[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 87 (Wednesday, May 19, 2021)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E547-E549]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CONDEMNING THE HORRIFIC SHOOTINGS IN ATLANTA, GEORGIA ON MARCH 16, 2021
______
speech of
HON. SHEILA JACKSON LEE
of texas
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, May 18, 2021
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Madam Speaker, as Chair of the Judiciary
Subcommittee on Crime, Homeland Security, and Terrorism, and a senior
member of the Homeland Security, and Budget Committees, I rise in
strong support of H. Res. 275--Condemning the horrific shootings in
Atlanta, Georgia, on March 16, 2021, and reaffirming the House of
Representative's commitment to combating hate, bigotry, and violence
against the Asian-American and Pacific Islander community.
Madam Speaker, we all awoke earlier this year to the horrific news
that in suburban Atlanta, Georgia, a 21-year old angry white man
murdered 8 persons at three Asian massage spas.
Among the innocent victims were 6 young Asian American women who
worked in the establishments.
The suspected perpetrator of these brutal crimes has been arrested
and charged with 8 counts of murder.
According to the Atlanta Police Department, the killer is reported to
have told police that he has an issue, what he considers a `sex
addiction,' and `sees these [Asian massage spa] locations as something
that allows him to go to these places' and `it is a temptation for him
that he wanted to eliminate.'
Adding insult to injury, a Georgia sheriff's captain, acting as
spokesperson for law enforcement investigators, characterized the
killer as ``having a really bad day.''
Madam Speaker, since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March
2020, there has been a significant increase in harassment and violence
against the Asian American community.
Unfortunately, this is not new; there is a long history of racism
again Asian Americans, especially during times of social and economic
unrest.
Throughout American history Asian Americans are often blamed for the
emergence of pandemics and diseases, even if the sickness originated
far outside the Asian American community.
The COVID-19 pandemic is no exception, as American citizens, and
residents of actual or perceived Chinese descent, have received intense
and unjust scrutiny, violence, and harassment as perpetrators associate
them with the cause of the pandemic and resulting social and economic
turmoil.
And the racist practice of the 45th President of always referring to
the coronavirus as the ``China Virus,'' or ``Kung Flu'' certainly
contributed to, and inflamed, an already dangerous climate for persons
of Asian descent.
Asian migration to the continental United States can be traced as far
back as 1800's.
Despite their long residence in the country, throughout American
history Asian American communities have been stigmatized as perpetual
foreigners.
These xenophobic sentiments are especially exacerbated in times of
social and economic discontent, leaving Asian American communities
vulnerable to white supremacist and racist violence and harassment.
Especially notable to today, historically anti-Asian racism often
associates Asian communities with illness--leaving Asian Americans
particularly vulnerable to medical scapegoating and violence during
epidemics.
Xenophobia and racism against the Asian American community continued
well into the 20th century.
Most infamously, in 1942 President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed
Executive Order 9066, which ordered the forced internment of 120,000
Japanese Americans during World War II.
While American immigration policies' still forbade the free migration
of Asian immigrants into the country, thousands of Japanese-Americans
had lived in the United States for decades, many of whom were second
and third-generation Americans.
As the 1980 investigation and report of the Commission on Wartime
Relocation and Internment of Civilians would later conclude, Japanese
internment was primarily driven by racism and xenophobia rather than a
legitimate security threat.
Even though nearly two-thirds of Japanese internees were American
citizens, Japanese-Americans were considered as a collective to be
disloyal, un-American, and a security risk.
In 1982, amid a downturn in the U.S. automobile industry that was
blamed on competition from Japanese companies, Chinese American Vincent
Chin was beaten to death by two white autoworkers, one allegedly
saying, ``it's because of you little m-f-s that we're out of work.''
Chin's assailants never spent a day in jail and instead were only
sentenced to probation and fined and the resulting outrage from the
Asian American community served as a galvanizing force to organize for
Asian American civil rights and advocacy, and it remains a central
rallying cry and example of injustice for contemporary Asian American
activism.
In the aftermath of the September 11th attack on the United States,
South Asian, Muslim, and Middle Eastern Americans increasingly became
the targets of violence and discrimination.
In the week following the terrorist attack, media outlets reported
645 bias incidents targeting people perceived to be Muslim or of Middle
Eastern descent.
At the time, the Bush Administration condemned the harassment and
urged respect for the Muslim and South Asian community, with President
Bush himself stating that the perpetrators of these racialized attacks
should be ``ashamed.''
Then-Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Robert Mueller
reiterated President Bush's sentiments, stating that: ``vigilante
attacks and threats against Arab-Americans will-not be tolerated.''
In the years since, the Department of Justice has investigated over
800 incidents of violence, threats, and harassment against Arab,
Muslim, Sikh, and South Asian Americans, and others of perceived Middle
Eastern descent.
Sparked by xenophobic rhetoric framing fault for the coronavirus
around its country of origin, Asian Americans, notably those of Chinese
descent or assumed Chinese descent, have suffered increased rates of
violence, harassment, and intimidation over the last year.
Led by the racist rhetoric of the 45th President, targeted xenophobic
and anti-Asian sentiments have exacerbated the scapegoating and
targeting of the Asian American community.
Between March 16 and March 30, 2020, the worst president in history
referred to COVID-19 as the ``Chinese virus'' more than 20 times,
claiming that his phrasing was not racist at all, but rather accurate
because the virus came from China.
He even had the word ``Corona'' crossed out of his press conference
notes, replaced with ``Chinese'' handwritten above it, and he also
called the virus ``Kung Flu'' at a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma on June 20,
2020 then again at a church rally in Phoenix, Arizona on June 24, 2020.
Examples of additional violent physical assaults against the Asian
American community over the last year include:
[[Page E548]]
1. A sixteen-year-old boy was sent to the emergency room after being
physically attacked at his high school by an assailant who claimed the
boy had COVID-19 simply because he was Asian.
2. An 81-year-old woman was punched in the face and lit on fire
outside her home.
3. A woman was kicked, punched, and hit with an umbrella in a subway
station in New York.
4. A man and his ten-year-old son were followed to a bus station by a
man who was yelling and cursing at them before eventually hitting the
man over the head.
5. A 61-year-old man was slashed across the face with a boxcutter on
the subway in New York City. His injuries required him to receive
nearly 100 stitches.
6. A woman was doused in a caustic chemical as she took out the
trash; resulting in chemical burns on her face, neck and back.
7. A 52-year-old woman was shoved to the ground and hit her head on a
metal newspaper stand.
8. A 51-year-old man was beaten with his own cane at a bus stop. His
injuries were so severe, he lost part of a finger.
Further, in addition to these violent incidents, data shows that
general and daily harassment of Asian Americans has increased in the
last year, examples of which include:
1. A couple found a note pinned to their door that read: ``We're
watching you f---- c---- take the chinese virus back to china. We don't
want you hear [sic] infecting us with your diseases!!!!!!!!!!--Your
friendly neighborhood.''
2. A woman was cursed at while taking out her trash, a man walking by
yelling ``F---- Chinese'' and ``Yea, I'm talking to you, Chinese B--
--.''
3. A woman was yelled at, followed, and spit on as she walked to her
gym.
4. A man was yelled at while grocery shopping, the customer in front
of him at the checkout line shouting at him ``It's you people who
brought the disease.''
Finally, Madam Speaker, in my home state of Texas, about this time a
year ago, a Burmese American family was shopping at a Sam's Club in
Midland, Texas when a man repeatedly hit the father on the back of his
head and slashed at his face.
Later, the assailant returned to continue to attack the family--
stabbing their two-year-old child and slashing their six-year-old
across the face.
In light of increasing attacks on Asian Americans, several members of
Congress have called for a stronger hate crime tracking law to add to
the existing legal framework of hate crime legislation.
Congresswoman Chu, the Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific
American Caucus, has called on this consider new hate crime tracking
legislation, noting that all of us must be vocal in rejecting
xenophobia and racism.''
And I am pleased to be an original cosponsor of the March 25, 2020
resolution introduced by Congresswoman Meng of New York and passed by
the House on September 17, 2020, condemning anti-Asian sentiment
related to COVID-19 and calling on federal law enforcement officials to
work with state and local officials to investigate hate crimes and
incidents against the Asian American community.
In my hometown of Houston, Texas, we know all too well the fear,
horror, and heartbreak inflicted on members of vulnerable and
marginalized communities when they are targeted by hate crime violence.
That is why I have reintroduced H.R. 133, the David Ray Hate Crimes
Prevention Act or ``David's Law,'' to amend the federal criminal code
to impose penalties for willfully causing bodily injury to any person
or, through the use of fire, a firearm, or an explosive device,
attempting to cause such injury, whether or not acting under color of
law, because of the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national
origin, gender, sexual orientation, or disability of any person, where
the offense is in or affects interstate or foreign commerce.
This legislation is named in honor of David Ray Ritcheson, a
constituent and high school student, who was brutally beaten and left
for dead simply because his assailants hated his national origin.
Madam Speaker, hate crimes are among the worst atrocities that exist
in modern day society.
A hate crime is defined as the incidence of violence motivated by the
actual or perceived race, color, national origin, relation, sexual
orientation, gender, and disability of the victim.
Unfortunately, hate crimes are underreported for several reasons,
including fear and intimidation.
As most of us in this Congress know all too well, hate-motivated
violence disrupts the tranquility and safety of our communities,
impedes the movement of members of targeted groups, and prevents
members of targeted groups from purchasing goods and services,
obtaining, or sustaining employment, and achieving the American Dream.
The mass shootings in Georgia are one part of a nationwide pattern of
Asian women's being disproportionately targeted in hate incidents, and
this Resolution proclaims loud and clear that the United States
Government is committed to combatting hate, bigotry and violence
against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
For this reason, I urge all of my colleagues to rise with me in
support of H. Res. 275--Condemning the horrific shootings in Atlanta,
Georgia, on March 16, 2021, and reaffirming the House of
Representative's commitment to combating hate, bigotry, and violence
against the Asian-American and Pacific Islander community.
[From Buzzfeed New, Apr. 1, 2020]
A Man Who Allegedly Tried To Kill an Asian American Family Because of
the Coronavirus Could Face Hate Crime Charges
(By Julia Reinstein)
The incident is just one in a surge of racist attacks that
Asian-Americans have faced during the coronavirus pandemic.
A man who allegedly tried to kill an Asian American family
of three because he believed they were spreading the
coronavirus at a Sam's Club in Texas could face hate crime
charges, the FBI told BuzzFeed News on Wednesday.
Jose L. Gomez, 19, stabbed the three people on March 14 at
the Midland, Texas, Sam's Club before being taken down by a
store employee, who saved the family's lives and was injured
in the process, police told BuzzFeed News.
Gomez was then taken into custody by an off-duty Border
Patrol agent. He was charged with three counts of attempted
capital murder and one count of aggravated assault with a
deadly weapon.
Bernie Ramirez, the Border Patrol agent, told CBS7 he
initially approached Gomez and family with the intention of
breaking up what he thought was a fight over scarce goods.
Ramirez said ``credit is due'' to Zach Owen, the store
employee who stopped Gomez by putting him in a chokehold and
suffered stab wounds to the hand in the process.
``He went into a knife fight bare-handed,'' Ramirez said.
``He took control of the individual, and he disarmed him. If
Zach had not been there, things could've gone really badly.''
Ramirez did not immediately respond to a request for
comment. The father in the family declined to comment.
Gomez allegedly stabbed the three ``because he thought the
family was Chinese, and infecting people with the
coronavirus,'' the FBI stated in a document obtained by ABC
News.
An FBI spokesperson told BuzzFeed News they were unable to
comment on the document but confirmed that the case is being
treated as a possible hate crime,
According to the FBI report, federal law enforcement
officials are warning there could be a surge in hate crimes
against Asian Americans.
``The FBI assesses hate crime incidents against Asian
Americans likely will surge across the United States, due to
the spread of coronavirus disease . . . endangering Asian
American communities,'' the document reportedly states. ``The
FBI makes this assessment based on the assumption that a
portion of the US public will associate COVID-19 with China
and Asian American populations.''
The Texas stabbing was just one of the many racist attacks
Asian Americans have been facing amid the coronavirus
pandemic's rise in the US.
On March 11, a woman in New York punched another woman for
not wearing a face mask and ``made anti-Asian statements and
fled the location on foot.'' In February, a 16-year-old boy
was sent to the hospital after being physically attacked by
bullies who accused him of having the coronavirus. One couple
in Minnesota got a note on their door that said ``we're
watching you'' and ``take the Chinese virus back to China.''
President Donald Trump has deliberately referred to COVID-
19 as the ``Chinese virus'' on multiple occasions, which
critics have seen as a way of scapegoating China and, in
turn, inciting hatred and harassment of people of Asian
descent. The World Health Organization has urged people not
to attach locations or ethnicity to the virus to prevent
social stigma.
When questioned, Trump defended his use of the term,
``It's not racist at all, no. Not at all,'' Trump said.
``It comes from China.''
The FBI spokesperson told BuzzFeed News the agency ``will
use all authority granted to us by federal law to investigate
and hold those who commit violent acts accountable for their
actions.''
``During the COVID-19 pandemic, we want to remind everyone
that any violent criminal act against any person because of
their race, ethnicity or national origin is a hate crime,''
the spokesperson said. ``This includes violence toward Asian
Americans or individuals from East Asian countries.''
____
[From the New York Times]
8 Dead in Atlanta Spa Shootings, With Fears of Anti-Asian Bias
The man who police say went on a rampage at three spas in
the Atlanta area has been charged with eight counts of murder
in co nection with the attacks.
[[Page E549]]
Here's what we know:
1. The suspect in the spa attacks has been charged with
eight counts of murder.
2. Six of the eight victims were women of Asian descent.
3. President Biden: `I know Asian-Americans are very
concerned.'
4. A survivor of the shooting spree called his wife: `I've
been shot! Please come.'
5. The suspect's parents identified him in surveillance
footage during the manhunt.
6. Experts warn of a rise in hate crimes motivated by `male
supremacy.'
7. Asian-Americans were targeted in nearly 3,800 hate
incidents in the past year.
The Atlanta police on Wednesday said a 21-year-old suspect
was arrested and charged in the shootings that took place at
three massage parlors Tuesday night:
``This was a tragic day with many victims, but thankfully
the suspect was quickly apprehended.'' ``The suspect did take
responsibility for the shootings. He said that early on, once
we began the interviews with him. He claims that these, and
as the chief said, we know this is still early, but he does
claim that it was not racially motivated. He apparently has
an issue, what he considers a sex addiction, and sees these
locations as something that allows him to go to these places.
And it is a temptation for him that he wanted to eliminate.''
``So obviously, whatever the motivation was for this guy, we
know that many of the victims, the majority of the victims,
were Asian. We also know that this is an issue that is
happening across the country. It is unacceptable. It is
hateful, and it has to stop.'' ``We put out an image of a
possible suspect very early on in this incident, and we were
notified by his family, who were fully cooperative, and we
are greatly appreciative of their assistance in this
matter.''
Acworth, Ga.--The man who police say went on a rampage at
three spas in the Atlanta area, killing eight people, was
charged on Wednesday with eight counts of murder in
connection with the attacks.
The brazen shootings, which took the lives of six women of
Asian descent, stirred considerable outrage and fear in the
Asian-American community. Investigators said they had not
ruled out bias as a motivating factor even as the suspect
denied such racial animus once in custody.
The gunman told the police: that he had a ``sexual
addiction'' and had carried out the shootings at the massage
parlors to eliminate his ``temptation,'' the authorities said
on Wednesday. He also said that he had frequented massage
parlors in the past and launched the attacks as a form of
vengeance. All but one of the victims were women, the police
said.
Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms of Atlanta said that regardless
of the determination about motive, the tragedy was clear.
``Whatever the motivation was for this guy, we know that
the majority of the victims were Asian,'' Ms. Bottoms said.
``We also know that this is an issue that is happening across
the country. It is unacceptable, it is hateful and it has to
stop.''
The authorities charged Robert Aaron Long, 21, on Wednesday
with eight counts of murder and one count of aggravated
assault in connection with the shootings. Four of the murder
counts and the assault charge stem from the first shooting,
in Cherokee County, and the other four murder counts relate
to the shootings at two spas in the city of Atlanta less than
an hour later, the authorities said.
Capt. Jay Baker of the Cherokee County Sheriffs Office said
the gunman had told the police he was driving to Florida when
he was caught after the shootings on Tuesday evening, and
that he said he may have been trying to commit similar
violence at a business connected to the ``porn industry''
there. He was stopped after his parents alerted the police
that they believed their son might be the suspect, and the
police were able to track his phone.
Sheriff Frank Reynolds of Cherokee County said the gunman
may have ``frequented these places in the past and may have
been lashing out.''
The police arrested Mr. Long, who is white, about 150 miles
south of Atlanta after a manhunt, the authorities said. They
had earlier released a surveillance image of a suspect near a
Hyundai Tucson outside one of the massage parlors. Mr. Baker
said that Mr. Long, of Cherokee County, had admitted to the
shootings and that he appeared to be acting alone.
Rodney Bryant, the acting chief of the Atlanta Police
Department, said it was not yet clear whether the shooting
spree would be classified as a hate crime.
``We are still early in this investigation, so we cannot
make that determination at this moment,'' Chief Bryant said.
``We are just not there as of yet.''
(By Scott Reinhard)
Four people died in the first shooting, at Young's Asian
Massage near Acworth, a northwest suburb of Atlanta, Mr.
Baker said. That shooting, in which a Hispanic man was
injured, was reported around 5 p.m.
At 5:47 p.m., the Atlanta police said, officers responded
to a robbery at Gold Spa in the northeast part of the city,
where they found the bodies.of three women with gunshot
wounds. While the officers were at the scene, the police
said, they received a report of shots fired at the
Aromatherapy Spa across the street, where they found the body
of another woman.
A 911 caller who said she was hiding in the back of Gold
Spa told the emergency operator that a ``white guy'' had a
gun, according to audio recordings released by the Atlanta
Police Department.
She was not sure where the gunman was, she told the
operator, because she was hiding, and was unsure what he was
wearing. ``I don't know,'' she pleaded in response to
questions. ``Please just come.''-
Six of the eight people killed in the shootings at Atlanta-
area spas on Tuesday were women of Asian descent, raising
fears that they could have been targeted because of their
race, even as the police said it was too early to know.
On Wednesday, the police named the victims of the shooting
at Young's Asian Massage in Acworth, Ga., as Delaina Ashley
Yaun; 33, of Acworth; Paul Andre Michels, 54, of Atlanta;
Xiaojie Tan, 49, of Kennesaw; and Daoyou Feng, 44. One
person, Elcias R. Hernandez-Ortiz, 30, of Acworth, was
injured.
An official from the South Korean Consulate in Atlanta,
citing the Foreign Ministry in Seoul, confirmed on Wednesday
that four of the eight killed in the shooting spree were
ethnic Koreans. But the nationalities of the four women were
not immediately known, the official said.
Ms. Yaun was a customer at Young's Asian Massage and had
been planning a date night with her husband, her half sister,
Dana Toole, said. She was killed, and her husband survived
after locking himself in a nearby room as gunshots rang out,
Ms. Toole said.
``He's not OK,'' Ms. Toole said about her sister's husband.
``He's taking it hard.''
Ms. Yaun was one of four siblings who grew up in Acworth,
and had worked as a server at a Waffle House restaurant. She
raised a 13-year-old son as a single mother and had an 8-
month-old daughter, Ms. Toole said.
``It was just all about family,'' Ms. Toole said.
``Whatever we'd do, we'd do it together.'' Now the shooting
has left the family in shock.
``It doesn't seem real. I expect to see her walking through
the door any minute. It just hasn't quite sunk in yet,'' Ms.
Toole said.
``My eyes hurt so bad because I've been crying so much,''
she said. ``It's just hard right now for us to even think
about moving forward, because she's not here.''
Young's Asian Massage is tucked in a modest strip mall,
with a beauty salon on one side and a boutique on the other.
Like much of suburban Georgia, the mall is a diverse place,
with panaderias and Latin businesses and American-style chain
restaurants.
On Tuesday night, the blue lights of police vehicles cast
an eerie glow as detectives worked inside the spa.
Rita Barron, 47, the owner of Gabby's Boutique next door,
was with a group of onlookers standing near a used car lot.
She said she had been with a customer when she heard noises
through the wall that sounded like claps--and then women
screaming.
She called 911, and soon saw victims being taken out by
police officers.
Nearby, a wail of anguish went up from another cluster of
people waiting for any news. Three dropped to the pavement,
two of them embracing and shaking as they cried.
____________________