For Immediate Release
November 22, 2021
Livingston, New Jersey: Asian American Coalition for Education is outraged by the rising violence and hate crime against Asian American students and other members of our community. We strongly denounce the brutal assault of Christina Lu in Philadelphia on November 17 by a group of racially motivated perpetrators, the heartless murder of Shaoxiong Zheng at the University of Chicago on November 9, and many anti-Asian crimes that have happened in New York City and around our nation.
On January 26, 2021, President Biden signed Memorandum Condemning and Combating Racism, Xenophobia, and Intolerance Against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States. However, this Memorandum was politically driven, narrowly focusing on President Trump’s use of words to describe COVID-19. It failed to address many root causes of the rising anti-Asian violence and hate crimes, such as defunding the police and irresponsible release of violent criminals during the pandemic.
As a result, on April 6, 2021, AACE sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Garland, urging the U.S. Department of Justice to take a non-partisan, holistic approach to effectively address the root causes behind rising violence, hate crimes and systemic racism against the Asian-American community.
Unfortunately, almost ten months after President Biden signed the Memorandum, the anti-Asian violence and hate crimes have not been controlled. Asian American communities continue to suffer from the rising violence and hate crimes against us. As a result, we strongly demand:
1. All local governments stop their irresponsible policies of defunding police or releasing violent criminals from jails.
2. In the cities where Asian Americans have been often harmed by anti-Asian violence and hate crimes, including but not limited to Philadelphia, Chicago, New York and great San Francisco metropolitan area, the municipal government should establish special task forces and take concrete actions to reduce crime and protect lives and properties of their Asian American communities.
3. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) should report back to the Asian American community what specific actions it has taken or is planning to take to effectively protect the Asian American community. DOJ also needs to disclose how it uses the $30 million funding appropriated to reduce the anti-Asian violence and hate crimes.
4. DOJ should launch a hate crime investigation with the brutal assault of Christina Lu in Philadelphia, and prosecute the perpetrators under the federal hate crime law.
5. The Biden Administration should conduct a comprehensive non-partisan investigation of the rising violence and hate crimes against Asian American community, publish the findings and take actions to effectively address all of its root causes.
When releasing the statement, AACE President, Mr. Yukong Mike Zhao said: “It has been over 10 months since the Biden Administration vowed to combat anti-Asian hate crimes. Unfortunately, the hate crime and violence against Asian communities are still rising. Unfortunately, by narrowly focusing its efforts on the use of words describing COVID-19, the Biden Administration failed to address many major root causes behind such horrendous crimes, such as defunding police and irresponsible release of violent criminals. Asian community needs comprehensive and effective solutions now, not just politically driven lip service.”
Asian American Coalition for Education
MEDIA CONTACT:
Swann Lee, telephone: (617) 651-1328, email: [email protected].
About the AACE
Asian American Coalition for Education (AACE) is a non-political, nonprofit, grassroots national organization, the proven leader in fighting for Asian-American children’s equal educational rights. On May 15, 2015, the founders of AACE united 64 Asian-American organizations and jointly filed a civil rights complaint with the Department of Education (DOE) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) to request that they conduct investigations into Harvard University’s discriminatory admissions practices against Asian-American applicants. As the largest joint action taken by Asian-American communities over the last few decades, this action helped expose the anti-Asian discrimination to the national stage. Over the years, we have advanced the cause of equal education rights for the Asian-American community, including federal adoption of AACE policy recommendation on college admissions in July 2018, federal lawsuit against Yale University in 2020, our strong support to Students for Fair Admissions’ lawsuit against Harvard University and to Asian Americans fights for equal education rights in Maryland, New York, Washington, California, Massachusetts and other states.