House Judiciary panel to hold hearing on rise of violence and discrimination against Asian Americans during Covid

A bevy of Asian American leaders and activists on Thursday are poised to testify before a House panel on civil rights about the rise in discrimination and violence against their communities amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The 10 a.m. hearing will consider ways to prevent racially motivated attacks as it examines both the historic and more recent forms of discrimination felt by Asian Americans, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said in a press release.

„There has been a long history of anti-Asian racism in the United States, especially during times of social or economic unrest,“ Nadler said. „Unfortunately, since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, this bigotry has reared its ugly head once again.“

The hearing comes amid skyrocketing reports of incidents against Asian Americans. It also comes days after a shooting spree at three spas in and around Atlanta, Georgia, that killed eight people, six of whom were reportedly Asian women.

There is „legitimate concern that these killings may have been racially motivated,“ Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on the Senate floor Wednesday morning.

„There is bigotry in the land, and far too much of it,“ Schumer added, lamenting that „a sort of superego that puts these things down seems to have weakened, and the id seems to have strengthened.“

The livestreamed hearing before the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties is slated to include testimony from multiple Asian American lawmakers, including Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., the first Thai American woman elected to Congress. The other lawmakers are Reps. Doris Matsui and Judy Chu of California, and Grace Meng of New York.

Additional witnesses include leaders of Asian American advocacy groups, such as Asian Americans Advancing Justice and the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council. Also on the list are attorney Wencong Fa of the Pacific Legal Foundation and Charles Lehman of the Manhattan Institute, as well as three university professors.