Thread by @josie_huang

Today Congress held its 1st hearing on violence & discrimination against Asian Ams...in 34 years.

The top-ranking Republican at the hearing grabbed headlines by apparently reminiscing about lynchings. But a lot else was going on. Some highlights:

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas went from lynchings to complaining the hearing was about policing free speech. He wants to criticize China.

NY Rep. Grace Meng - among those who've blasted racist rhetoric re: covid - wasn’t having it.

"We will not let you take our voice away from us.”

Roy’s free speech remarks also set off Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif.

“You can say racist stupid stuff if you want, but I'm asking you to please stop using racist terms like kung flu or Wuhan virus or other ethnic identifiers in describing this virus. I am not a virus."

The irony of Asian Americans feeling like they’re under attack at a hearing about protecting Asian Americans.

4 of the 6 Congressmembers who testified as panelists were from California, including Democrat Doris Matsui. She drew parallels between today and WWII, when Japanese Ams were incarcerated. Matsui was herself born in a camp. (Audio only)

Newly-elected GOP Congressmembers from Orange County- Michelle Steel and Young Kim - condemned discrimination against Asian Ams, which they said includes affirmative action.

Steel talked about the night-partisan anti-hate resolution she's co-sponsoring w/ fellow OC'er Katie Porter then spent of half her allotted time taking down affirmative action.

“This type of behavior is only hurting future generations.”

Following Steel's affirmative action comments, Rep. Meng said “some of us seem to be going a little off-topic.” She wished Steel luck in getting her resolution passed.

Meng last year sponsored an anti-hate resolution that passed, despite 164 Republicans voting against it.

History lesson time from Erika Lee, one of the expert panelists.

Violence towards Asians "are not random acts perpetrated by deranged individuals. They are an expression of our country's long history of systemic racism, targeting Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders."

Historian Erika Lee said the history of violence towards Asian Ams goes back 150 years....from the 1871 lynching of 17 Chinese people by a mob of 500 in Los Angeles.... to post-9/11 attacks on Muslim, Middle Eastern and South Asian Americans.

Lee points out the US govt has not only ignored anti-Asian racism but instituted it thru racial profiling after 9/11 and thru laws like the Chinese Exclusion Act & the Page Act which banned the entry of Chinese women because they were thought to be prostitutes.

Charles Lehman with the conservative Manhattan Institute warned against treating violence towards Asians solely as hate crimes, saying a crime surge is largely to blame. He noted some recent high-profile cases in SF and NY are not being treated as such.

How to reduce violence against Asian Ams? Answer from Manhattan Institute’s Lehman is restoring cuts to public safety budgets (made after BLM protests last year)and “pushing back against anti-police rhetoric.”

Shirin Sinnar, prof at Stanford Law, says that concerns about policing and mass incarceration has some Asian Am orgs looking for a response to hate crimes other than criminal law. She explains one option, restorative justice, here:

Daniel Dae Kim, maybe the most visible celeb speaking out on anti-Asian violence, pushed lawmakers to pass legislation like Rep. Meng’s aimed at improving online hate crime reporting. Mentions Asians are the fastest-growing demo in US.

“We are united. And we are waking up.”

There are plenty of stereotypes about Asians, but John Yang of Asian Americans Advancing Justice singles out two in particular.

Combine “perpetual foreigner” and “model minority” and you get some racism magic

To close a loop... the first Congressional hearing on discrimination against Asians was in 1987 -- called in the aftermath of Vincent Chin’s killing by two auto workers in Detroit and attacks on Indians in NJ by a gang called the “Dotbusters.”