A number of lawmakers on Wednesday warned of a surge in violence against Asian Americans after the shooting spree late Tuesday in Atlanta that left eight people dead, six of whom were Asian women.
Rep. Michelle Steel (R-Calif.) called the shooting “senseless and tragic” on Twitter on Wednesday, while fellow California Rep. Ted Lieu (D) accused the Trump administration of “inflaming hate against Asian Americans” amid the coronavirus pandemic, retweeting CBS News’s Weijia Jiang’s allegation that last year a White House official called COVID-19 the “Kung-Flu” to her.
The House has a hearing scheduled Thursday on rising incidents of hate crimes and discrimination against Asian Americans.
Violent attacks against Asian American individuals increased last year by nearly 150 percent in major cities, according to NBC News, especially in Los Angeles and New York, which have large Asian populations.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) tweeted that the shooting on Tuesday “reflects a sickening trend that must be stopped.”
“America must unite to fight the stomach-turning surge in violence against the Asian-American community,” he shared.
More than 3,000 hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have been reported since the beginning of the pandemic in the U.S., which former President Trump continues to refer to as “the China virus.”
Atlanta police on Wednesday told reporters that it was too early to determine if the shootings, which occurred at massage parlors in and near the city, should be considered a hate crime.
The suspected 21-year-old shooter, who is white, told authorities the crimes were not racially motivated but that he has a “sexual addition” and saw the massage parlors as a “temptation” that he wanted to “eliminate.”
Several lawmakers on Wednesday took to Twitter to address the shooting, with some using the hashtags #StopAsianHate to mourn the victims.
President Biden last week condemned “vicious hate crimes” against Asian American and Pacific Islander communities during a prime-time address marking the one-year anniversary of coronavirus restrictions.
“It’s wrong. It’s un-American. And it must stop,” Biden said.