Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of hate crimes and hate incidents against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have risen dramatically. From verbal abuse to even stabbings, Asian Americans have been forced to endure the dual epidemics of a virus and racism. STOP AAPI Hate, an incident reporting center launched by Asian Pacific Planning and Policy Council (A3PCON), Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA), and the Asian American Studies Department of San Francisco State University, has noted over 2,500 cases since January 2020.

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recognize that naming COVID–19 by its geographic location or linking it to a specific ethnicity perpetuates stigma. In 2015, the WHO issued guidance calling on media outlets, scientists, and national authorities to avoid naming infectious diseases for locations to avoid stigmatizing groups of people. On February 27, 2020, the Secretary of Health and Human Services stated ethnicity is not what causes the novel coronavirus. 

H.R. 6721, H. Res 908, and S. Res 580, currently in their respective committees in the House and Senate, would call upon public officials to denounce hate incidents related to the COVID-19 pandemic. HR 6721 also calls upon the Department of Justice to create a position that reviews such incidents and brief Congress on the cases every month. 

For more information on the legislation, please visit: 

https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/6721

https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-resolution/908

https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-resolution/580