May 18 — SALDEF welcomes the bipartisan passage of the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act. In its final form, the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act also includes the Jabara-Heyer NO HATE Act. Together, these bills aim to streamline the process for reporting and investigating hate crimes in the Department of Justice (DOJ). The COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act passed the Senate on April 22 and passed the House on May 18. It now awaits signature by President Biden, who has committed to signing the bill.
After the beginning of the pandemic, we saw a dramatic surge in the targeting of and violence against the AAPI community. “The Sikh community is no stranger to hate crimes,” Kiran Kaur Gill, Executive Director of SALDEF, said. “Over the past 25 years, SALDEF has collaborated with sangats and communities, the DOJ, and local organizations to effect systemic change in both preventing and dealing with biased incidents. As such, we are so proud to be a part of a national coalition of organizations who advocated for such impactful legislation and brought these issues to the forefront of Congress.”
There still exists much work to be done in addressing hate crimes at both community and governmental levels. In this vein, the DOJ has also committed to an internal review of its responses to hate crimes, especially against the Asian American community.
SALDEF remains in open dialogue with government leaders to provide recommendations on how to improve response and prevention based on our own community’s experiences. SALDEF sees efforts, alongside the changes implemented in the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, as great strides in the right direction towards combating systemic hate in the United States.
SALDEF thanks Senator Mazie K. Hirono (HI) and Representative Grace Meng (NY) for their leadership on this issue and the President for his commitment to sign the bill into law.