Hi family <3 Thank you to everyone who has signed and mobilized in the name of love - I am in such awe over the amount of signatures and support on this petition.

The COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act was passed Senate last Thursday, with a majority vote of 94-1, and is now waiting to be put into effect in the House and lastly signed into law by POTUS. It has been brought to my attention that the version of this bill signed by Senate was one that increases policing in response to anti-Asian hate crimes in highly targeted areas - when the bill was originally introduced and masked as a "community" response to hate crimes. As I've now learned, the legislation would designate an official from the Department of Justice to expedite reviews of hate crimes related to COVID-19, and yes, establish an online database, but that it would also wrongfully help local law enforcement respond to these incidents. This petition was never intended to further perpetuate the racist, supremacist workings of law enforcement which I stand firmly against for all communities. 

In September of 2020, the NYPD announced an "Asian Hate Crime Task Force." - really just as an undercover operation to get more cops in Asian communities under the guise of ending racist violence. If more policing was a solution, then New York City would not have witnessed hundreds (probably thousands, including all the cases that went unreported out of fear of the police and the public) of hate crimes that still are happening to this very day - 6 months into this creation of a so called task force specifically dedicated to this issue. It has simply only exacerbated tensions and violence between Black and Asian communities here in NYC, and that is their systematic intention once again to use AAPI, through the model minority myth, as their agent and juxtaposition to further oppress Black communities. The largest part of our two communities learning to stand in solidarity together now is the greater realization that the police do not protect us but that they endanger us as AAPI as well, through many direct and indirect, hidden ways. According to The New York Times, the only person in New York City who has been persecuted for an anti-Asian hate crime this year by the task force was also Asian man himself (???). Responding to anti-Asian hate crimes with policing is a hoax and masked attempt to further perpetuate our violence and use us as the race guinea pigs to oppress all other communities of color. Measures against hate crimes have been used to increase the power of the carceral system, responding to violence through more violence, including harsher sentencing, mandatory minimums, and the death penalty. 

During this period before the bill is concreted, I would like to STRONGLY redirect the ask of this petition to ultimately pass a version of this bill that DOES NOT increase police presence in our communities and to invest the energy and money that would further fund policing in Asian neighborhoods into housing measures, social services, anti-racism education, and community outreach and care instead. More policing is not the solution when the law enforcement system in this country was inherently only built to understand and thus serve and protect the minds and bodies of white people. More policing is anti-Black and leads to violence against all POC bodies, including AAPI. What about Christian Hall, a 19 year old Chinese American boy shot and killed in the chest 7 times during a mental health emergency in December 2020 who still has no justice? What about the Atlanta deputy Jay Baker who went on national TV after to excuse the killer's actions that left our community paralyzed and distraught with his "bad day"? Fun fact: that officer also promoted racist t-shirts during the pandemic that said ChinaVirus and still works right now as Cherokee County's Sheriff. 

We can and must fight Asian hate while also standing on the side of Black Lives Matter and be anti-police. I would like to emphasize - this is an anti-police petition asking for AAPI to be justly and fairly written into legislation for true protection, for history, and for humanity - in unity and in solidarity with the Black community.

Thank you and please keep signing to push our redirected focus - it is very important that this be heard before the bill is finalized into law! 

Much Love to all, Stay Safe and anti-racist <3 

- Jeannie Park