Atlanta shooting hearing: Grace Meng gives tearful testimony as Chip Roy ‘glorifies lynching’
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Your support makes all the difference.The House Judiciary Committee heard from Asian American leaders and activists about the rise in discrimination and violence against their communities since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
Advocates have blamed former president Donald Trump for stoking discrimination against Asian Americans with his inflammatory rhetoric while in office.
The hearing comes just days after the shooting spree that claimed the lives of eight people at three spas in the Atlanta area — six of them Asian women.
In shocking moments early on in the proceedings, Representative Chip Roy defended his use of the term “Chicom”, railed against the Chinese Communist Party, and appeared to glorify lynching.
His comments were noted by several with Representatives Grace Meng and Ted Lieu calling him out during their remarks. Ms Meng gave particularly emotional testimony rebuking the GOP for putting a “bullseye” on Asian Americans’ backs with their rhetoric.
Lawmakers joined experts on hate crimes in giving testimony. The actor Daniel Dae Kim, known for roles on Lost and Hawai Five-O, also appeared. Mr Kim has been outspoken about the problem of violence against Asian Americans.
Ted Lieu slams Roy over lynching comments
Rep Ted Lieu: “I served on active duty in the US military to defend [Chip Roy’s] right to say stupid, racist stuff. I just wish he would stop saying it.”
Elderly Asian woman fights off attacker in San Francisco
An elderly Asian woman fought off an attack in San Francisco by a young white man as vigils were being held across the country for Asian American victims of hate crimes.
Xiao Zhen Xie, 76, picked up a paddle and hit back at a man who attacked her as she was waiting to cross the street. Witnesses say she stood her ground after being punched in the face, using the wooden paddle to defend herself and leaving the man with a bloody mouth.
The attack comes following the death of eight people in Atlanta spa shootings. Six of the victims were women of Asian heritage.
Gustaf Kilander reports.
Elderly woman fights off attacker in San Francisco as vigils against Asian hate crime held across US
Witnesses say she stood her ground after being punched in the face, using wooden paddle to defend herself and leaving attacker with bloody mouth and handcuffed to stretcher
California Republican representative Tom McClintock is another Republican lawmaker who appears to not understand that the topic up for discussion is discrimination and violence against Asian Americans.
He says that today’s hearing “seeks to divide Americans”.
“To attack our society as systemically racist, a society that has produced the freest, most prosperous and most harmonious multiracial society in human history, well, that’s an insult. And it’s flat out wrong.”
He also said: “What should make us all proud as Americans is the fact that Asian Americans have the highest median income ... If America were such a hate filled discriminatory racist society filled with animus against Asian Americans, how do you explain the remarkable success of Asian Americans in our society?”
Twitter users were not amused.
Atlanta gunman’s parents helped police track car
The parents of the man accused of shooting and killing eight people at massage parlours near Atlanta helped police identify their son and track him down.
Robert Aaron Long, 21, has been charged with multiple counts of murder after allegedly shooting and killing eight people - primarily Asian women - at three massage parlours he reportedly frequented in Georgia.
Graig Graziosi reports.
Parents of accused Atlanta massage parlour gunman used tracker on his car to help police catch him
Police said without the tracker it may have taken much longer to apprehend the alleged shooter
Asian American lawmaker reveals racist voicemails she received
Democratic congresswoman Grace Meng has revealed racist voicemails she has received over the past year that have blamed her and Asian-Americans for the coronavirus pandemic.
During an appearance on CNN on Tuesday, Ms Meng, who is Asian-American, played clips of racist voicemails she has received that repeat language used by former President Donald Trump, highlighting the abuseAsian-Americans have been subject to over the past year.
“I’m calling about the Karate Kid virus, or the kung flu virus or the whatever – it came from Asia. It’s not racist. It’s the truth. Filthy people,” one man said in a voicemail shared by Ms Meng.
James Crump reports.
Asian American lawmaker reveals racist voicemails she received following Trump’s Covid slurs
‘Hey, you look like a Chinese virus, you fat slob,’ is heard in one recording
George Takei calls Chip Roy an ‘ignorant inciter’
Actor and activist George Takei added his voice to the angry response to Chip Roy’s remarks about lynching calling him an “ignorant inciter” and noting that one of the worst lynching incidents was against the Chinese community in Los Angeles.
Trevor Noah responds to Atlanta shootings
Trevor Noah delivered a powerful monologue around the recent shootings in Atlanta, where eight people, six of whom were of Asian heritage, were killed in a rampage at three area spas.
America, Noah argued, should have seen this coming.
“We see these things happening,” Noah said in the Daily Showmonologue on 17 March. “People have been warning, people in the Asiancommunity have been tweeting, saying please help us.”
“Why are people so invested in solving the symptoms instead of the cause? America does this time and time again. A country that wants to fight the symptoms and not the underlying conditions that cause those symptoms to take effect,” he said.
Rachel Brodsky reports.
Trevor Noah speaks out against Atlanta shootings on Daily Show
‘Why are people so invested in solving the symptoms instead of the cause? America does this time and time again’
Chip Roy gives statement on outrage over comments
Via Henry Rodgers of The Daily Caller.
Voices: The way white men look at Asian American women
The concept of the subservient, obedient, and sexual Asian woman is grounded in a history of exclusion and violence, writes Jean Lee.
Robert Aaron Long, the Atlanta-area shootings and the way white men look at Asian American women | Jean Lee
The concept of the subservient, obedient, and sexual Asian woman is grounded in a history of exclusion and violence
Voices: Chip Roy ‘showcased the Republican Party’s culpability in the anti-Asian hate crimes we’ve seen over the past year'
Ahmed Baba writes:
At today’s House Judiciary Committee hearing on discrimination against Asian Americans, one lawmaker managed to shine a spotlight on his own apparent bigotry. Not only that, but he further showcased the Republican Party’s culpability in the anti-Asian hate crimes we’ve seen over the past year.
A hearing on violence against Asian Americans descended into ‘cancel culture’ chaos | Ahmed Baba
‘There’s an old saying in Texas about find all the rope in Texas and get a tall oak tree,’ Chip Roy said, in a speech that went from bad to worse
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