JACL Applauds Senate Passage of the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act and the Jabara-Heyer NO HATE Act

JACL applauds the bipartisan passage of Senator Mazie Hirono’s S.937 COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act in conjunction with the Khalid Jabara and Heather Heyer National Opposition to Hate, Assault, and Threats to Equality Act (Jabara-Heyer NO HATE Act). The passage of the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act comes in response to over a year of targeting of Asian American communities for violence and harassment, and particularly in the wake of last month’s Atlanta shooting which claimed the lives of six Asian American women and this past week’s shooting in Indianapolis which claimed the lives of four members of the Sikh community.

The addition of the NO-HATE Act recognizes that even as Asian Americans have been increasingly the target of hate crimes and incidents this past year, other communities of color, immigrants, religious minorities, the LGBTQ community, and people with disabilities are also too often targeted because of who we are. Together, these bills will promote improved data collection and support for victims. In particular for Asian American communities, community support must be provided in a culturally and linguistically appropriate manner.

The NO HATE Act allows judges to require offenders under supervised release to participate in education programs and community service related to the community impacted by the crime. It is through restorative justice programs such as this that we can hope to undermine and counter the false prejudices that fuel hate crimes and incidents.

We call upon the House of Representatives to seek swift passage of this legislation as championed by Representative Grace Meng.