Why Do Some Lawmakers Oppose This Anti-Asian Hate Crime Bill?

On May 5, Democratic Representative Grace Meng of New York and Democratic Senator Mazie Hirono of Hawaii introduced the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act in response to the extreme increase in anti-Asian hate crimes over the last year.

The act seeks to improve efforts to tackle hate crimes against Asian Americans in the wake of COVID-19 by creating a new position at the Justice Department to expedite the review of hate crimes, expand channels to report hate crimes, and expand the ways in which the public can report such crimes. The act also would require the Justice Department to issue guidance detailing best practices — in coordination with the secretary of health and human services, the COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force, and community-based organizations — to reduce racially discriminatory language when describing the pandemic.

The practice of labeling a disease or malady with an ethnicity or other type of group can stigmatize or hurt a community, and, in recent years, using such descriptions has been discouraged by medical professionals. Back in 2015, for example, Dr. Keiji Fukuda, the World Health Organization assistant director-general for health security, stated that the use of terms such as “Spanish flu” for the 1918 Influenza or “swine flu” for the flu properly known as H1N1 has had “unintended negative impacts by stigmatizing certain communities or economic sectors.” Fukuda added, “This may seem like a trivial issue to some, but disease names really do matter to the people who are directly affected...This can have serious consequences for peoples’ lives and livelihoods.”

But these recommendations have not stopped former President Trump and other xenophobic influencers from describing COVID-19 by using inflammatory phrases such as “China virus,” “Chinese virus,” and “kung flu.”

Some up-and-coming politicians have even leveraged this wave of anti-Asian sentiment to gain popularity among conservative and right-wing voters. Texas Republican congressional candidate and Korean American Sery Kim said, "I don’t want them here at all" when talking about Chinese immigrants at a political forum, “They steal our intellectual property, they give us coronavirus, they don’t hold themselves accountable.” According to NBC News, “the candidate drew laughs and applause from the crowd with her comments.”

When COVID-19 first began shutting down the United States in March 2020, Dr. Mike Ryan, the executive director of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme, was asked at a press conference about Trump’s use of racially charged names when describing COVID-19. Ryan warned about the harm such labels can cause. “Viruses know no borders and they don’t care about your ethnicity, the color of your skin, or how much money you have in the bank. So it’s really important we be careful in the language we use lest it lead to the profiling of individuals associated with the virus.”

Unfortunately, over the past year, it is clear many people have chosen not to follow Dr. Ryan’s advice. As a wave of violence, vitriol, and abuse is sweeping across our country, we need our elected leaders to reinforce the idea that hate crimes and hateful actions are not acceptable. And most have: on April 14, in an unusually bipartisan vote, the Senate voted 92-6 in favor of passing the Democratic-led COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act. But that vote left six Republican senators who refused to pass it.

One was Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville, who put forth four amendments to the bill, one of which included the mandate that anyone who reports a COVID-19-related hate crime must “register their race, ethnicity, immigration status, and political affiliation.” Another proposed to diminish the Justice Department’s ability to constrain racially discriminatory language.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz also opposed the act, claiming that the bill “is not designed to do anything to prevent or punish actual crimes.” Cruz also claimed that tying COVID-19 to China is not racist, even though lawmakers' attempts to use China as a scapegoat has undoubtedly had violent repercussions.

In May 2020, Human Rights Watch reported that COVID-19 was fueling anti-Asian racism and xenophobia worldwide. In November 2020, for example, the owner of the Valley Brook Tea shop in Washington, D.C.’s Dupont Circle was attacked at his business and pepper-sprayed by a man shouting “COVID-19” at him.

Stop AAPI Hate, a national coalition aimed at addressing anti-Asian discrimination amid the pandemic, has received reports of 3,795 hate incidents from March 19, 2020, to February 28, 2021, which the coalition believes is “only a fraction of the number of hate incidents that actually occur,” as many hate crimes go unreported.

Even if the bill is considered merely symbolic by detractors, symbols matter. Whether one does or doesn’t agree with Tuberville or Cruz on the immediate effectiveness of the proposed act, it’s still important to signal to the American public that anti-Asian hate is not acceptable. By voting against even a symbolic gesture, Tuberville, Cruz, and others send a strong message to Asian Americans and Asian immigrants that their voices are heard less, their lives and safety are worth less, and they matter less. And that sends the wrong message to the country.