President Biden on Friday urged Congress to pass new hate crimes legislation related to the COVID-19 pandemic in the wake of the murders of eight people at three Georgia massage parlors, including six Asian women.
Mr. Biden said in a statement as he departed for Georgia that the proposed COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act “would expedite the federal government’s response to the rise of hate crimes exacerbated during the pandemic” and “ensure that hate crimes information is more accessible to Asian American communities.”
“While we do not yet know motive … we condemn in the strongest possible terms the ongoing crisis of gender-based and anti-Asian violence that has long plagued our nation,” Mr. Biden said.
The president said “every person in our nation deserves to live their lives with safety, dignity, and respect.”
At a House hearing on Thursday, Asian-American elected officials and others called for passage of the bill that was introduced on March 11. Rep. Judy Chu, California Democrat and chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, said perpetrators of anti-Asian violence and hate “were stoked by the words of former President Donald Trump, who sought to shift blame and anger away from his own botched response to the coronavirus.”
Police in Georgia have not determined a motive for the alleged gunman, Robert Aaron Long, 21, who is charged with eight counts of murder. Officials said Mr. Long, who had visited the massage parlors previously, told them he has a sex addiction.
Authorities have identified the victims of the first shooting, in Cherokee County, as Delaina Yaun, 33, of Acworth; Paul Andre Michels, 54, of Atlanta; Xiaojie Tan, 49, of Kennesaw; and Daoyou Feng, 44. One man, Elcias Hernandez-Ortiz, was wounded at that location and survived.
Four other victims at the spas in Atlanta were identified Friday by the Fulton County Medical Examiner as Soon C. Park, 74; Hyun J. Grant, 51; Suncha Kim, 69; and Yong A. Yue, 63.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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