Joe Biden condemns racial attacks and hate crimes against Asian-Americans

United States President Joe Biden on Thursday condemned violent attacks against Asian Americans during the coronavirus pandemic, calling it  "vicious hate crimes" and "Un-American", and urged to end such acts. 

While addressing his nation, Biden said, "vicious hate crimes against Asian Americans who have been attacked, harassed, blamed and scapegoated." 

"At this very moment, so many of them, our fellow Americans -- they're on the front lines of this pandemic trying to save lives and still, still they're forced to live in fear for their lives just walking down streets in America. It's wrong. It's un-American. And it must stop," the US President added. 

Last month, the US Department of Justice had vowed to investigate the rising tide of hate crimes in the country as a direct result of increased attacks on Asian Americans. Speaking to the media, Pamela Karlan, the principal deputy assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division had asserted that the country was currently battling “unprecedented challenges”, some of which had been fuelled by bigotry and hatred. She had further added that, at present, the department was working with the FBI, federal prosecutors and local police to “evaluate possible hate crimes”.

Rise In Assaults On Asian Americans

Initiatives like increased police presence, volunteer patrols, and special crime hotlines are coming to fruition. Cynthia Choi, of Stop AAPI (Asian American Pacific Islanders) Hate, a California-based reporting centre for Asian American Pacific Islanders, said anti-Asian racism and violence are not new in the US, but it has worsened since the pandemic began as then-President Donald Trump blamed China, where the virus originated and called COVID-19 the "China virus."

More than 3,000 incidents of verbal harassment and physical assaults have been reported to Stop AAPI Hate, since the coronavirus pandemic began in March 2020. Fear has gripped Oakland's Chinatown, which has been hit with a spate of assaults and robberies targeting residents, shoppers, and businesses. Many of the incidents have been captured on surveillance cameras, including an unprovoked attack on an elderly man walking on the sidewalk, a man robbing a speciality foods shop, and a woman being dragged by a car by people who stole her purse outside a beauty shop.

(With Agency Inputs)