
Member Johnson, and distinguished Members of this Committee for 
organizing today's hearing. The topic is discrimination and 
violence against Asian Americans. Some of us seem to be going a 
little off topic. I am not sure why.
    For over a year, Asian Americans have been fighting an 
additional virus of hate and bigotry. Anti-Asian rhetoric like 
``China-virus'' or ``Kung-flu,'' misinformation, racism, have 
left Asian Americans traumatized and fearful for their lives.
    Mr. Roy mentioned the WHO and it is the same World Health 
Organization that actually said not to use countries of origin 
when we are referring to diseases. Since last year, there has 
been over 3,800 reported incidents of anti-Asian hate. We know 
that the majority of incidents go unreported and in fact, 
nearly 70 percent of reported anti-Asian hate incidents have 
happened to Asian-American women. In fact, just this week, we 
saw the terrible news about the six Asian women who were shot 
and killed in the Atlanta-area. Our community is bleeding. We 
are in pain, and for the last year, we have been screaming out 
for help
    Asian American discrimination, however, is not new in this 
country. From the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act to the World War 
II incarceration of Japanese Americans and from the 1975 police 
brutality in Manhattan's Chinatown to the 1982 murder of 
Vincent Chin, discrimination against Asian Americans is a 
shameful part of our history. Unfortunately, so much of this 
history is not taught in our schools. Excluding Asian Americans 
from our history books renders us invisible and deems us the 
``perpetual foreigner.'' In fact, history has excluded the 
history of Asian Americans, Black Americans, Latino, and Native 
Americans and that has led to the systemic inequities at many 
institutions including our academic institutions.
    In the 116th Congress, I introduced my resolution to 
condemn anti-Asian sentiment related to COVID. I was grateful 
my resolution passed the House with bipartisan support except 
for 164 of our Republican colleagues who voted against it, even 
though some had the audacity to tweet condolences after events 
of tragedy.
    I am glad to hear about my colleague, Representative 
Steel's resolution and I hope that she has better luck getting 
her party to support the resolution.
    During this last year, it became painfully apparent that we 
need a comprehensive effort from our local communities to the 
Federal level. That is why I support bills like the No Hate Act 
and that is why Senator Hirono and I introduced the COVID-19 
Hate Crimes Act which would assign a point person at the 
Department of Justice to quickly review hate crimes and to make 
it easier for people to report these incidents. My bill also 
builds on President Biden's Presidential Memorandum by 
directing relevant Federal agencies to work with community-
based organizations to find ways to talk about the virus in a 
way that is not racist. I urge my colleagues on this Committee 
for swift consideration of these bills. We cannot turn a blind 
eye to people living in fear.
    I want to go back to something that Mr. Roy said earlier. 
Your President and your party and your colleagues can talk 
about issues with any other country that you want, but you 
don't have to do it by putting a bull's eye on the back of 
Asian Americans across this country, on our grandparents, on 
our kids. This hearing was to address the hurt and pain of our 
community to find solutions and we will not let you take our 
voice away from us.
    Thank you. I yield back.
    [The statement of Ms. Meng follows:]
    [GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
    
    Mr. Cohen. Congressman Meng, thank you very much. You are 
correct about the genesis of this hearing.
    Now, we will go to our second panel. The second member 
panel should turn their cameras on. There we go. We are coming 
along there. First member panel can turn their cameras off. 
Great light show. I guess we are ready. We are going to be 
ready.
    We are now on our second panel. The first Witness is Mr. 
John Yang. Mr. Yang is President and Executive Director of 
Asian Americans Advancing Justice, the AAJC, which seeks to 
advance the civil and human rights of Asian Americans and to 
build and promote a fair and equitable society for all through 
policy, advocacy, education, and litigation. He received a JD 
from George Washington University School of Law and a B.A. from 
Washington University in St. Louis.
    Mr. Yang, you are recognized for five minutes.

                     STATEMENT OF JOHN YANG

    Mr. Yang. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Chair 
Cohen. Thank you to the Ranking Member, Ranking Member Johnson, 
and the other Members of the Committee.
    Really appreciate the opportunity to testify before all of 
you today, and I really appreciate the powerful words from 
Representative Meng and the other CAPAC members as to why we 
are here today.
    When I agreed to testify at this hearing, no one could have 
imagined that this would come two days after the horrific 
shooting in Atlanta, Georgia, and so I also want to take a 
moment to recognize and honor the victims and their families, 
and the suffering that they are going through at this moment, 
and to remember that we must center ourselves in the Atlanta 
community and all the local communities that have been affected 
during this past year with respect to the anti-Asian violence.
    Well, for a year now, Asian Americans have been fighting 
two viruses: The COVID-19 pandemic affecting all of us, as well 
as this virus of racism.
    Asian Americans, like all Americans, have suffered the 
economic and health consequences of COVID-19. At the same time, 
Asian Americans have been at the front lines as essential 
workers in grocery stores, delivery trucks, custodial services, 
as well as in health professions.
    Unfortunately, Asian Americans have also been fighting the 
second virus, this virus of racism. We have long struggled for 
visibility and equity, and now our communities are faced with 
this additional physical and mental harm that is arising out of 
the COVID-19 pandemic.
    As Ms. Kulkarni will testify, web-based self-reporting 
tools have recorded a tremendous increase in the number of 
anti-Asian hate that we have seen this past year.
    A Pew report from last year confirmed what that data shows, 
that a majority of Asian Americans say it is more common for 
people to blame Asians for COVID-19 and have expressed 
insensitive and completely inappropriate views about Asian 
Americans than before COVID-19.
    An ISPOS survey shows the same thing, where over 30 percent 
of the American population say that they have witnessed 
harassment or blame of the Asian community for COVID-19 and 60 
percent of the Asian-American population showed that this was 
similar behavior that they were seeing.
    So, these fears are real. The other thing is the impact on 
the Asian-American communities is clear with respect to their 
businesses.
    As noted in a report by McKinsey and Company, misguided 
fears of the virus effectively shuttered businesses in many 
Asian-American cultural districts, a full month before 
lockdowns began nationwide.
    Our organization and others started talking about this 
issue in late January when we saw that happening [audio 
interference] districts during that time when we saw this 
happening and to State that it was still safe to go there 
before the lockdowns.
    In New York, as demonstrated by a study by our community 
partner, Asian American Federation, there has been record job 
losses for the Asian-American community.
    In New York, there was a 6,000 percent increase in 
unemployment benefit applications from February through June of 
2020, and Asian Americans suffered the largest increase in 
unemployment, going from three percent in February of 2020 to 
over 25 percent.
    Now, Asian-American racism is rooted in two very dangerous 
stereotypes, that of the perpetual foreigner and that of the 
model minority.
    The perpetual foreigner suggests that we can be here, and 
we can be born here, and we can live here as long as we want, 
but we are still seen as foreigners, we are still seen as the 
other, not to be trusted and to be feared.
    On the flip side of that stereotype is the so-called model 
minority, to suggest that Asian Americans are held up as a good 
people of color when it is convenient, to plant seeds of 
division within our communities of color.
    Here, I will call out people that try to use affirmative 
action as a wedge to drive between Asian Americans and other 
communities of color.
    That model minority myth hides the complexities of our 
community and the economic disparities that exist among Asian 
Americans. Even as the COVID-19 pandemic recedes, we must 
remember that anti-Asian racism is likely to continue.
    We do have legitimate concerns and geopolitical differences 
with the Chinese government and the Chinese Communist Party, 
that that is likely to remain for the foreseeable future.
    If we are not careful, those differences will have 
consequences on our Asian-American community, and we can expect 
a backlash against our community.
    We have seen that happen with the Japanese-American 
community and World War II. We have seen that happen with the 
Arab Middle Eastern Muslim and South Asian-American community 
after 9/11, and we saw that happen with the murder of Vincent 
Chin in 1982.
    We have to do better than that. We have to have the proper 
nuance to call out xenophobia racism whenever it occurs against 
our community, and we must call this out to stop the cycle of 
violence.
    It is only then that we will stop seeing Asian Americans as 
this perpetual foreigner to be feared and come up to a better 
place in addressing this racism.
    Thank you very much. I look forward to your questions.
    [The statement of Mr. Yang follows:]
    [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
    
    Mr. Cohen. Thank you, Mr. Yang.
    Our next Witness is Manjusha Kulkarni. She's Executive 
Director of the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council, a 
coalition of over 40 community-based organizations that serve 
and represent the 1.5 million Asian American and Pacific 
Islanders in Los Angeles County.
    She's also a co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate, an online self-
reporting and tracking tool launched on March 19, 2020, in 
response to a sharp rise in anti-Asian xenophobia and bigotry 
resulting from the references to the COVID-19 pandemic's 
provenance.
    She received her JD from Boston University School of Law 
and her BA from Duke University.
    Ms. Kulkarni, you are now recognized for five minutes.
    [No response.]
    Mr. Cohen. Ms. Kulkarni, could you hear me? You're 
recognized for five minutes. You may need to unmute. Did we 
lose sound again? Can anybody here me?
    [No response.]
    Mr. Cohen. Amy, this isn't my fault.
    We will have a five-minute recess and we'll be back.
    [Recess.]
    Mr. Cohen. Testing. Testing.
    Mr. Yang. This is John Yang. I can hear you.
    Mr. Cohen. Great. We're back. We're back. Recess is over. 
No more milk and cookies.
    Ms. Kulkarni, you're recognized for five minutes. Unmute.

                 STATEMENT OF MANJUSHA KULKARNI

    Ms. Kulkarni. Thank you, Chair, Ranking Member, and 
distinguished Members of the Subcommittee for the opportunity 
to testify before you today.

        ``Go back to Wuhan and take the virus with you. You are the 
        reason for the coronavirus.''
        ``Damn, another Asian riding with me.''
        ``Hope you don't have COVID.''

    These are but a few examples of what Asian Americans have 
experienced over the course of the last year alongside with 
refusal of service, workplace discrimination, and sadly, now 
homicide.
    For that reason, on March 19, 2020, my organization, Asian 
Pacific Policy and Planning Council, in conjunction with 
Chinese for Affirmative Action in San Francisco State 
University's Asian American Studies Department, launched Stop 
AAPI Hate.
    In the past 11 months, we have received almost 3,800 self-
reported incidents of bias and discrimination from all 50 
States and the District of Columbia, making Stop AAPI Hate the 
nation's leading aggregator of Asian American hate.
    From our analysis, the following trends have emerged. 
Sixty-eight percent of incidents involve verbal harassment, 20 
percent involve avoidance or shunning, 11 percent physical 
assaults, and nine percent civil rights violations including 
refusal of service, vandalism, workplace discrimination, and 
discrimination in housing.
    The vast majority do not involve a hate crime. Businesses, 
including grocery stores, pharmacies, and big box retail, are 
the primary site of discrimination. This is followed by public 
streets and public parks.
    The fact that so many incidents take place at businesses is 
especially concerning, given that retail venues sell goods 
necessary for daily living, essential during a pandemic.
    Given that 35 percent of incidents occur in public spaces 
is also worrisome. These figures give credence to the anxiety 
felt by AAPIs that purchasing food, refilling prescriptions, or 
simply going on a walk might leave them vulnerable to being 
attacked.
    Our data indicates that especially vulnerable populations, 
including women, youth, and seniors have reported experiencing 
anti-Asian hate incidents at significant rates.
    As has been noted, 68 percent of incident reports come from 
women. This is, perhaps, to be expected, given the lessons 
learned from the #MeToo movement and a survey of Stop Street 
Harassment, which found that 81 percent of women experienced 
street harassment in their daily lives.
    While Chinese Americans have often been the explicit target 
of perpetrators, they make up only 42 percent of individuals 
who reported to our site. Fifteen percent identify as Korean 
Americans, nine percent as Vietnamese, and eight percent as 
Filipino American.
    We have also received reports from South Asian Americans as 
well as Pacific Islanders and others, evidencing the fact that 
Asian Americans across ethnicities are experiencing hate and 
racism today with our Pacific Islander sisters and brothers.
    Sadly, the 3,800 reported to Stop AAPI Hate represent only 
a fraction of what has happened in this country. The widespread 
nature of anti-Asian hate is confirmed by a study by the Pew 
Research Center released last July that found that three in 10 
Asian Americans experienced racist jokes and slurs.
    Similarly, a poll by the Center for Public Integrity found 
that 60 percent of Asian Americans have witnessed someone 
blaming our community for COVID-19.
    Before I close, I want to acknowledge the tremendous 
mobilization done by Asian-American groups in Georgia in 
response to the violence there and read a portion of their 
statement.

        During this time of broader crisis and trauma in our Asian-
        American communities, we must be guided by a compass of 
        community care that prioritizes assessing and addressing our 
        community's immediate needs, including in-language support for 
        mental health, legal employment, and immigration services. We 
        must stand firm in decrying misogyny, systemic violence, and 
        White supremacy.

    In addition to sharing our data and the statement from 
Georgia advocates, I want to share the fact that we have been 
developing resources for community members who experience 
incidents of hate in providing direct assistance through local 
networks.
    We are also closely working with local, State, and Federal 
policymakers to address hate incidents that have occurred and 
seek to prevent additional incidents from taking place in the 
future.
    Thank you for the opportunity to testify, and I look 
forward to taking any questions.
    [The statement of Ms. Kulkarni follows:]
    [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
    
    Mr. Cohen. Thank you very much, and you were perfect on the 
five minutes.
    Our next Witness is Erika Lee. She is a Regents Professor 
of History and Asian American Studies and the Director of the 
Immigration History Research Center at University of Minnesota.
    She's the author of four award-winning books, including 
``America for Americans: A History of Xenophobia in the United 
States,'' which won the 2020 American Book Award and the 2020 
Asian Pacific American award for literature.
    Professor Lee received her MA and Ph.D. in history from the 
University of California, Berkeley, and her BA from Tufts 
University.
    Professor Lee, you're now recognized for five minutes.

                     STATEMENT OF ERIKA LEE

    Dr. Lee. Thank you so much, Chair Cohen and the Members of 
the Committee. I'm so honored to join you. I also want to thank 
all the congressional staffers who have helped to make this 
hearing possible.
    As we just heard from my fellow Witnesses, anti-Asian 
racism and violence has risen alarmingly. As shocking as these 
incidents are, it is so vital to understand that they are not 
random acts perpetrated by deranged individuals.
    They are an expression of our country's long history of 
systemic racism targeting Asian Americans and Pacific 
Islanders. We have heard in the past 24 hours many describe 
anti-Asian discrimination and racial violence as un-American. 
Unfortunately, it is very American.
    This history, this American history, is over 150 years old. 
Let me share just a few examples.
    In 1871, 17 Chinese were lynched by a mob of 500 in Los 
Angeles. This was the largest mass lynching in U.S. history. In 
1886, a mob of 1,500 forced out all Seattle's Chinese 
residents.
    In the early 20th century, South Asians were expelled from 
cities and Filipino Americans and Japanese Americans were 
attacked. Most recently, in 1982, Vincent Chin, a Chinese 
American, was beaten to death in Detroit because his attackers 
thought he was Japanese and blamed him for the economic decline 
in the auto industry.
    Throughout the 1980s, attacks on Korean shopkeepers and 
Southeast Asian refugees were widespread. After 9/11, hate 
crimes targeting Muslim, Middle Eastern, and South Asian 
Americans increased by 1,600 percent.
    As these incidents reveal, Asian Americans have been 
terrorized. We have been treated as enemies. We have been 
discriminated against. Today, we are still viewed as foreigners 
rather than U.S. citizens.
    The government of this country has not just ignored this 
problem, it has been part of the problem. Throughout much of 
our history, Congress and other elected officials have promoted 
and legalized anti-Asian racism through its laws and its 
actions.
    In 1875, Congress passed the so-called Page Act, which 
effectively barred the entry of Chinese women because lawmakers 
believed that all Chinese women were prostitutes.
    In 1882, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, the 
first Federal law singling out an entire group for immigration 
exclusion based on race.
    By the 1930s, all other Asian groups--Japanese, Korean, 
South Asians, and Filipinos--were also barred from the U.S. and 
prevented from becoming naturalized citizens. Asian immigration 
did not fully open again until 1965.
    In 1942, President Roosevelt signed an executive order that 
allowed for the incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans as 
prisoners without trial, and I want to thank Representative 
Matsui so much for sharing her own family's history so that we 
never forget the real consequences of racism.
    For many years after 9/11, not just right after the 
terrorist attack but for many years after, South Asian 
Americans faced systemic racism in the form of profiling by 
government agencies.
    During this past year, some of our highest elected 
officials deliberately and consistently use racist language 
tying COVID-19 to Asians. This included the phrases that we 
have been talking about this morning--Chinese virus, Wuhan 
virus, and also telling Americans to quote, ``Blame China for 
the pandemic'' unquote.
    These words matter, especially when they repeatedly came 
from the White House during the previous Administration. 
Researchers have found that the anti-Asian rhetoric promoted by 
leaders directly correlated with the rise in racist incidents 
against Asian Americans.
    This history of racism is not taught in our schools. 
Instead, many Americans believe the deceptive model minority 
stereotype portraying Asian Americans only as success stories, 
proving that AAPIs do, indeed, experience structural racism and 
institutionalized discrimination remains a persistent 
challenge.
    The last time and seemingly the only other time in our 
country's history that Congress has held hearings on anti-Asian 
racism was 34 years ago before this Committee. Over 20 million 
in number, Asian Americans are now the fastest growing racial 
group in the United States.
    We are your constituents. We are in crisis from the 
multiple and disproportionate effects of the pandemic on our 
diverse AAPI communities.
    U.S. citizens are being told to go back to their own 
countries. Nurses and doctors on the front lines are subjected 
to racist tirades. As we have seen in Atlanta, Asian-owned 
businesses and workers are being attacked, and all this 
violence especially targets women.
    Like all Americans, AAPIs are struggling with the public 
health crisis and a shuttered economy. That we also have to 
worry about being attacked or harassed in our own neighborhoods 
makes our pandemic experience even more difficult.
    Congress needs to Act definitively and immediately to 
address the enduring problem of anti-Asian racism in the U.S. 
The acts facing AAPIs today are a systemic national tragedy. 
They will not simply go away after the pandemic.
    We call upon our leaders to condemn racism in all its 
forms, invest in the AAPI communities, and support individuals 
who've experienced race-based violence. We cannot afford to 
wait another 34 years for Congress to act.
    Thank you very much.
    [The statement of Dr. Lee follows:]
    [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
    
    Mr. Cohen. Thank you, Professor Lee.
    Our next Witness is Charles Lehman. Mr. Lehman is a Fellow 
with the Manhattan Institute working primarily on the Policing 
and Public Safety Initiative.
    He is also a contributing editor of City Journal. Mr. 
Lehman received his BA from Yale University.
    Mr. Lehman, you're recognized for five minutes.

                  STATEMENT OF CHARLES LEHMAN

    Mr. Lehman. Thank you to the Committee for the invitation 
to speak today about the important issue of rising crime 
against Asian Americans.
    Many of our fellow citizens now fear for their safety in 
their own neighborhoods. I am glad this matter has not escaped 
Congress' attention, particularly in light of Tuesday's awful 
shooting outside of Atlanta.
    I am speaking today as a researcher focused on crime, and 
it is in that capacity that I want to offer two points.
    The first is that while some of these offenses were 
doubtless motivated by bias, you should be cautious when 
interpreting the broader trends solely as a spike in hate 
crimes.
    The second, relatedly is that these crimes should be 
understood as part of a larger surge in violence. As you're 
aware, crime is rising and several Asian-American communities, 
particularly, in the greater Bay Area and New York City.
    There have been reports of assaults, daylight robberies, 
and general mayhem targeting Asian citizens, especially the 
elderly. Many have identified these offenses as hate crimes, 
linking them to bigoted sentiments inspired by the coronavirus 
pandemic.
    The FBI, which tracks such offenses, defines a hate crime 
as one motivated by a defendant's, quote, ``bias against a 
race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, 
gender, or gender identity.''
    Last spring saw a spike in hate crimes against Asian 
Americans as major cities experienced a 150 percent increase 
over 2019. This was doubtless driven by rhetoric blaming Asians 
for the coronavirus crisis.
    In the latest wave, some offenses are plainly bias 
motivated like the attack in Seattle, which assailant Samuel 
Green told Kathryn Yeager, quote, ``Asians need to be put in 
your place,'' as he shoved her to the ground.
    Not all the recent cases are so clear cut. The reason for 
Tuesday's horrific shootings in Atlanta remains unclear. The 
police suspect it is not racially motivated. Law enforcement in 
both New York and Northern California are reportedly not 
investigating many of the high-profile offenses as hate crimes.
    Other factors are likely at play. Consider Yahya Muslim, 
arrested for shoving three Asian adults, including a 91-year-
old, in Oakland's Chinatown. Muslim, who is homeless, has a 
history of mental illness which his defense counsel blames for 
the attack.
    Counsel for Antoine Watson, who allegedly shot and killed 
84-year-old Vichar Ratanapakdee in San Francisco, has also 
appealed to the teenager's mental health, rejecting charges of 
bias.
    Other cases start to look different given context. Filipino 
New Yorker, Noel Quintana, was a victim of a subway knife 
attack that some have called racially motivated. Several other 
non-Asian victims have also recently been slashed on the MTA, 
part of rising transit crime which swept up Quintana.
    My purpose in making these points is not to deny the role 
biases played in some offenses or to downplay the seriousness 
of anti-Asian bigotry.
    I want to condemn in no uncertain terms hate crimes of all 
sorts. They are a particularly vicious species of offense, 
motivated by special animus and deserving a special 
denunciation. No American should have to face discrimination of 
any kind.
    Rather, I wish to emphasize to the Committee that if they 
analyze these offenses solely as hate crimes, they will miss 
critical context and, thereby, risk making under informed 
decisions.
    In particular, we cannot discuss these offenses without 
highlighting the past year's violent crime wave. Criminologist 
Jeff Asher has estimated that 2020 saw the largest one-year 
spike in homicides on record as murder increased by more than 
30 percent in nearly 40 major cities.
    New data indicates the trend has persisted into early 2021. 
That pattern appears in cities where Asian residents are being 
attacked. In San Francisco, homicide is up 17 percent.
    In New York, homicides rose 40 percent while shootings 
nearly doubled. In Oakland, 2020 saw the highest homicide rate 
in eight years and the city is on track for a worse 2021. With 
157 dead, the Atlanta Journal Constitution called 2020 the 
city's deadliest year in decades.
    That violence is a product of free-roaming criminals. Carl 
Chan, head of Oakland's Chinatown Chamber of Commerce, 
describes how, quote, ``Businesses are so fearful they prefer 
to close early. We also have many juveniles driving around 
Chinatown and carrying guns, so they're also hurting people 
before they're being robbed.''
    This is description not of hate crimes but of out and out 
lawlessness. This behavior seems, obviously, tied to recent 
political hostility to the police. Many cities have yielded to 
activists' demands that they slash police budgets and cut 
public safety services.
    Bigotry may have played a role in these offenses. Changing 
the hearts and minds of bigots is far harder from a 
policymaker's perspective than preventing bigotry-driven 
crimes.
    If anything is to blame for the terror now plaguing Asian 
Americans, it's public officials' dereliction of their duty to 
preserve public safety.
    I urge the Members of the Committee to advocate a 
restoration of public safety by pushing back on anti-police 
rhetoric and by supporting more Federal funding for police.
    This is the best way to ensure that Asian Americans and all 
Americans can again walk the streets free from the fear of 
violent crime.
    Thank you, and I look forward to taking your questions.
    [The statement of Mr. Lehman follows:]
    [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
    
    Mr. Cohen. Thank you, Mr. Lehman.
    Our next Witness is with us here in person. That's a nice 
exception. Nice for you to be here. Mr. Wencong Fa is an 
attorney with the Pacific Legal Foundation litigating cases 
focused on free speech and equality before the law.
    He received his JD from the University of Michigan--not in 
the NCAA tournament, I think. Maybe they are. I don't know. A 
Master's--they are in the tournament, aren't they? A Master's 
degree of political philosophy from the London School of 
Economics and a BA from the University of Texas Dallas.
    Mr. Fa, you are recognized for five minutes, sir.

                    STATEMENT OF WENCONG FA

    Mr. Fa. Chair, Ranking Member, thank you for inviting me to 
testify today. Before I begin, I want to express my--I want to 
say that I'm saddened by the violence committed in Georgia on 
Tuesday. I express my heartfelt condolences to the families of 
the victims.
    I never could have imagined being here today when I boarded 
a flight from Beijing to San Francisco 25 years ago. I knew two 
words of English when I got to America: Banana, which I likely 
learned on the plane, and goodbye, which my grandmother taught 
me in Beijing as she dropped me off at the bus stop every 
Sunday.
    Since then, I became the first person in my family to 
receive a law degree, and I won the first case I litigated 
before the Supreme Court in June 2018.
    A few hours after I got the decision in the Supreme Court 
case, I went to take a citizenship test in front of an 
immigration officer, and I laughed when he asked me how many 
justices there were on the Supreme Court.
    I have since become a proud citizen of the United States. I 
am here today to say that racial discrimination is wrong. When 
it comes to Asian Americans in education, far too many in our 
government condone discrimination.
    This is something I've experienced firsthand as an attorney 
with the Pacific Legal Foundation, where my colleagues and I 
represent Asian-American families who have felt the sting of 
government-sanctioned discrimination.
    These families seek to vindicate the principle of equality 
before the law, which requires government to treat people as 
individuals and forbids government from treating us differently 
on the basis of government-sanctioned stereotypes.
    Last week, Pacific Legal Foundation filed a case 
challenging Fairfax County's discriminatory changes to its 
admission policy for Thomas Jefferson High School, or TJ, as it 
is more commonly known.
    We represent a coalition of parents, including Dr. Chen, a 
Chinese American and a Chinese immigrant who is now a chemistry 
professor. His oldest daughter attends TJ but her younger 
sister might not get that chance.
    That's because the county replaced an objective test with a 
so-called holistic process designed to racially balance the 
student body at the expense of Asian-American students.
    The changes at TJ were made against the backdrop of 
unfounded racial stereotypes. One school board member referred 
to the culture at TJ as toxic.
    A Virginia State delegate accused Asian Americans of being 
dishonest in getting their children admitted and made the 
baseless claim that the parents had no intention of staying in 
America.
    We're pursuing a similar case in Montgomery County where 
efforts to racially balance the magnet middle schools have 
drastically reduced the number of Asian-American students. In 
yet another case I represent Asian-American families in New 
York.
    My clients include Asian-American immigrants who want the 
opportunity for their children to earn their way into public 
schools like Stuyvesant, Bronx Science, and Brooklyn Tech.
    Mayor de Blasio stated that the majority Asian compositions 
of those schools was a, quote, ``monumental injustice,'' and 
changed the admissions policy to make it harder for low-income 
Asian-American students to get into those schools.
    Pacific Legal Foundation has also filed a friend of the 
court brief and students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, the 
case challenging Harvard's explicit use of race in a way that 
decreases Asian American enrollment.
    This, too, has led to pernicious stereotypes, including 
college guidebooks telling Asian-American students to refrain 
from saying that they aspire to pursue a career in medicine or 
major in math or science. Apparently, those interests are too 
Asian.
    This is America. Government should not condone 
discrimination and it must not actively engage in it. The 
Subcommittee should continue to explore ways in which official 
government policy has discriminated against Asian Americans and 
continue to work with Pacific Legal Foundation and others to 
end this racial discrimination.
    Thank you.
    [The statement of Mr. Fa follows:]
    [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
    
    Mr. Cohen. Thank you for your testimony, thank you for 
appearing in person, and thank you for keeping your mask up. 
That is appreciated by all on this Committee.
    Our next Witness is Mr. Daniel Dae Kim. Mr. Kim is an actor 
and producer. He's best known for his role as Jin-Soo Know on 
the TV series ``Lost'' in which he shared a 2006 Screen Actors 
Guild Award for Best Ensemble. He also portrayed Chin Ho Kelly 
on the series ``Hawaii Five-O'' for seven seasons.
    Last month, together with actor Daniel Wu, he offered a 
$25,000 reward for information regarding a January 31 assault 
of a 91-year-old man in Oakland's Chinatown, following two 
similar incidents targeting elderly Asian residents.
    Mr. Kim received a Master of Fine Arts degree from New York 
University and his undergraduate degree from Haverford College.
    Mr. Kim, you're recognized for five minutes.

                  STATEMENT OF DANIEL DAE KIM

    Mr. Kim. Thank you, Chair Cohen, and Ranking Member Roy, 
and the Members of the Judiciary Committee.
    I am both honored and dismayed to be back in front of you 
again. Some of you may remember that I was with you just this 
past September discussing the importance of diversity in 
American media.
    You may recall that the reason I was moved to speak then 
was because the House had just recently passed H.R. 908 
condemning all forms of anti-hate Asian sentiment.
    I was disheartened to find that for a bill that required no 
money or resources, just a simple condemnation of acts of hate 
against people of Asian descent, 164 Members of Congress, all 
Republican, voted against it.
    No, here I am again, because as every Witness in this 
hearing has pointed out, the situation has gotten worse, much 
worse. Vichar Ratanapakdee murdered. Pak Ho murdered. Noel 
Quintana face slashed with a blade from ear to ear. An 89-year-
old woman set on fire. Tadataka Ono, a professional jazz 
pianist, beaten so badly he can no longer play piano. Now, 
seven Asian people shot dead in Georgia two days ago, six of 
whom were women.
    These are only a few of the 3,800 reported incidents since 
last March. I was speaking to a pollster during the recent 
elections, and I asked him why, when I see polling results 
broken down by race, do I so rarely see Asian Americans as a 
separate category.
    He heard my question, he looked me dead in the eye, and he 
said, ``Because Asian Americans are considered statistically 
insignificant.'' Statistically insignificant.
    Now, all of you listening to me here by virtue of your own 
elections are more familiar with the intricacies of polling 
than I am. So, undoubtedly, you already know what this means. 
Statistically insignificant literally means we don't matter.
    We, as Asian Americans, have come to this country because 
we believe in the American dream. Many of us have succeeded and 
some of us are even the front-line healthcare workers upon whom 
we have all come to depend during this terrible pandemic.
    Many of us are struggling, too. In fact, the wealth 
disparity between the richest Asian Americans and the poorest 
is the largest of any ethnic group in America. In New York, 
Asian Americans have a higher poverty rate than any other 
minority group where fully one in four are living below the 
poverty line, and poverty rates among Asian-American seniors 
are much higher than the national average. That's something to 
consider as we watch the most vulnerable in our community get 
taunted, pushed, slashed, and murdered.
    Despite this wide disparity of experiences, we continue to 
be tagged the model minority. We simply cannot continue to live 
with the myth that the most successful of us represent the 
totality of us.
    So, we know the hurdles we face. The question for us here, 
is what can we do about them? One of the places that starts is 
with education.
    Let's teach them everything that Professor Lee so 
eloquently highlighted for us, including celebrating the fact 
that the most decorated combat unit in U.S. military history 
was the 42nd Combat Team, a unit in World War II made up 
entirely of Asian Americans.
    Now, these are not moments in Asian-American history. This 
is American history. When we are erased from our history books, 
we are made invisible and the result, to quote Congresswoman 
Meng, is ``that we are perpetually made to feel like foreigners 
in our own country.''
    Include our stories because they matter. We must also 
empower our local community organizers by directing funds to 
areas that have been historically impoverished, not just for 
the benefit of the AAPI community but for the for the benefit 
of all communities living there, most of whom are nonWhite.
    It's no wonder that there's historically been tension among 
racial groups when the thing they have most in common is 
poverty and lack of access to services.
    There happen to be two pieces of legislation before this 
Committee as we speak that deal with these specific issues. One 
is the No Hate bill. It provides necessary grants of money to 
community organizations, counseling for those convicted of hate 
crimes, and improve data collection for hate crime reporting, 
among other important services.
    The Committee also has before it right now the COVID-19 
Hate Crimes Act, introduced by Congresswoman Meng and Senator 
Hirono. It's crucial that we have reliable reporting for these 
hate crimes and an infrastructure that makes it easy for people 
for whom English is not their primary language.
    Chair Nadler, you have been an ally to the AAPI community 
in the past. I respectfully urge you not to let these bills 
languish in Committee but see them through so that they can be 
passed by the Full House and then on to the Senate.
    Now, I'm not naive enough to think that I'm going to 
convince all of you to stand up for us. Trust me, I've seen 
your voting records. I am speaking to those to whom humanity 
still matters.
    In closing, let me just say that there are several moments 
in a country's history that chart its course indelibly for the 
future. For Asian Americans, that moment is now.
    What happens right now and over the course of the coming 
months will send a message for generations to come as to 
whether we matter, whether the country we call home chooses to 
erase us or include us, dismiss us, or respect us, invisibleize 
us, or see us.
    Because you may consider us statistically insignificant 
now, but one more fact that has no alternative is that we are 
the fastest growing racial demographic in the country. We are 
23 million strong. We are united and we are waking up.
    Thank you.
    [The statement of Mr. Kim follows:]
    [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
    
    Mr. Cohen. Thank you, sir.
    Our next Witness is Shirin Sinnar. She is a professor of 
law and Johnnie Wilson faculty scholar at Stanford Law School. 
Her scholarship focuses on, among other things, the role of 
institutions for protecting individual rights and democratic 
values in the national security context.
    Her recent work assesses the legal regime for domestic and 
international terrorism under U.S. law. Professor Sinnar holds 
a JD from Stanford, a Master of philosophy and international 
relations from Cambridge University, and an MA and a BA as well 
from Harvard.
    She was a law clerk for the Honorable Warren G. Ferguson--
Warren J. Ferguson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth 
Circuit.
    Professor Sinnar, you are now recognized for five minutes.

                   STATEMENT OF SHIRIN SINNAR

    Ms. Sinnar. Thank you for convening this important hearing 
and inviting me to participate.
    I want to begin by acknowledging the horrific mass 
shootings in Atlanta. Whatever the motive, those murders have 
traumatized Asian-American communities already reeling from a 
year of persistent hate violence.
    I'd like to make two points today. First, while the causes 
of hate crimes are complex, academic research shows that 
hostile rhetoric from political leaders towards immigrants or 
racial minorities can embolden people to commit violence 
against them.
    Research also shows that political events that change 
perceptions of social norms, like acceptability of racist or 
xenophobic views, have triggered hate violence.
    Specifically with respect to former President Trump, prior 
studies have shown that hate crimes spiked immediately after 
his election and that his negative tweets towards Muslims 
strongly correlated with anti-Muslim hate crimes.
    That brings us to the past year when former President Trump 
and other political leaders relentlessly characterized the 
corona-virus in racist terms as recently as this week. Stop 
AAPI Hate's research shows that Donald Trump's anti-Asian 
tweets were shared on social media over a million times. A 
substantial number of anti-Asian hate incidents used language 
similar to Trump's.
    Beyond rhetoric, the racial profiling of Chinese and 
Chinese-American researchers, scientists, and students as 
security risks exposes Asian-American communities to a higher 
risk of societal discrimination and violence.
    This is familiar from the experience of South Asian, 
Muslim, Sikh, and Arab-American communities treated as suspects 
over the nearly two-decade-long war on terror.
    While hostile rhetoric or discriminatory policy is 
certainly not the sole cause of recent anti-Asian violence, it 
has made Asian Americans vulnerable both to racially motivated 
and to opportunistic attacks.
    The second point I'd like to make is that while the 
response to hate crimes is often billed as a call for increased 
sentences, many Asian-American community organizations are now 
advocating a broader set of strategies to address hate crimes.
    Horrific acts like the Atlanta shootings require a serious 
law enforcement response. For several reasons, community groups 
are also looking for solutions beyond criminal law, especially 
with respect to the more common forms of hate crimes that 
occur.
    For one thing, many incidents of hate speech targeting 
Asian Americans do not qualify as criminal, but they still 
create significant harm.
    In addition, many victims do not report incidents to police 
because of mistrust of law enforcement, and concern around over 
policing and mass incarceration has led many communities of 
color to consider other avenues to help victims heal, hold 
perpetrators accountable, and prevent violence.
    Numerous Asian American organizations have emphasized the 
importance of cross-racial solidarity in response to hate 
crimes rather than pitting struggling communities against one 
another. Many have advocated deep investments in communities to 
strengthen support systems, both to prevent violence and to 
support violence when hate crimes occur.
    That support can take many forms, whether it is in funding 
culturally competent mental healthcare services, reforming 
victim compensation programs to better support hate crimes 
victims, hosting conflict de-escalation training, or 
establishing grant programs to protect institutions at high 
risk of hate crimes.
    There is also growing interest in exploring forms of 
restorative justice to address hate crimes, especially with 
respect to young offenders and relatively less serious 
offenses.
    Restorative justice refers to processes that bring together 
people affected by an offense to address the harm and agree 
upon mechanisms to repair it.
    Some evidence suggests that restorative justice programs 
reduce recidivism and alleviate the emotional harm of survivors 
better than traditional criminal processes. They are not an 
option in every case and much more research is necessary.
    There is growing interest within communities in creative 
alternatives to hold people accountable, help victims recover 
their sense of safety, and prevent further violence.
    Thank you for the opportunity to share these thoughts.
    [The statement of Ms. Sinnar follows:]
    [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
    
    Mr. Cohen. Thank you for sharing.
    Our last Witness is Hiroshi Motomura. He is Susan 
Westerberg Prager Distinguished Professor of Law Faculty co-
director, Center for Immigration Law and Policy at UCLA. His 
teachings and scholarship focus on immigration and citizenship.
    His book ``Americans in Waiting: The Lost Story of 
Immigration and Citizenship in the United States'' won the 
Professional and Scholarly Publishing Award for the Association 
of American Publishers as the year's best book in law and legal 
studies.
    Professor Motomura received his JD from Cal Berkeley and 
his BA from Yale.
    Professor, you're now recognized for five minutes.

                 STATEMENT OF HIROSHI MOTOMURA

    Mr. Motomura. Mr. Chair and Ranking Member, thank you for 
the opportunity to speak to you today.
    My remarks take a step back from the specifics of the 
incidents that other Witnesses addressed. There's a natural 
tendency to explain away these crimes as the isolated acts of a 
few individuals, and related is the natural tendency to avoid a 
deep look at why these crimes were committed. Why more crimes 
now, why against victims of Asian ancestry.
    These crimes follow a long historical pattern, as you've 
heard today. Well, I'd like to explain a key reason for this 
history. Individuals commit crimes, but they do so in a society 
that reflects the laws under which we live.
    To see hate crimes as isolated is to close our eyes to the 
role of law in shaping attitudes, especially about who is 
worthy and who is not.
    My focus is on the immigration laws of the United States 
and especially how these laws have laid the foundation of hate 
crimes against Asian Americans in the past, in the present, but 
I hope not in the future.
    I'll start by observing that throughout our nation's 
history, immigration laws and statutes, regulations, and 
Executive Branch orders have discriminated and excluded on the 
basis of race, nationality, religion, and ethnicity.
    There are many examples. Chinese exclusion, as you've 
heard, dates back to the 1870s and 1880s, but it was the law of 
the land until 1943. My own family was one of the very small 
number of Japanese allowed to come from America before 1965, 
when immigration from Asia was severely limited.
    Similarly, the large undocumented population from Mexico 
reflects an immigration system that historically has treated 
Mexican immigrants as disposable labor and today offers too few 
legal opportunities to work and live with family in this 
country.
    Most recently, many people have been barred from the United 
States because they come from certain majority-Muslim or 
African countries.
    The immigration laws, at their simplest, separate ``them,'' 
in quotes, outside the border from ``us,'' also in quotes, 
inside the border, and this may be why public figures have felt 
free to disparage and insult people from certain other 
countries, even when some of those same public figures might 
never say the same thing about U.S. citizens who trace their 
family roots to those very same places.
    Immigration laws don't just affect people outside the 
United States. Immigration laws can make it hard or even 
impossible for some U.S. citizens, but not others, to live in 
this country, in their United States, with their spouses and 
children and other close relatives--in other words, to make a 
family here, to make a life here in this United States as a 
family.
    In this way, immigration laws tell some U.S. citizens 
they're still foreigners, that they cannot fully partake in 
American life.
    If they trace their family origin to disfavored parts of 
the world, or if they follow a disfavored faith, the message is 
that their citizenship isn't as worthy of respect as the 
citizenship of other Americans.
    Their citizenship is devalued, and in these ways, 
immigration laws enable discrimination that's based on race, 
often against U.S. citizens.
    Chinese exclusion, for example, was rooted in the idea that 
people of Chinese descent do not become equal citizens of this 
country because they're not White.
    When 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry, most of whom were 
U.S. citizens, were incarcerated in relocation camps during 
World War II, this too was only possible because they were seen 
as foreign because of their race.
    So, especially when this permission to discriminate is 
embraced, endorsed, or amplified by public figures, what 
happens next should come as no surprise.
    The message is that some U.S. citizens don't belong, that 
they're really foreigners, and that their lives and property 
aren't worth as much.
    That message leads to hate crimes against people cast by 
our American immigration laws as fundamentally less American. 
No hate crime is an isolated act. We need to take national 
responsibility for the role of law in what we're seeing today.
    By discriminating in ways that suggest some U.S. citizens 
don't belong here, our immigration laws have laid the 
foundation for hate crimes, and as long as our laws continue to 
lay this foundation our entire country will suffer because the 
promise of a shared citizenship that can unite us all will 
remain unfulfilled.
    Thank you.
    [The statement of Mr. Motomura follows:]
    [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
    
    Mr. Cohen. Thank you, sir. We appreciate your attendance 
and your participation in our hearing. We will now enter a 
round of questioning and we will be under the five-minute rule 
ourselves and I'll begin by recognizing myself for a question.
    I'd like to ask Ms. Lee, is there empirical or historical 
evidence supporting the claim that leaders promoting 
stereotypes or using rhetoric aimed at a particular ethnic 
racial group leads to increased levels of discrimination or 
violence against that group? Are there historical examples of 
this?
    Dr. Lee. Thank you, Chair, for that wonderful question, and 
the answer is, clearly, yes. There is, unfortunately, a huge 
amount of historical evidence. The record is very clear. We 
have got mayors of major cities, we have lawmakers in Congress 
explaining Asian people in the crudest, most racist terms.
    In 1876 in San Francisco, Mayor Bryant, a mayor of the time 
of that city, gathered a mob of thousands of people in downtown 
San Francisco and talked about the Chinese immigration question 
as one that needed to be solved, or that if Chinese immigration 
would continue it would lead to the downfall of American 
civilization and of the White race.
    In 1882, when Congress is introducing--lawmakers introduced 
the Chinese Exclusion Act, some of the lawmakers, including 
Senator Miller of California, described Chinese immigrants as a 
degraded and inferior race and a threat to national security. 
They stole jobs from White workers. They were also a danger to 
the public good of the country.
    Then during World War II, our military leaders were very 
explicit in their descriptions of Japanese people, Japanese 
Americans, as quote, ``an enemy race'' unquote.
    One of the leaders of that was one of our military 
officials, Lieutenant General John L. DeWitt, who was in charge 
of making sure that Japanese Americans were forcibly removed 
and relocated from the West Coast.
    Mr. Cohen. Thank you very much.
    Dr. Lee. We know that--thank you.
    Mr. Cohen. Thank you. We have a miserable history in this 
area. I appreciate your elucidating upon it.
    I'd now like to yield the remainder of my time to the 
Honorable Ted Lieu, Congressman from California.
    Mr. Lieu. Thank you, Chair Cohen, for holding this 
important hearing and for allowing me to participate.
    Asian Americans have now experienced a surge in hate 
crimes, hate incidents, and discrimination since the start of 
the pandemic, and I want to explore some of the reasons for 
that.
    I was struck, Professor Motomura, when your testimony 
stated that individuals commit crimes, but they do so in a 
culture and a society that reflects many influences. Professor 
Sinnar, in your testimony you talk about the rhetoric being 
employed.
    Can we discuss whether there's a link between the rhetoric 
being employed and the increase in hate crimes against Asian 
Americans?
    Ms. Sinnar. When [audio interference] former President 
Donald Trump uses racist dog whistles that are, clearly, 
interpreted as an effort to blame one community or one 
government and, by implication, the community of people who are 
thought to be associated with it, that affects the entire 
society, and Stop AAPI Hate's research shows as well that those 
tweets from the former President were retweeted over a million 
times.
    So, once you have that norm setting at the top that 
normalizes stigmatizing a particular community for hate, it 
does lead to ripple effects across society at large.
    Mr. Lieu. Thank you very much.
    I'd like to now respond to the Ranking Republican Member 
today at the hearing. I previously served on active duty in the 
United States Air Force. I'm very aware of who the bad guys are 
and who our foreign enemies are.
    This hearing is about Americans of Asian descent who are 
being targeted in the United States. It's not about policing 
speech. I served on active duty so you can say whatever you 
want under the First Amendment. You can say racist stupid stuff 
if you want.
    I'm asking you to please stop using racist terms like Kung 
Flu or Wuhan virus other ethnic identifiers in describing this 
virus.
    I am not a virus, and when you say things like that it 
hurts the Asian-American community. Whatever political points 
you think you are scoring by using ethnic identifiers in 
describing this virus, you are harming Americans who happen to 
be of Asian descent. So, please stop doing that.
    I yield back.
    Mr. Cohen. Thank you, Representative Lieu, for your service 
to our country and your service to our country today.
    I now recognize Mr. Burgess Owens who is virtually with us. 
So, Mr. Burgess Owens, the ball is in your court. Five minutes.
    Mr. Owens. Thank you. Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. One 
second. Hold tight.
    Now, we have heard a lot today about the alarming rise in 
violence against Asian Americans. My heart goes out to the 
Asian-American community and all victims of crime. No one 
should feel unsafe in their own neighborhoods.
    I'm concerned that there's a culture of lawlessness that's 
become pervasive and attacks every community, and we need to 
follow the facts.
    For example, in 2008 a survey by the San Francisco Police 
Department studied 300 robberies. In 85 percent of the assault 
crimes, the victims were Asian, the perpetrators were Black 
Americans.
    Between 1980 and 2008, the Department of Justice found that 
84 percent of White victims were killed by White offenders and 
93 percent of Black victims were killed by Black offenders.
    What does this tell us about the possibility of a deeper, 
more systemic issue like the deterioration of the family unit 
and the negative impact it is having on all communities?
    In addition to the violence, we're also seeing 
institutional discrimination against Asian Americans in 
universities. Although the Asian community has been very 
successful academically, but it's also been discriminated 
against because it's a culture committed to meritocracy.
    As someone who's grown up in the 1980s, I understand 
exactly what institutional racism looks like, and using 
someone's race as a factor against admission to college is 
totally un-American. Our colleges must end that now.
    These issues are complicated, and I hope we can get to the 
bottom of the rise of the lawlessness that no American should 
experience--no American should experience, and the 
institutional discrimination against Asian Americans through 
our colleges and universities.
    Our government cannot condone or take part in this type of 
racism.
    Mr. Lehman, I do have a question. As you state, citizens in 
all communities, Asian Americans among them, have the right to 
live free from [audio interference].
    Mr. Cohen. Mr. Owens, you asked a question of someone, I 
believe. Who did you direct your question to?
    Mr. Owens. Mr. Lehman.
    Mr. Cohen. Mr. Lehman?
    [Technical issues.]
    Mr. Cohen. Sounds like.
    [Technical issues.]
    Mr. Cohen. It seems we have a problem with our system.
    Can anybody hear me out there?
    [Simultaneous speaking.]
    Mr. Cohen. Yeah, but nobody can hear it. So, can we stop 
the time? Are we fixing it? Is he muted, maybe? I don't think--
Mr. Lieu, can you hear me?
    [No response.]
    Mr. Cohen. Mr. Lehman, can you hear me?
    [No response.]
    Mr. Cohen. Well, I guess now we know why they call it 
WebEx.
    Testing. Is there any--anybody hears?
    [Pause.]
    Mr. Lehman. --it should swiftly and certainly enforce law 
in these communities.
    Mr. Cohen. Mr. Lehman, I think we're back. Can you hear me? 
Can people hear me?
    Mr. Lehman, try to talk again.
    Mr. Lehman. Yes, I can hear you. I'm sorry. I didn't 
realize we had cut out.
    Mr. Cohen. You're back on. You cut out at the 2:47 mark. If 
you could rewind too there.
    [Laughter.]
    Mr. Lehman. Oh, yes. I'm sorry. I've been talking to 
Representative Owens. I'm not sure--I guess it did not come 
through.
    Mr. Cohen. Nobody could hear you. Rewind to 2:40 and start 
over again. That's something a Yale man should be able to do.
    Mr. Lehman. Yes, sir.
    I don't know what we were talking about--
    Mr. Owens. Do we need to repeat--do I need to repeat the 
question?
    Mr. Cohen. Please repeat the question.
    Mr. Owens. Okay. What do we need to do to end these attacks 
that we're now seeing on the rise of it being perpetrated 
against Asian Americans and, I will say, at other Americans 
that are going through the same issues at this point?
    Mr. Lehman. Yeah. I think that the most important and most 
possibly effective policy response comes down to acting to 
ensure safety in communities and the best tool that we have for 
that public safety enforcement is the police on the streets.
    I agree with my co-panelists that we want to combat bigotry 
in the hearts and minds of some Americans, but that's not the 
most swift or certain way to reduce violent crime in our 
communities. Effective policing is.
    Mr. Owens. Okay, thank you.
    Mr. Fa, is there a way to achieve diversity at institutions 
of higher learning without considering race within the 
application or admissions process?
    Mr. Fa. Yes, I think there are ways to achieve diversity 
without using race on college campuses. I think when we talk 
about diversity, it's a mistake just to think about it in terms 
of racial diversity.
    I think a lot of universities are not very diverse in terms 
of different ideologies, different viewpoints, and I think we 
should be doing more to ensure that students on college 
campuses are hearing views from all sides.
    In terms of racial diversity itself, I think there are 
certain ways that were proffered by the Students For Fair 
Admission in the Harvard case.
    Harvard currently, as it stands, gives preferences to 
athletes, to legacy admits, to big donors, and to children of 
faculty, and I think reducing or eliminating those preferences 
would lead to an increase in even racial diversity without 
using racial preferences.
    Mr. Owens. Very good. Thank you so much, and I'm going to 
yield back my time. Thank you so much.
    Mr. Cohen. Thank you, Representative Owens.
    I now yield five minutes to the honorable, distinguished, 
the renowned, and the respected gentleman from Maryland, Mr. 
Raskin.
    Mr. Raskin. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
    Anti-Asian American violence is skyrocketing. We have seen 
a 150 percent surge in anti-Asian American hate crimes in major 
cities including an 81-year-old woman being punched in the face 
and lit on fire outside her own home, a 61-year-old man being 
slashed in the face with a box cutter on the subway in New York 
City, a woman being doused in the face with a burning toxic 
chemical as she took out the trash at her home, and a 15-year-
old boy being hospitalized after being attacked at school by a 
bully assailant who claimed he had COVID-19 because he was 
Asian.
    The governor of Maryland, Larry Hogan, whose wife, Yumi, is 
Korean American, told me in a phone conversation yesterday that 
he and his wife and his daughter's closest friends have all 
been affected by the new wave of hostility against the AAPI 
community.
    Governor Hogan told me that close family friends have been 
assaulted in a convenience store, screamed at by racists 
telling them to go back to China, and told that they did not 
want to sit next to them on an airplane because they were Asian 
and had COVID.
    There's no free speech defense to commission of violent 
assaults on Asian Americans or anybody else and the bizarre 
invocation of free speech in this context is a dangerous and 
irrelevant distraction from the violence engulfing AAPI 
communities across the land.
    We have got Korean-American, Japanese-American, and 
Vietnamese-American constituents who've been attacked by racist 
fanatics screaming about the Wuhan flu. So, just consider the 
leaps of illogic and fallacy which lead to this kind of crime.
    First, you've got to blame the COVID-19 virus on the 
Chinese government or the Chicoms, as the Ranking Member 
probably puts it, an authoritarian government which President 
Trump lavishly praised 37 different times in the first three 
months of COVID-19 for its excellent response.
    Then you've got to blame the lethal recklessness of 
President Trump, who said COVID-19 would magically disappear by 
Easter and suggested injecting bleach as a miracle cure and 
refused to develop any nationwide plan to crush the virus on 
the Chinese government and on the Chinese people.
    Then you've got to associate the alleged policy errors of 
the Chinese government with the Chinese people. Then you must 
associate the Chinese people with Chinese-American citizens of 
the United States.
    Then you must associate Chinese-American citizens with 
Korean- and Vietnamese-Americans citizens, and so on. Then you 
must assume that all your misguided and fallacious views 
justify violent attacks on Asian-American strangers.
    All these fallacies and lies are built on assumptions of 
collective guilt, mass punishment, and vigilante justice that 
are completely at odds with our constitutional values.
    So, it's remarkable to me that when we try to put a stop to 
this deranged violence, we have colleagues who think it's 
relevant or productive to defend Donald Trump's totally 
unmolested First amendment rights to blame his own failures on 
the Chinese government, which he enthusiastically praised 37 
different times.
    So, Mr. Yang, is the invocation of free speech relevant or 
constructive to the dialogue about anti-Asian American violence 
and racism today?
    Mr. Yang. Thank you for that question and thank you very 
much for expressing the powerful words that you do.
    Free speech is not a defense. We have no free speech right 
to yell ``fire'' in a crowded theater, and what is happening 
right now is the Asian Americans are in a crowded theater where 
we are being endangered.
    The other point is, regardless of free speech, all of us as 
leaders have an obligation to model behavior that we want our 
community to follow and model behavior that would lift our 
entire country up, instead of trying to be divisive and make 
individuals or communities targets of hate when it is 
unnecessary.
    The last thing that I would say is, as has been established 
by previous speakers, everyone agrees there is no medical 
benefit to using terms such as China virus and Wuhan flu, and 
everyone agrees that there is some effect, and you could debate 
how much, but there is an effect on the hate that theAsian-
American community has received.
    So, the cost benefit analysis is clear. The cost to the 
community, the Asian-American community, of calling the term 
that it is great. The benefit not used--the benefit of using 
these terms is nil. So, in that sense, it makes no sense.
    Mr. Raskin. Thank you so much.
    Professor Lee, would you agree that it is dangerous and 
irrational to conflate the question of random vigilante attacks 
in violence on American citizens with questions of foreign 
policy and the behavior of foreign governments?
    Dr. Lee. Yeah, thank you for that great question. It is 
irrational, but it has been part of our historical record and 
we have seen where that hate has led. There's been too many 
times when Japanese Americans, for example, had been conflated 
with the Japanese enemy.
    This is one of the ways in which American racism works. We 
think we should have learned this lesson by now in the 21st 
century, that, as all the fellow Witnesses have reiterated a 
point that really should not need to be made in the first 
place.
    We are Americans. We are Americans of Asian descent. We are 
proud of that ancestry and heritage. Conflating us with a 
foreign government has been an age-old way of denigrating us, 
separating us, making us other. That has led to racism in the 
past and it's leading to racism today.
    Mr. Raskin. Thank you very much.
    Mr. Chair, thank you for this great hearing and I yield 
back to you.
    Mr. Cohen. Thank you, Mr. Raskin.
    This problem that we see with the Asian-American community 
has been going on for years. The people who thrust this at us 
have seen Jews as being double citizens and having double 
citizenship--dual citizenship with Israel--which, of course, is 
not true. That's been put out too, and this type of stuff has 
gone on for years.
    As Professor Wiesel said, people who hate, hate everyone.
    I'd now like to yield to Ms. Fischbach.
    Ms. Fischbach. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
    I just have a quick, I guess--maybe not quick--a question 
for Mr. Fa, and I was just wondering, in your work fighting 
discrimination in the education admissions process, do you find 
this type of discrimination to be across all types of schools 
like public, private, regional, religious, and nonreligious?
    I guess I'm just wondering if there's a pattern or a 
general trend that you observe in the schools, the types of 
schools, that are having issue?
    Mr. Fa. Well, certainly--thank you, Congresswoman, for that 
question. Certainly, this type of discrimination happens at 
different types of schools. The Harvard case, obviously, 
considers a private school that is sub--that receives Federal 
funding. So, that's a lawsuit based on title VI.
    The work that we do at Pacific Legal Foundation really 
focuses on the equal protection clause, and the defendants in 
those cases are government entities and public schools.
    We see that throughout the country. We have fought 
discrimination in places like New York, places like Virginia, 
places like Maryland, and we fought racial quotas representing 
not just Asian-American families across the United States, but 
also Black and Hispanic families who are being denied 
educational opportunities on the basis of race.
    So, this is a prevalent issue in America, sadly, today. We 
look forward to enforcing our clients' rights under the equal 
protection clause and their right to equality before the law.
    Ms. Fischbach. Mr. Fa, maybe just a follow-up. There are 
some schools that, certainly, do better at not discriminating, 
and if you found that there are some characteristics about 
those schools that they share that the others don't have? Have 
you found anything about that?
    Mr. Fa. Sure. So, many of those schools are--that we have 
litigated are the admissions system, at least previously, have 
been governed by an objective test that anybody can take that 
is--and their chances of getting into those specialized schools 
or magnet schools they're determined by their score on the 
test. The highest scores on the test would get in no matter 
what their race or ethnicity.
    Unfortunately, local government in places like New York, 
Montgomery County, Thomas, and Virginia have found the results 
to be the schools have had too many Asians, in their opinion.
    So, they changed the admissions policies in cases to 
discriminate against Asian-American students, and in the case 
of our New York clients, low-income Asian-American students, 
only because there were too many--in their view, too many Asian 
Americans at those schools.
    Ms. Fischbach. Thank you, Mr. Fa, and thank you, Mr. Chair. 
I yield back.
    Mr. Cohen. Thank you, Ms. Fischbach. As terrible as that 
all is, when my father went to medical school, many of those 
medical schools did not accept Jews at all.
    I now recognize Ms. Ross.
    Ms. Ross. Thank you so much, Mr. Chair, and thank you for 
holding this very important hearing during this very important 
and sad week.
    I want to thank everyone on the panel for being here. I 
want to let you know that my district in North Carolina is home 
to a large and vibrant Asian-American community.
    These individuals, whether they were born here or came to 
North Carolina as immigrants, are an essential part of the 
Research Triangle's workforce and community. Wake County would 
not be the hub of innovation and culture that it is without 
their contributions.
    I'd like to ask unanimous consent to enter an article from 
our newspaper, the Raleigh News and Observer, on Asian hate 
crimes that appeared today.
    Mr. Cohen. Without objection it will be done.
    [The information follows:]
    

                        MS. ROSS FOR THE RECORD

=======================================================================

[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

    Ms. Ross. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
    Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, several of my 
constituents of Asian descent have reported racist incidents.
    One Chinese constituent was labeled a communist in a 
disparaging newspaper article. A college student found her 
Chinese New Year display in her dorm destroyed. Others have 
been verbally harassed to the extent that they worry about 
their safety in public.
    Unfortunately, this is not the first time in our nation's 
history. Asian Americans have found themselves subject 
discrimination, as we have heard today.
    This stems directly from xenophobic Federal policies. 
Earlier we heard Representative Matsui testify about the impact 
of living in an internment camp on her family.
    I would like to address my first question to Professor 
Motomura. I know that we have talked about anti-Asian laws and 
how they've contributed to our society. Could you give us 
examples of when anti-Asian laws have been repealed and how 
public sentiment has come to allow for that repeal?
    Mr. Motomura. Well, there are several examples, but one is 
that, as I mentioned in testimony, the Chinese exclusion laws 
were in place until the--from 1870s until 1943, and I think 
that one of the influences that resulted in the repeal of 
Chinese exclusion was the allyship between the United States 
and China during World War II.
    So, there are other events that came in. I'm not sure there 
was a particular change of heart with regard to the Chinese-
American community.
    Rhere was at that time, and Professor Lee might be able to 
speak more to this, but there's much more of a change of 
attitude trying to distinguish--there was efforts during a time 
to distinguish Chinese on foreign policy and war-related 
reasons from Japanese Americans.
    So, in some sense, you can look at this as a change of art 
with regard to Chinese Americans, but you could also look at it 
as an attempt to demonize the Japanese Americans. This was in 
1943. That would be one example.
    Then also in 1965, of course, and this is a very long 
history, and you probably don't want me to get into it on your 
time, but in 1965, of course, you have the National Origins 
Act, and that too is a racially restrictive scheme that was in 
place from 1921 until 1965.
    So, a lot of influences. That was really part of the civil 
rights movement to end the senseless scheme that had restricted 
migration from 1965. So, we have had these incidents. We have 
had examples of this.
    Ms. Ross. Thank you very much.
    Then just to follow up, are there examples of current or 
more recent immigration policies that have impacted Asian 
Americans and their families, even if perhaps they were not the 
targeted demographic?
    We're taking up immigration bills this week and I think 
that would be an important thing to know.
    Mr. Motomura. Yeah. Well, I think that there are different 
aspects of this. Some of this has to do with the inability of 
the American immigration system to fully accommodate the needs 
of the American economy with regard to workers.
    So, you have bills in place right now that would 
essentially grant legal immigration status to a number of 
workers, many of whom are essential workers, many of whom are 
from Asia. That would be one example of this.
    I think that there are restrictions right now that limit 
the ability of Asian immigrants to come to this country. I 
think this is also a pattern that--and the patterns that I was 
trying to describe earlier. They relate to all different sorts 
of ethnic groups.
    I think a much more concerning piece of this or an equally 
concerning piece of this is, as I mentioned in testimony, the 
treatment of Latino immigrants and the inability of Latino 
immigrants to acquire lawful immigration status.
    So, that would be another one that I think is actually 
going to demographically have significance as well.
    Ms. Ross. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I yield back.
    Mr. Cohen. Thank you, Madam Vice Chair.
    Next, I'll recognize Mr. Henry ``Hank'' Calvin Johnson.
    Mr. Johnson of Georgia. I thank the Chair for hosting this 
very timely hearing and I would like to ask unanimous consent 
to submit a 31-second video produced by the Asian Americans 
Advancing Justice Atlanta organization regarding violence 
against members of the AAPI community, along with a letter 
asking for a community-based response to the violence in 
Atlanta, which is dated March 18th, 2021, and is signed by 
multiple Asian-American community groups in my district, for 
the record.
    Mr. Cohen. Unanimous consent is granted. Ms. Garcia, Ms. 
Ross, it's unanimous.
    [The information follows:]
    
                 MR. JOHNSON OF GEORGIA FOR THE RECORD

=======================================================================


    A video produced by Asian Americans Advancing Justice--Atlanta, 
submitted by the Honorable Hank Johnson, a Member of the Subcommittee 
on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties from the State 
of Georgia for the record:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/phrlkuontbeid0r/Johnson%20Video.mp4?dl=0
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

    Mr. Johnson of Georgia. Thank you.
    Mr. Chair, my heart cries tears of sorrow and solidarity 
with the families of those killed [audio interference] mass 
murder [audio interference] left with fears of terror of what 
might happen next to them, their families, and AAPI friends.
    Whether the massacre in Atlanta was sex based or race 
based, it was hate based and directed at Asian women. No 
question about it. If genocide against Native Americans and 
slavery are our nation's Original Sin, then harassment and 
violence against Asian Americans is its progeny.
    As Georgia State Senator Michelle Au presciently said on 
Monday, this recent violence against Asian Americans is a new 
chapter in a very old story. The correlation between the rise 
of xenophobic and racist rhetoric by President Trump and his 
Republican Party supporters and the dramatic and alarming rise 
in violence against Asian Americans is not coincidental.
    It is an unfortunate and calculated result, which is open 
season on Asian Americans in this country, and when folks on 
this Committee talk about Chicoms what they're doing is using 
they're using an ethnic--they're using ethnic stereotypes 
against any people, and I resent it.
    As a Black man in America, I understand what it's like to 
be targeted because of how you look. I understand how terrible 
it is to be viewed by your fellow citizens as other in a Nation 
that prides itself, supposedly, on being the melting pot of the 
world.
    America, it's time to admit that we have a problem. It's 
time to take affirmative action to correct that problem. I look 
forward to a time where we can banish hate and replace it with 
love in this country.
    With that, I'd like to ask you, Mr. Yang, about the fact 
that healthcare workers have specifically suffered 
disproportionately during the pandemic.
    How have Asian-American healthcare workers been impacted by 
discrimination and violence over the last year, particularly 
those involved in the healthcare industry specifically?
    Mr. Yang. Thank you very much for that question, and thank 
you, first, for lifting the work that is being done in Atlanta 
by our communities there, because that is vital. It is 
important.
    With respect to the healthcare workers in particular, those 
are the essential frontline workers that we talk about, the 
people that are putting their health at risk to serve our 
entire country--not just Asian Americans, but to serve our 
entire country--and both Ms. Kulkarni as well as myself, when 
we look at the incidents that we have coming in, we can cite 
just so many examples of healthcare workers getting shunned, 
getting spit, getting coughed on or a statement saying that 
``We don't want them to see us.''
    So, it has had both a mental toll as well as, in some 
cases, a physical toll.
    If I might, I do want to go back to one other piece with 
respect to the community-based response that we're talking 
about, which is public safety is not the same thing as law 
enforcement.
    Yes, we absolutely need public safety. We can reimagine it 
in a way that we're not so reliant on law enforcement when we 
don't--oftentimes, our communities don't trust that vehicle.
    Thank you.
    Mr. Johnson of Georgia. Thank you. This hearing is not 
about defunding the police either, and how does violence and 
discrimination affect the mental health of members of the AAPI 
community, collectively?
    Mr. Yang. If the question is directed to me, it's clear it 
affects our entire community. If you ask any of your Asian-
American friends right now, they will say that this is on their 
minds.
    So, one thing I would urge people to do in this moment is 
to reach out to your friends, reach out to your community, and 
make sure that they feel seen, they feel heard, and they feel 
protected.
    Mr. Johnson of Georgia. Thank you.
    Mr. Kim, has the government provided enough support to 
Asian-American healthcare workers and what role do you see 
Congress playing in addressing these concerns and providing 
more support to Asian-American healthcare and other front-line 
workers?
    Mr. Kim. Well, thank you for the question. I think, you 
know, as it pertains to healthcare workers, the thing that I 
find most anecdotally is that many of them are experiencing 
bigotry and hate even as they're trying to help people fighting 
this virus.
    I think the ways that we can support them as, as friends 
and members of our community, is some of the ways that we have. 
We have seen people play music for them at 7:00 o'clock and 
clap for them.
    The ways that our government can help is really just to 
support the community at large, and I think those front line 
workers are also members of the AAPI community. They may be at 
work helping people, but they go home and they still--they're 
scared to go home the same way the rest of us are.
    So, I encourage us all to think about the front line 
workers as part of the larger community and these two bills 
that are before the Committee right now will help all AAPIs.
    Mr. Johnson of Georgia. Thank you.
    Professor Kulkarni, what is the correlation between the 
rhetoric of the Trump Administration and the rise in violence 
against AAPIs?
    Ms. Kulkarni. Thank you, Congressman, for your question.
    We know from a study that we did in the fall that actually 
over 700 of the incidents reported to Stop AAPI Hate of the 
2,500 we had received at that point actually correlated to 
comments that were made about China as the China virus, the 
Wuhan virus, and Kung Flu and similar comments that were made 
about sending people back to their country.
    So, we know that, in fact, comments like that have 
absolutely resulted in hate incidents being perpetrated against 
our community members and we know that because the data shows 
it.
    If I may add to that just in terms of some of the resources 
that can be provided, I think local communities, as you have 
pointed out, could very much benefit from added funding and an 
infrastructure to provide support for our community members.
    Mr. Johnson of Georgia. Thank you. I want to make it clear 
that it's not just White folks who are acting against AAPIs. 
It's other communities, including Black people, and I want to 
issue a challenge to all communities to be aware of the fact 
that our brothers and sisters in the AAPI community are 
particularly targeted right now and we need to embrace them 
with love and not contribute to the hate that is enveloping 
them.
    With that, I yield back.
    Mr. Cohen. Thank you, Mr. Johnson.
    Now, I recognize the lady from Houston, Texas, Ms. Garcia.
    Ms. Garcia. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and 
thank you to all the Witnesses, especially my colleagues, for 
sharing your very, very personal stories.
    At a time when we should be working together, helping one 
another as Americans to grapple with a COVID-19 pandemic, we 
have all Witnessed the Asian-American community, like Latinos 
and other communities, that are facing an alarming rise in 
violence, hate, and discrimination.
    It is inherently un-American for anyone to discriminate and 
launch vicious hate crimes against an Asian American. Too 
often, immigrants have been blamed and scapegoated or harassed, 
telling them to go back to their country. I know I've been told 
to go back to Mexico.
    We can play a quick video clip, Mr. Chair?
    Mr. Cohen. Yes, ma'am. Play the video.

[Video available at https://www.dropbox.com/s/cltlmwj496ol3im/
Garcia%20Video. mp4?dl=0]

    Ms. Garcia. Go back to blank Asian country that you belong. 
Many of us have heard that. This is just one example of the 
various types of discrimination and harassment that Asian 
Americans, Latinos, and others face too often in our country.
    This does not represent who we are as a nation. As 
President Biden has said, violence against Asian Americans is 
un-American and it must stop.
    Mr. Kim, I know that you also added that we need to look at 
this as a humanity issue because humanity matters, and the last 
time you were before this Committee you also told us that what 
is in the media visually, in print, everywhere also matters.
    I wanted to ask you specifically about the rhetoric coming 
from politicians, as some of you have testified. I know we have 
focused on the former president, but Senator Cornyn of Texas 
said, ``China is to blame, because a culture where people eat 
bats and snakes and dogs and things like that, China has been 
the source of a lot of these viruses like SARS, like MERS, the 
swine flu, and now the coronavirus.''
    Senator Cruz, also from Texas, said that Trump was not 
worried because he wasn't served bat soup in Hunan Province, an 
apparent nod to the now-debunked myth that the outbreak started 
in Hunan.
    How do these words and all the coverage that all this gets 
in print, and sometimes in the news visually, how does that 
impact hate crimes, hate incidents in this country?
    [No response.]
    Ms. Garcia. Are you unmuted sir? Mr. Kim--
    Mr. Kim. Thank you for that question, Representative. Can 
you hear me?
    Ms. Garcia. Yes, I can.
    Mr. Kim. First, I want to thank you for showing that clip 
of the woman in Torrance, California. That happens to be the 
neighborhood where my brother and his family live.
    That woman is Latina, which highlights the point that you 
were trying to make that this is not just an issue of White 
people versus Asian people, or Black people versus Asian 
people.
    It is really a question about everybody verses acts of hate 
and bigotry. That really needs to be highlighted because this 
is not part just of the Asian-American history. It's part of 
the history of America.
    Now, to your question, I will say that, yes, it matters 
that other representatives other than the President have been 
using these terms of hate and connecting Americans to a virus 
that they have no connection to whatsoever.
    It is part of our leadership and I'm an idealist because I 
still do believe in the words of my leaders. I want to believe 
that they are setting the tone for the rest of the country, and 
that when they use rhetoric like this it not only affects 
adults, but it affects our children.
    It's a shameful thing to have to say, ``Don't listen to 
what your President is saying. Don't listen to what your 
Senator is saying.'' If you cannot teach your children the same 
things that you would ask of your leaders, then what example 
are we setting.
    The way it becomes insidious in our culture is that this 
language permeates through the places like Jay Baker, the 
spokesman for the sheriff's office in Cherokee County, who 
actually tweeted out t-shirts making fun of coronavirus and 
connecting it to China.
    This is a person who has a direct connection to the shooter 
of eight people. He is not impartial, and so it calls into 
question the veracity of his position.
    So, these are all ways in which it's connected and words 
matter from our President, from our leaders, for anyone with a 
platform, which is why I'm here today to ask those of you who 
are leading us to speak out for us instead of encouraging hate.
    Ms. Garcia. Thank you. Thank you for that answer, and I 
think what our children and all Americans see in the news or 
hear or read in the paper matters because words do matter, and 
as you said, humanity matters.
    So, thank you for the response.
    Mr. Chair, I want to introduce the articles that I've 
referenced together with other articles, which, unfortunately, 
the rhetoric is building and the coverage is building. So, I'd 
like to introduce these into the record and ask for unanimous 
consent.
    Mr. Cohen. So done, without objection.
    [The information follows:]
    

                       MS. GARCIA FOR THE RECORD

=======================================================================

    Materials submitted by the Honorable Sylvia R. Garcia, a 
Member of the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, 
and Civil Liberties from the State of Texas for the record:

A statement entitled, ``Our Response to the Murders of Asian American 
    Women in Atlanta,'' National Korean American Service & Education 
    Consortium, available at https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/
    20210318/111343/HHRG-117-JU10-20210318-SD061.pdf
An article entitled, ``The long history of anti-Asian hate in America, 
    explained,'' Vox, available at https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/
    JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-JU10-20210318-SD062.pdf
An article entitled, ``Hate Crimes Targeting Asian Americans Spiked by 
    150% in Major US Cities,'' Voice of America, available at https://
    docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-JU10-
    20210318-SD063.pdf
An article entitled, ``Attacks on Asian-Americans in New York Stoke 
    Fear, Anxiety and Anger,'' The New York Times, available at https:/
    /docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-JU10-
    20210318-SD064.pdf
An article entitled, ``Anti-Asian violence must be charged as a hate 
    crime,'' CNN, available at https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/
    20210318/111343/HHRG-117-JU10-20210318-SD065.pdf
An article entitled, ``House Dems renew call for hate crime law after 
    anti-Asian attacks,'' Roll Call, available at https://
    docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-JU10-
    20210318-SD066.pdf
An article entitled, `` `We're being scapegoated': Asians and Asian 
    Americans speak out against spate of violence,'' ABC News, 
    available at https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/
    111343/HHRG-117-JU10-20210318-SD067.pdf
A document entitled, ``Memorandum Condemning and Combating Racism, 
    Xenophobia, and Intolerance Against Asian Americans and Pacific 
    Islanders in the United States,'' The White House, available at 
    https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-
    JU10-20210318-SD068.pdf
An article entitled, ``FBI Report: Bias-Motivated Killings At Record 
    High Amid Nationwide Rise In Hate Crime,'' NPR, available at 
    https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-
    JU10-20210318-SD069.pdf
A document entitled, ``The Return of `Yellow Peril,' '' Stop AAPI Hate, 
    available at https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/
    111343/HHRG-117-JU10-20210318-SD070.pdf
A press release entitled, ``Rep Lieu Leads 150 Member Letter Urging DOJ 
    to Condemn Covid-Related Anti-Asian Discrimination,'' available at 
    https://docs.house
    .gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-JU10-20210318-
    SD071.pdf
An article entitled, ``Donald Trump's `Chinese virus': the politics of 
    naming,'' The Conversation, available at https://docs.house.gov/
    meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-JU10-20210318-SD072.pdf
An article entitled, ``Federal agencies are doing little about the rise 
    in anti-Asian hate,'' NBC News, available at https://
    docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-JU10-
    20210318-SD073.pdf
An article entitled, ``The Slur I Never Expected to Hear in 2020,'' The 
    New York Times Magazine, available at https://docs.house.gov/
    meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-JU10-20210318-SD074.pdf
An article entitled, ``Spit On, Yelled At, Attacked: Chinese-Americans 
    Fear for Their Safety,'' The New York Times, available at https://
    docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-JU10-
    20210318-SD075.pdf
An article entitled, ``As coronavirus spreads, some Asian Americans 
    worry their leaders' language stokes a stigma,'' The Texas Tribune, 
    available at https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/
    111343/HHRG-117-JU10-20210318-SD076.pdf
An article entitled, ``Sen. Cornyn: China to blame for coronavirus, 
    because `people eat bats,' '' NBC News, available at https://
    docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-JU10-
    20210318-SD077.pdf
An article entitled, ``Key facts about Asian origin groups in the 
    U.S.,'' Pew Research Center, available at https://docs.house.gov/
    meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-JU10-20210318-SD078.pdf
An article entitled, ``How Racism Created America's Chinatowns,'' The 
    Huffington Post, available at https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/
    JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-JU10-20210318-SD079.pdf
A document entitled, ``Hate Crime Statistics,'' FBI, available at 
    https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-
    JU10-20210318-SD080.pdf
    Ms. Garcia. With that, Mr. Chair, I thank you and I yield 
back.
    Mr. Cohen. Thank you, Ms. Garcia. I believe we have Ms. 
Bush, the honorable Congressperson from St. Louis, Missouri up 
the river, is recognized. You must unmute though, Ms. Bush. 
Unmute.
    Ms. Bush. All right, I'm here. Thank you. St. Louis and I, 
again, thank you, Chair, for convening this hearing.
    I want to extend my deepest condolences to the AAPI 
community, many of whom have lost loved ones, been victims of 
White supremacist hate crimes, or in some way have been 
victimized by the horrific incidents of this past year.
    My heart is with you. There are more than, and it's been 
said before over and over again, 3,000 hate crimes reported 
over the last year as a result of anti-Asian American racism. 
That 3,000 number, it's horrific and I don't want to just gloss 
over it. It's 3,000 incidents.
    The rise of hate crimes against Asian Americans is 
inherently tied to anti-Asian American rhetoric, some of which 
have come out of this very chamber, rhetoric, which we have 
been told even on this hearing today that words don't matter, 
that we shouldn't be worried about words.
    Especially when people from a place of privilege speak 
about that, what can directly lead to physical harm, you have 
to own that. You have to own it causes harm.
    It causes harm to people, especially people of color, and 
so to call it out as if it does not matter, it does, because 
we're talking about lives at stake. This is a refusal of 
responsibility, and I'm going to call it out. This is not a 
partisan thing.
    Last week, we held a hearing about Member conduct and the 
need to engage from a place of respect, how we conduct 
ourselves as leaders, what we say and who we engage with.
    That has a direct impact on what happens in our streets. It 
is our words, and it's why our words and our actions as leaders 
are so important. Leading from a place of hate only fuels 
hateful and violent acts across our country.
    Leading with love starts with what we say, the words we use 
and the meaning behind them. Words can build up communities or 
break them down. What we have Witnessed over the last four 
years is hateful White supremacist rhetoric.
    While I cannot speak on behalf of the AAPI community, I do 
want to say that I stand in solidarity with you. So, organize, 
galvanize, and get justice. Fight against White supremacy with 
us.
    Two nights ago, for the six Asian women who tragically lost 
their lives as a result of racist sentiments, racist rhetoric, 
and racist policies, it's not lost on me that we lost women, 
working women.
    In fact, a majority of anti-Asian hate crimes are committed 
against Asian women, and you all have said that over and over 
again today. As a Black woman, I want to speak that point.
    So, Professor Lee, are there reports or experiences that 
have particularly impacted you on an emotional level? Have you 
had increased fear for your own safety? I want to bring the 
humanity into this a little bit more.
    Dr. Lee. Thank you so much for asking. Thank you for those 
powerful words--powerful words of solidarity, and I think all 
our communities really appreciate it.
    I am an educator. I'm also a researcher and writer. My real 
day job is to get in the classroom or, in this case during the 
pandemic, just here through Zoom, and my students are 
traumatized. Our communities are traumatized.
    What this brings up is lifetimes, histories, family 
histories of trauma, trauma that perhaps some of our families 
thought was over and done with because, as Mr. Yang pointed 
out, the popular media image is that Asian Americans have made 
it, and everything is okay.
    What the pandemic has revealed is the stark truth that 
Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders remain victims of the 
similar types of White supremacy that has infected our country 
for so long.
    So, we have people who are afraid to go about their 
neighborhoods to do their daily businesses. We also have an 
outpouring of new resilience, I believe. A wake-up call, as 
Daniel Dae Kim mentioned.
    A reminder that we have been here before, that we have 
acted out. We have organized. We have sought justice in 
solidarity with others, and that we will continue to do so.
    Ms. Bush. Thank you.
    Mr. Yang, in addition to potential legislation, are there 
community actions being successfully taken to combat this anti-
Asian American violence and harassment and how best can the 
government support these efforts, the Federal government?
    Mr. Yang. Thank you very much for that question. Thank you 
for the solidarity.
    Absolutely, the Federal government can do more in terms of 
appropriations to make sure that these community organizations 
have the resources that they need, whether it is through 
grants, through the Office of Justice Programs at DOJ, ensuring 
that there's language access, ensuring that there's 
multilingual capacities, there's budget items for that.
    Those are some of the small pieces that the Federal 
government can do. Certainly, the COVID-19 hate crimes bill 
from Representative Meng and Senator Hirono is another piece to 
that along with the Jabara-Heyer NO HATE Act.
    I apologize, but I do need to go to one prior statement 
that Representative Garcia made about statements by Senators. 
One report that we received on our website tracking hate, this 
person reported,

        My dad and I were stopped at a red light when my dad noticed 
        the man on the sidewalk. That man came up to me, called me a 
        B--a female, so I'm not going to use the word--a few times, and 
        then threatened to kick our teeth in. He did this while calling 
        us disgusting mother F-ers and telling us we need to stop 
        eating bats and bringing disease over here.

    So yes, words matter. Words of our leaders matter.
    Thank you.
    Ms. Bush. Yes, thank you.
    Mr. Chair, I ask consent to enter into the record a 
document from the Asian American Table that details the kinds 
of programming that are crucial in this moment.
    Mr. Cohen. Without objection, shall be done.
    [The information follows:]

                        MS. BUSH FOR THE RECORD

=======================================================================

[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

    Ms. Bush. Thank you, and I yield back.
    Mr. Cohen. Thank you, Ms. Bush.
    Now, I recognize the--I shouldn't say the other lady. The 
first lady from Houston, Texas, home of Archie Bell and the 
Drells, where they not only saying but they dance, Ms. Sheila 
Jackson Lee.
    Ms. Jackson Lee. Chair, thank you so very much.
    Let me, very quickly, say that all of us went into an 
extensive moment of mourning for the loss of those women and 
men and others in the killings in Atlanta.
    We cannot ignore, we cannot be unsisterly and unbrotherly 
like to not notice the fact that they were innocent and six 
were Asian women. Asian Americans, our sisters, we will not 
ignore.
    I would like to have a video shown right now.

[Video available at https://www.dropbox.com/s/hiqyf9zrq4pcwbv/
Jackson%20Lee %20Video.mp4?dl=0]

    Ms. Jackson Lee. A three-year-old baby cut, a father cut. 
The assailant did this heinous act.
    Are we live?
    The assailant did this heinous Act because he thought the 
family was Chinese and infecting people with the coronavirus. 
He thought the family was Chinese and they were infecting 
people with the coronavirus.
    Take your heads out of the sand. Where is the dignity? 
Where is the power of the respect for all people and the love 
of Americans?
    So, as we look at the outrage, let me put into the record 
the 45th President always referring to coronavirus as the China 
virus or Kung Flu. Let me call his name, President Trump.
    [The information follows:]

                     MS. JACKSON LEE FOR THE RECORD

=======================================================================

[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

    Ms. Jackson Lee. Let me also say in 1942, and I'm glad 
Congresswoman Matsui mentioned it, President Franklin Delano 
Roosevelt signing Executive Order 9066, which ordered the 
forced internment of 120,000 Japanese Americans during World 
War II. Innocent patriotic Americans.
    In 1982, amid a downturn in the U.S. motor vehicle 
industry, the competition was blamed on Japanese companies. A 
Chinese American, Vincent Chin, was beaten to death. Not one of 
his perpetrators experienced time in jail.
    So, to you, Mr. Kim, on the evening of the discovery of who 
did this heinous crime of killing eight people, six of them 
Asian, when a law enforcement officer decided to say the words, 
``This individual had a bad day and this is what happened.''
    I have a question as well for Ms. Kulkarni. Would you, Mr. 
Kim, just from your gut, just from your spirit, when you hear 
on national television after the murder of six Asian women that 
he had a bad day, what are your thoughts?
    Mr. Kim. Thank you for your question, Representative.
    Well, I will tell you to start that when I have a bad day, 
I think about going home, having a beer, and watching a movie 
with my family. I don't think about going out and murdering 
eight people.
    It says a lot about this person that when he says that he's 
trying to eliminate temptation from life, instead of seeking 
help for himself, his way of eliminating temptation is to kill 
people, take a gun and shoot people.
    When he talks about sexual temptation, what does it mean 
when he sees the manifestation of sexual temptation as an Asian 
female?
    These are three places all that had an association with 
Asian people. If this were a synagogue or a Black church and 
someone shot up those places, would we really be asking whether 
this is a hate crime or not and would we really have the burden 
of proof?
    It's really important that you highlight Vincent Chin 
because the judge in the case of Vincent Chin said that his 
White murderers, ``These are not the kind of men you put in 
jail.''
    Ms. Jackson Lee. Thank you, Mr. Kim.
    Mr. Kim. It echoes directly with what Jay Baker when he 
tried to downplay the crime by saying he was having a bad day. 
Thank you.
    Ms. Jackson Lee. Thank you so very much.
    Ms. Kulkarni, if I could get this--a question to you. What 
does the data show about the impact of anti-Asian rhetoric and 
violence that has on the mental health of members of the 
community?
    Then just quickly, Ms. Lee, if you would just quickly on 
the historical record which we have seen in other populations 
like African Americans who were enslaved, that 1882 law, how 
does it continue to negatively impact, Ms. Kulkarni, on the 
data, very quickly?
    I thank the Chair for his indulgence. I'll be finished 
after these questions. I thank him very kindly.
    Ms. Kulkarni?
    Ms. Kulkarni. Thank you so much for your question. We know 
that over 700 incidents result--included use of rhetoric 
against our community members and that included virulent 
animosity, scapegoating, as well as an anti-immigrant sentiment 
and racist characterization, and it is led to a 155 percent 
increase in depression and anxiety in our community members.
    Ms. Jackson Lee. I thank you.
    Professor Lee? Let me indicate, Ms. Kulkarni--let me 
correct the record. Thank you so very much. I had stepped out 
when you were doing your testimony.
    Professor Lee, how has that historical moment--
    Dr. Lee. Yes, thank you. Absolutely interconnected. When we 
are passing these first Federal laws to single out an immigrant 
group for exclusion based on race, we are also instituting Jim 
Crow segregation.
    We are also continuing our wars and genocide of indigenous 
Americans. White supremacy impacts all of us. It may impact us 
differently, but it impacts us all the same.
    Thank you.
    Ms. Jackson Lee. Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is an excellent 
hearing. I thank you. I will commit to all the Witnesses my 
commitment to anti-hate legislation specifically dealing with 
Asian Americans and, really, all of us, your dad and others, 
stand together in fighting against inequality in America. We 
will not have it. We will not stand for it. We stand with you.
    With that, I yield back, Mr. Chair.
    Mr. Cohen. Thank you, Ms. Lee. I would ask unanimous 
consent to submit 60 letters and documents from civil rights 
groups and NGOs that were submitted today.
    Without objection, they're entered into the record.
    [The information follows:]

                        MR. COHEN FOR THE RECORD

=======================================================================

    Materials submitted by the Honorable Steve Cohen, Chair of 
the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil 
Liberties from the State of Tennessee for the record:

A statement from the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans, 
    available at https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/
    111343/HHRG-117-JU10-
    20210318-SD001.pdf
A statement from Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO, 
    available at https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/
    111343/HHRG-117-JU10-
    20210318-SD002.pdf
A statement from South Asian Americans Leading Together, available at 
    https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-
    JU10-2021
    0318-SD003.pdf
A letter from Grace Huang, Director of Policy, Asian Pacific Institute 
    on Gender-Based Violence, March 17, 2021, available at https://
    docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-JU10-
    20210318-SD004.pdf
A statement from APIA Scholars, available at https://docs.house.gov/
    meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-JU10-20210318-SD005.pdf
A statement from the Asian American Psychological Association, 
    available at http://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/
    111343/HHRG-117-JU10-20210318-SD006.pdf
A letter from the National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum, March 
    17, 2021, available at https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/
    20210318/111343/HHRG-117-JU10-20210318-SD007.pdf
A statement from Abraham Kim, Ph.D., Executive Director, Council of 
    Korean Americans, available at https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/
    JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-JU10-20210318-SD008.pdf
A statement from the National Asian Pacific Center on Aging, available 
    at https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-
    117-JU10-2021
    0318-SD009.pdf
A statement from the National Korean American Service & Education 
    Consortium Network, available at https://docs.house.gov/meetings/
    JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-JU10-20210318-SD010.pdf
A statement from Asian American Leaders Table on COVID-19 Racism, 
    available at https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/
    111343/HHRG-117-JU10-20210318-SD011.pdf
A document entitled, ``Georgia's Asian American Leaders Call for 
    Community-Centered Response After Six Asian Women Are Murdered,'' 
    Asian Americans Advancing Justice--Atlanta, available at https://
    docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-JU10-
    20210318-SD012.pdf
A document entitled, ``Standing Against Anti-Asian Hate,'' Lawyers' 
    Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, available at https://
    docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-JU10-
    20210318-SD013.pdf
A document entitled, ``AAPI Progressive Action and AAPI Victory Fund 
    Call for Allyship and Healing After Atlanta Killings,'' AAPI 
    Victory Alliance, available at https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/
    JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-JU10-20210318-SD014.pdf
A document entitled, ``APIAHF Condemns Anti-Asian Hate and Calls For 
    Racial Healing,'' Asian and Pacific Islander American Health Forum, 
    available at https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/
    111343/HHRG-117-JU10-20210318-SD015.pdf
A document entitled, ``Statement: Atlanta Shootings,'' Congressional 
    Asian Pacific American Staff Association, Congressional Korean 
    American Staff Association, and Congressional South Asian American 
    Staff Association, available at https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/
    JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-JU10-20210318-SD016.pdf
A document entitled, ``Truman Statement on Atlanta-Area Shootings and 
    Our Support for AAPI Communities,'' The Truman National Security 
    Project, available at https://docs.house .gov/meetings/JU/JU10/
    20210318/111343/HHRG-117-JU10-20210318-SD017.pdf
A document entitled, ``Stand Against Hate,'' National Asian Pacific 
    American Bar Association, available at https://docs.house.gov/
    meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-JU10-20210318-SD018.pdf
A document entitled, ``Organizations Representing Asian American 
    Communities Across the Nation and Allies Release Statement 
    Rejecting Criminalization and Retribution, and Call for Responses 
    Addressing the Root Causes of Racial Violence,'' Asian Americans 
    Advancing Justice--Asian Law Caucus, available at https://
    docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-JU10-
    20210318-SD019.pdf
A document entitled, ``Our Shared Statement Against Anti-Asian 
    Violence,'' Asian Americans Advancing Justice--LA, available at 
    https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-
    JU10-20210318-SD020.pdf
A document entitled, ``Civil Rights and Racial Justice Organizations 
    Denounce Discrimination Against Asian Americans and Urge Unity in 
    Responding to Coronavirus Pandemic,'' NAACP, available at https://
    docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-JU10-
    20210318-SD021.pdf
A document entitled, ``ACLU Calls on Elected Officials to Denounce Rise 
    of Racist Attacks on Asian Americans Amid COVID-19,'' American 
    Civil Liberties Union, available at https://docs.house.gov/
    meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-JU10-20210318-SD022.pdf
A letter from Molly Collins, Advocacy Director, ACLU of Wisconsin, 
    April 24, 2020, available at https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/
    JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-JU10-20210318-SD023.pdf
A document entitled, ``ACLU of Florida Calls on Elected Officials to 
    Release Demographic Data on COVID-19 Testing,'' ACLU of Florida, 
    available at https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/
    111343/HHRG-117-JU10-2021
    0318-SD024.pdf
A letter from Dave Noble, Executive Director, American Civil Liberties 
    Union of Michigan, and Kimberly S. Buddin, Policy Counsel, American 
    Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, April 27, 2020, available at 
    https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-
    JU10-20210318-SD025.pdf
A document entitled, ``Ohio Leaders: Denounce Discrimination Against 
    Asian Communities,'' ACLU of Ohio, available at https://
    docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-JU10-
    20210318-SD026.pdf
A letter from Claire Guthrie Gastanaga, Executive Director, ACLU of 
    Virginia, and Sookyung Oh, D.C. Area Director, NAKASEC, April 28, 
    2020, available at https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/
    20210318/111343/HHRG-117-JU10-20210318-SD027.pdf
A document entitled, ``Asian Minnesotan Organizations Urge Communities 
    and Leaders to Be Proactive About COVID-19 Related Racism and 
    Violence Against Asian American and Pacific Islanders,'' available 
    at https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-
    117-JU10-20210318-SD028.pdf
A document entitled, ``Asian Organizations Across the Bay Area Join 
    Forces to Demand Action Against Violence,'' Chinese for Affirmative 
    Action, available at https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/
    20210318/111343/HHRG-117-JU10-20210318-SD029.pdf
A document entitled, ``Joint Statement of Asian American and Pacific 
    Islander Leaders and Over 260 Civil Rights Organizations Call on 
    Congress to Denounce Anti-Asian Racism around COVID-19,'' 
    Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Organizations, 
    available at https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/2021
    0318/111343/HHRG-117-JU10-20210318-SD030.pdf
A document entitled, ``APANO condemns pandemic-linked anti-Asian hate 
    and bias incidents,'' Asian Pacific American Network Oregon, 
    available at https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/
    111343/HHRG-117-JU10-2021
    0318-SD031.pdf
A document entitled, ``TAPABA and APA Bar Associations Support 
    Congressional Resolutions on Anti-Asian Hate,'' Tennessee Asian 
    Pacific American Bar Association, available at https://
    docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-JU10-
    20210318-SD032.pdf
A document entitled, ``Standing in Solidarity With the Asian and Asian 
    American Community,'' Asia Society, available at https://
    docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-JU10-
    20210318-SD033.pdf
A document entitled, ``Joint Statement Rejecting Criminalization and 
    Retribution,'' Coalition of Asian American Leaders, available at 
    https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-
    JU10-20210318-SD034.pdf
A document entitled, ``Labor Movement Fighting Anti-Asian Racism in All 
    Forms,'' Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, available at 
    https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-
    JU10-20210318-SD035.pdf
A document entitled, ``AAJA Condemns Anti-Asian Racism and Challenges 
    Newsrooms to Prioritize Coverage of Anti-Asian Violence,'' Asian 
    American Journalists Association, available at https://
    docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-JU10-
    20210318-SD036.pdf
A document entitled, ``Solidarity Statement--Supporting Communities 
    Targeted for Hate,'' The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human 
    Rights, available at https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/
    20210318/111343/HHRG-117-JU10-20210318-SD037.pdf
A document entitled, ``APALA Statement Against Anti-Asian Violence,'' 
    Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association, available at https:/
    /docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-JU10-
    20210318-SD038.pdf
A document entitled, ``AAFE's Statement on Anti-Asian Racism and Hate 
    Crimes,'' Asian Americans for Equality, available at https://
    docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-JU10-
    20210318-SD039.pdf
A document entitled, ``Civil Rights and Racial Justice Organizations 
    Denounce Abhorrent Rise in Anti-Asian Hate Crimes,'' Racial Equity 
    Anchor Collaborative, available at https://docs.house.gov/meetings/
    JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-JU10-20210318-SD040.pdf
A document entitled, ``Statement Re: Noodle Tree Restaurant Vandalism 
    Incident,'' Alamo Asian American Chamber of Commerce, available at 
    https://docs.house .gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-
    JU10-20210318-SD041.pdf
A joint statement denouncing the hate crime committed at the Noodle 
    Tree Restaurant from SanAntonio--Chinese American Citizens Alliance 
    and the Asian American Alliance of San Antonio, March 14, 2021, 
    available at https://docs .house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/
    111343/HHRG-117-JU10-20210318-SD042.pdf
A document entitled, ``Statement from Asian Americans in Action: We Are 
    Outraged by the Atlanta Area Massacre,'' Asian Americans in Action, 
    available at https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/
    111343/HHRG-117-JU10-2021
    0318-SD043.pdf
A letter to the White House on rising hate crimes against the Asian 
    American community from Rebecca S. Pringle, President, National 
    Education Association, available at https://docs.house.gov/
    meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-JU10-20210318-SD044.pdf
A document entitled, ``Practice Solidarity to Stop Hate Crimes Against 
    Asian Americans,'' San Francisco Foundation, available at https://
    docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-JU10-
    20210318-SD045.pdf
A document entitled, ``A Call For Unity: Ending Violence In Asian 
    American Communities,'' East Bay Community Foundation, available at 
    https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-
    JU10-20210318-SD046.pdf
A document entitled, ``Statement on anti-Asian, anti-Muslim violence,'' 
    Ecotrust, available at https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/
    20210318/111343/HHRG-117-JU10-20210318-SD047.pdf
A document entitled, ``The Health Trust Joins Allies in Joint Statement 
    on Anti-Asian Violence,'' The Health Trust, available at https://
    docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-JU10-
    20210318-SD048.pdf
A document entitled, ``NIRH President Releases Statement Condemning 
    Anti-Asian Violence; Calls for Support and Action,'' National 
    Institute for Reproductive Health, available at https://
    docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-JU10-
    20210318-SD049.pdf
A document entitled, ``Disability Rights California Statement in 
    Response to Recent Surge in Hate Crimes that Target Innocent Asian 
    Americans and Pacific Islanders,'' Disability Rights California, 
    available at https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/
    111343/HHRG-117-JU10-20210318-SD050.pdf
A document entitled, ``Solidarity for Asian American and Pacific 
    Islander Communities,'' Northern California Grantmakers, available 
    at https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-
    117-JU10-20210318-SD051.pdf
A document entitled, ``Statement on anti-Asian American Racism,'' 
    California Museum, available at https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/
    JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-JU10-20210318-SD052.pdf
A document entitled, ``Memorandum Condemning and Combating Racism, 
    Xenophobia, and Intolerance Against Asian Americans and Pacific 
    Islanders in the United States,'' The White House, available at 
    https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-
    JU10-20210318-SD053.pdf
A letter to President Donald J. Trump from United States Senators, 
    April 21, 2020, available at https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/
    JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-JU10-20210318-SD054.pdf
A document entitled, ``Inslee statement on rising cases of anti-Asian 
    hate crimes,'' Governor Jay Inslee, available at https://
    docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-JU10-
    20210318-SD055.pdf
A document entitled, ``Statement by the Pennsylvania Governor's 
    Advisory Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs Condemning 
    Racial Violence Against Asian Pacific Americans,'' available at 
    https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-
    JU10-20210318-SD056.pdf
A document entitled, ``COVID-19 Call to Action,'' Oregon Attorney 
    General Ellen Rosenblum's Steering Committee Against Hate Crimes, 
    available at https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/
    111343/HHRG-117-JU10-20210318-SD057.pdf.
A document entitled, ``Governor Northam Statement on Rise in Violence 
    Against Asian Americans,'' Virginia Governor Ralph Northam, 
    available at https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/
    111343/HHRG-117-JU10-2021
    0318-SD058.pdf
A document entitled, ``Statement: Mayor Garcetti and Councilmember 
    Ridley-Thomas On Rise in Anti-AAPI Hate Crime,'' Office of Los 
    Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, available at https://docs.house.gov/
    meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-JU10-20210318-SD059.pdf
A document from Sherriff Scott Parks, Marathon County, Wisconsin, March 
    25, 2020, available at https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/
    20210318/111343/HHRG-117-JU10-20210318-SD060.pdf
    Mr. Cohen. Mr. McClintock, I see you're with us, and would 
you desire any time? You're certainly afforded it.
    Mr. McClintock. Yes, I would. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
    Mr. Cohen. You're welcome. You're recognized for five 
minutes.
    Mr. McClintock. It seems to me--thank you. We seem to be 
confusing opposition to the Chinese government, including its 
actions during the coronavirus pandemic, with hostility toward 
eight Americans of Asian descent, and I find that very 
confusing since many Asian Americans fled abusive governments, 
including and especially the Chinese Communist regime.
    Hostility to that government is not hostility towards 
victims. Quite the contrary. That seems to be the connection 
that many people are making today.
    There are despicable racists of every color in every 
society. It is the baser side of human nature. No Nation has 
struggled harder to transcend that nature and isolate and 
ostracize its racists than have Americans.
    The America Founders placed principles in the Declaration 
of Independence that they believed would someday produce a 
Nation of free men and women of all races and all religions, 
together enjoying the blessings of liberty and equal protection 
of our laws.
    Lincoln denounced any other claim as ``having an evil 
tendency if not an evil design.'' The violent attacks that have 
been cited today against Asian Americans are heinous. They're 
despicable. They're inexcusable. There are two statistics that 
should add some perspective to this issue.
    According to the FBI's Hate Crimes Statistics report, of 
all 4,930 victims of reported hate crimes motivated by race or 
ethnicity, 48.5 percent were due to anti-Black bias, 15.7 
percent were due to anti-White bias, 14.1 percent were due to 
anti-Hispanic or Latino bias, and 4.4 percent were due to anti-
Asian violence.
    What should make us all proud as Americans is the fact that 
Asian Americans have the highest median income of any ethnic 
group in America, including White Americans. Median income for 
Asian Americans is 38 percent higher than the national median.
    If America were such a hate-filled discriminatory racist 
society, filled with animus against Asian Americans, how do you 
explain the remarkable success of Asian Americans in our 
country? Their success should bring us all together as 
Americans to celebrate the opportunities that our country 
offers to all who seek the blessings of liberty.
    It deeply saddens me that instead of uniting as Americans, 
this hearing seeks to divide us as Americans. Any racist 
sentiments, speech, or Act needs to be vigorously condemned.
    To attack our society as systemically racist, the society 
that has produced the freest, most prosperous, and most 
harmonious multiracial society in human history, well, that's 
an insult and it's flat out wrong.
    Shakespeare reminded us that we have no such mirrors as 
we'll turn our hidden worthiness into our eye, that we might 
see our shadow.
    The protesters fighting for their freedom in Hong Kong, 
resisting their takeover by the communist government of China, 
waved American flags as a symbol of their aspirations.
    Perhaps we should look to them as a mirror to appreciate 
our own society's hidden worthiness, and I'd ask Dr. Fa if he's 
still in the Committee room for any thoughts he might have on 
the subject.
    Mr. Cohen. Do you yield back the rest of your time, sir?
    Mr. McClintock. I'd like to yield it to Dr. Fa if he's 
still there.
    Mr. Cohen. Okay. Sure.
    Dr. Fa, he yielded to you.
    Mr. Fa. Oh, thank you. It's Mr. Fa. I don't have my 
doctorate degree.
    Thank you. I think the Congressman's words were very 
powerful. I do agree that we're all Americans. We're all 
entitled--We all have our individual rights, individual 
liberty. No one has more or less liberty than someone else 
because of race.
    So, I think what comes out of this hearing should be that 
we're all entitled to equality before the law, to be treated as 
individuals, to be treated based on our own individual 
aspirations, individual achievements, and individual 
accomplishments, and not to be discriminated against because we 
happen to be in a racial group that someone else might not 
like.
    Thank you.
    Ms. Jackson Lee. Would the congressman yield?
    Mr. McClintock. My sentiments exactly. Thank you.
    Ms. Jackson Lee. Would the Congressman yield?
    Mr. McClintock. Yes.
    Ms. Jackson Lee. Would you yield for a moment, Mr. 
McClintock?
    Mr. McClintock. Of course.
    Ms. Jackson Lee. Let me express my appreciation for your 
interpretation. I think one of the things I would ask the 
gentleman to consider, 4 percent, but we don't want one life to 
be taken in the name of hatred and race discrimination or 
ethnicity discrimination. In the Chin case, Mr. McClintock, 
where an individual was beaten to death because they thought he 
was Chinese when the car industry went down, and his 
perpetrators were not even one day in jail because--
    Mr. McClintock. Reclaiming my time. I agree with the 
gentlelady completely.
    What I think we need to be careful about is tainting our 
entire society with the actions, the hideous actions, of the 
few, whatever their race and whatever is the race of their 
victim.
    Mr. Cohen. Thank you, Mr. McClintock. Appreciate--
    Mr. McClintock. I yield back.
    Mr. Cohen. Thank you, sir. I appreciate your comments. 
You're right, we're still trying to form a more perfect union.
    We're now in the situation of having a second round, and 
the first person in the second round is me and I'm going to 
yield my time to Ms. Jayapal. She'll have five minutes. You're 
recognized.
    Ms. Jayapal. Mr. Chair, thank you so much for including me 
in this hearing and for yielding your time.
    I want to start by saying some names, some names that we 
all should be saying every minute of every day, and there are 
just a few: Delaina Ashley Yaun, Paul Andre Michels, Xiaojie 
Tan, Daoyou Feng, Elcias Hernandez-Ortiz, Julie Park, and Hyun 
Jung Park. These were people who were murdered in Georgia just 
a couple of days ago.
    Mr. Chair, I would just say as an Indian immigrant woman, 
the first South Asian American elected to the House of 
Representatives, the violence and discrimination targeting the 
Asian-American community hits very close to home, and it's been 
a difficult hearing. An important hearing, but a very difficult 
hearing for many of us.
    Shortly after 9/11, I founded One America, Washington 
State's largest immigrant rights group, initially to fight back 
against backlash targeting Muslim Sikh and South Asian 
communities.
    Back then, it was Balbir Singh Sodhi, who was murdered on 
September 15th, 2001, in Mesa, Arizona. He was shot five times 
by a man who just, quote, ``wanted to kill a Muslim,'' a man 
who said as he was arrested, ``I stand for America all the 
way.''
    Mr. Chair, there is no question that our words matter, our 
framing matters, and particularly as Members of Congress, when 
we use our platforms to continue slurs that are seen in a way 
that encourages racist hate crimes, it is a big problem.
    Just recently in a Committee's hearing, some of my 
colleagues across the aisle continue to call it the China 
virus. I spoke up. I said that was not correct language, number 
one, and number two, it incited this kind of hate. Yet, my 
colleagues continued to use that language.
    Now, here we are, continuing to see a huge surge in hate 
crimes and violence targeting, in particular, most recently, 
Asian women.
    I want to start with you, Professor Motomura. How does the 
history of racist laws that promoted distrust towards Asian 
Americans influence the hate we are seeing today?
    Mr. Motomura. Well, those influences are very profound. We 
started with the Chinese exclusion era, its exclusion, as we 
have heard today, exclusion of Asian immigrants, and most Asian 
immigrants--I'm sorry, Chinese immigrants that started in 1882. 
It prevails for 60 years. It starts to grow through the 
Chinese-American community.
    We have severe restrictions on Asian immigration, formal 
restrictions until 1965, and I feel, as I mentioned in my 
testimony, just very strongly because my--our family was one of 
the few families that managed to get to the United States 
during that period.
    So, we joined the community that really didn't exist at 
that time of my parents' contemporaries. So, these are things 
that you carry with you for your whole life.
    I remember a lot of the sorts of incidents that we're 
talking about today, having close calls and those sorts of 
things.
    This is a long time ago, but things that we see from those 
laws I think we have seen this with regard to the ban that was 
imposed on Muslim-majority countries that prevailed over the 
last couple of years, and I think that that's not exactly 
entirely what we're talking about today, but I think it's 
closely related.
    So, I think that a lot of this is something that prevails 
over time. I mean, this is not something that is related to a 
five- or ten-year period. I think we're still seeing effects, 
as we see them today, of anti-Asian laws which took effect in 
1875 and 1882.
    Ms. Jayapal. Thank you, Professor.
    Professor Sinnar, you have written about 9/11 and the 
discriminatory laws and policies against Asian-American, Arab, 
Muslim, and Sikh communities that came after.
    Do you believe that there's a strategy behind demonizing 
these groups in times of crisis and fear?
    Ms. Sinnar. So, thank you for your comments and your 
question to me, Representative Jayapal.
    What happened after 9/11 is that the government undertook a 
number of dragnet immigration programs that treated entire 
communities as threats. So, hundreds of immigrants were 
detained on the basis of their race and ethnicity without an 
individual basis for suspicion.
    Twenty-five Muslim countries and their citizens were 
subject to special registration, fingerprinting, and 
interrogation, and all this sent the message that Muslim, Arab, 
and South Asian communities were disloyal and threatening.
    The lesson here is that in times of geopolitical tension 
and security fears, it's especially important for the 
government to avoid stigmatizing entire communities, because it 
does lead to greater violence and discrimination, both in the 
public sphere as well as within policy directly.
    Ms. Jayapal. Thank you. I just want to say I hope that my 
colleagues understand their words matter and we need everyone's 
help in fighting back against these heinous racist attacks.
    Thank you, Mr. Chair. I yield back.
    Mr. Cohen. I yield back. Thank you.
    That concludes today's hearing, and I want to thank all our 
witnesses. It was a spectacular panel--a lot of knowledge, a 
lot of information that was important to be dispensed, and I 
think we did a lot of good today. I hope so.
    It brought ``Hawaii Five-O's'' theme song back to my mind, 
which has been playing over and over and over and over again.
    Without objection, all Members will have five legislative 
days to submit additional written questions for the Witnesses 
or additional materials for the record.
    With that, the hearing is adjourned.
    [Whereupon, at 1:17 p.m., the Committee was adjourned.]

                                APPENDIX

=======================================================================

    Materials submitted by the Honorable Steve Cohen, Chair of 
the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil 
Liberties from the State of Tennessee for the record:

A statement from the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum, 
    available at https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/
    111343/HHRG-117-JU10-20210318-SD101.pdf
A statement from the National Federation of Filipino American 
    Associations, available at https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/
    20210318/111343/HHRG-117-JU10-20210318-SD102.pdf
A statement from Elisa Rhodes, Interim CEO, YWCA USA, available at 
    https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-
    JU10-20210318-SD103.pdf
A statement from the American Federation of Labor and Congress of 
    Industrial Organizations, available at https://docs.house.gov/
    meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-JU10-20210318-SD104.pdf
A letter from the Laotian American National Alliance, March 19, 2021, 
    available at https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/
    111343/HHRG-117-JU10-20210318-SD105.pdf
A statement from the National Asian American Pacific Islander Mental 
    Health Association, available at https://docs.house.gov/meetings/
    JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-JU10-20210318-SD106.pdf
A statement from the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, 
    available at https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/
    111343/HHRG-117-JU10-20210318-SD107.pdf
A statement from OCA--Asian Pacific American Advocates, available at 
    https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-
    JU10-20210318-SD108.pdf
A letter from Erin Hustings, Director of Government Relations, Civil 
    Rights, Anti-Defamation League, March 25, 2021, available at 
    https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-
    JU10-20210318-SD109.pdf
A statement from the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund, 
    available at https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/
    111343/HHRG-117-JU10-20210318-SD110.pdf
A statement from Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote, available at 
    https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-
    JU10-20210318-SD111.pdf
A statement from the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center, available 
    at https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-
    117-JU10-20210318-SD112.pdf
A letter regarding violence and discrimination against Asian Americans 
    from 247 organizations, March 25, 2021, available at https://
    docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-JU10-
    20210318-SD113.pdf
A statement from Joe Lowndes, Professor of Political Science, 
    University of Oregon, available at https://docs.house.gov/meetings/
    JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-JU10-20210318-SD114.pdf
A statement from A Better Balance, available at https://docs.house.gov/
    meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-JU10-20210318-SD115.pdf
A statement from the Japanese American Citizens League, available at 
    https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU10/20210318/111343/HHRG-117-
    JU10-20210318-SD116.pdf
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