Duckworth Addresses Recent Surge in Discrimination and Hate Crimes Against Asian Americans at House Judiciary Committee Hearing

Statement

After six Asian American women were murdered in Atlanta, Georgia, on Tuesday, U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) served as a witness at the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties hearing this morning, discussing the spike in hate crimes and violent acts perpetrated against Asian Americans since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Duckworth testified to the centuries-old, tragic history of this brand of discrimination, arguing that for far too long, Asian Americans have been treated as "other than" and that the continued stoking of such xenophobia over the past year has further fractured our nation at a time when millions of Americans' health is dependent on our collective belief in the common good and in our common humanity. Video of the Senator's remarks can be found here.

"Tuesday night marked yet another unspeakable tragedy after a year of unfathomable suffering for those in the Asian American community," Duckworth said. "There is nothing we can say today that would even begin to make sense of this senseless tragedy. But what we can say--and say unambiguously--is that blaming the AAPI community for a public health crisis is racist and wrong. And continuing to treat our fellow Americans as "others' only further divides our country at the very moment when we should be pushing, pulling and tugging at our nation until it lives up to its founding ideals of equality and justice for all."

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