[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.

                          ____________________