On Tuesday, March 30th, the Biden Administration and the Department of Justice (DOJ) each released statements on their increased commitment towards ending Asian hate, discrimination, and xenophobia. SALDEF appreciates the Administration both speaking out against anti-Asian violence and taking action to combat the surge in hate crimes since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. In its statement, the Biden Administration reaffirmed its support for the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, announced that it will reinstate the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, committed $49.5 million towards AAPI survivors of domestic and sexual assault, and established a COVID-19 Task Force committee to address health inequities and xenophobia facing Asian Americans. Separately, the Department of Justice declared the beginning of its 30-day internal review to examine its incompetencies in addressing anti-Asian violence.
“We are really grateful that the Biden Administration is looking not only to address these crucial issues across our communities but also work directly alongside AAPI community organizations and leaders,” Kiran Kaur Gill, Executive Director of SALDEF, said.
Importantly, the DOJ’s internal review will focus largely on data transparency and language accessibility––two issues that have been at the core of SALDEF’s advocacy work in addressing hate crimes against the Sikh community. “The DOJ has long been a partner with SALDEF to address violence targeted at Sikh Americans, and we are thankful that even greater resources are being allocated towards combating the heinous surge in attacks against the broader Asian community.” Specifically, the DOJ has reconvened the Department’s Hate Crimes Enforcement and Prevention Initiative. At the same time, the FBI is committing to greater standards with regards to its data-publishing on its Crime Data Explorer website. “Ensuring that the DOJ’s online tools are available in AAPI languages is a critical first step to making reporting more accessible, and we commend the FBI for doing so in several languages already. We also hope to implement Hindi and Punjabi as other languages available on the DOJ sites in the near future,” Gill concluded.