March 20, 2021
President Biden
I said from the beginning of my campaign for President that we needed to come together; that we needed to unite as one people, one nation, one America. I said in my kickoff speech in Philadelphia. I said that very same thing when I spoke at Gettysburg. I said that in my inaugural address. And I believe it with every fiber of my being.
There are simply some core values and beliefs that should bring us together as Americans. One of them is standing together against hate, against racism — the ugly poison that has long haunted and plagued our nation.
The Vice President and I, as I said, met a little bit earlier, just before this, with leaders from the Asian American community here in Georgia.
We talked about Tuesday’s mass shooting, about another example of public health crisis, of gun violence in this country. Eight people killed, seven women. Six were of Asian descent. All fellow Americans. Each one of them we mourn.
Their families are left with broken hearts and unanswered questions. And the investigation is ongoing. And the Vice President and I are being regularly updated by the Attorney General and the Director of the FBI, working closely with Governor Kemp and Mayor Bottoms and local officials.
But whatever the motivation, we know this: Too many Asian Americans have been walking up and down the streets and worrying, waking up each morning the past year feeling their safety and the safety of their loved ones are at stake. They’ve been attacked, blamed, scapegoated, and harassed. They’ve been verbally assaulted, physically assaulted, killed.
Documented incidents against — of hate against Asian Americans have seen a skyrocketing spike over the last year, let alone the ones that happened and never get reported. It’s been a year of living in fear for their lives just to walk down the street. Grandparents leave — to leave — afraid to leave their homes. Small-business owners targeted and gunned down. Attacks on some of the most vulnerable people in our nation — the elderly, low-wage workers, and women.
In fact, Asian American women suffer twice as many incidents of harassment and violence as Asian American men. We’re learning again what we’ve always known: Words have consequences. It’s the coro- — it’s the coronavirus. Full stop.
The conversation we had today with the AAPI leaders, and that we’re hearing all across the country, is that hate and violence often hide in plain sight. And it’s often met with silence. That’s been true throughout our history, but that has to change — because our silence is complicity. We cannot be complicit. We have to speak out. We have to act.
In my first week in office, I signed an executive order directing federal agencies to combat this resurgence of xenophobia. The Department of Justice is strengthening its partnership with the AAPI community to prevent these crimes, in addition to its other work to take on violent extremism and domestic terrorism.
I’m calling on Congress to pass and get my — to get to my desk the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act. And the House just passed the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, a law I authored more than 25 years ago and is one of my proudest legislative achievements. I call on the Senate to swiftly pass it and get it to my desk.
But for all the good that laws can do, we have to change our hearts. Hate can have no safe harbor in America. It must stop. And it’s on all of us — all of us, together — to make it stop.
Emory University
Atlanta, Georgia
