[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 981 Introduced in House (IH)]
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117th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. RES. 981
Commemorating the 1-year anniversary of the March 16, 2021, shootings
in Atlanta, Georgia, and denouncing anti-Asian hate.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 15, 2022
Ms. Chu (for herself, Ms. Bourdeaux, Mrs. McBath, Ms. Williams of
Georgia, Mr. Khanna, Mr. Lynch, Mr. Doggett, Ms. Norton, Ms. Bonamici,
Ms. DelBene, Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney of New York, Mrs. Watson Coleman,
Mr. Smith of Washington, Mr. Rush, Mr. Carter of Louisiana, Mr.
Espaillat, Mr. Connolly, Mr. Lowenthal, Mr. Gomez, Ms. Moore of
Wisconsin, Mr. Vargas, Mrs. Napolitano, Mr. Takano, Mr. Johnson of
Georgia, Mr. Pascrell, Ms. Tlaib, Mr. Blumenauer, Mr. Bera, Ms.
Velazquez, Ms. Speier, Ms. Matsui, Ms. Bass, Mrs. Dingell, Mr. Trone,
Ms. Pressley, Mr. Kim of New Jersey, Mr. Gottheimer, Mr. Bowman, Mr.
Kilmer, Ms. Meng, Mr. Levin of California, Ms. Newman, Mrs. Lee of
Nevada, Mr. Sarbanes, Ms. Sanchez, Mr. Case, Mr. Sablan, Ms. Jayapal,
Mr. Green of Texas, Mr. McGovern, Ms. Clark of Massachusetts, Mr. Scott
of Virginia, Mr. Sires, Mr. Lieu, Mrs. Torres of California, Ms. Titus,
Ms. Lee of California, Mr. Kahele, Mr. Moulton, Mr. Raskin, Mr. David
Scott of Georgia, Ms. Eshoo, Ms. Schakowsky, Ms. Porter, Mr. Cicilline,
Mr. Carson, Mr. Beyer, Mr. Panetta, Mr. Sherman, Mr. Thompson of
Mississippi, Mr. Auchincloss, Mr. Pallone, Mrs. Fletcher, and Mr. Danny
K. Davis of Illinois) submitted the following resolution; which was
referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform, and in addition to
the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently
determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such
provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Commemorating the 1-year anniversary of the March 16, 2021, shootings
in Atlanta, Georgia, and denouncing anti-Asian hate.
Whereas, on March 16, 2021, a shooter murdered 8 people and injured 1 person in
the Atlanta, Georgia, region in 3 separate shootings that took place at
Asian-owned spas;
Whereas March 16, 2022, is the 1-year anniversary of those tragic shootings;
Whereas the victims' names were Xiaojie ``Emily'' Tan, Daoyou Feng, Delaina
Ashley Yaun, Paul Andre Michels, Yong Ae Yue, Soon Chung ``Julie'' Park,
Hyun Jung Grant, and Sun Cha Kim;
Whereas, on this anniversary, the people of the United States continue to mourn
the loss of 8 innocent lives, 7 of whom were women, 6 of whom were women
of Asian descent, and several of whom were immigrants;
Whereas the Georgia shootings occurred amidst an alarming surge in anti-Asian
hate crimes and incidents, which has caused many Asians and Asian
Americans across the United States to feel fearful and unsafe;
Whereas prosecutors in Georgia's Fulton County, where 1 of the spas was located,
are seeking hate crimes penalties against the shooter;
Whereas the shootings that occurred in Atlanta, Georgia, have become an
inflection point for the Asian American and Pacific Islander community;
Whereas, in the days and weeks following the shootings, there was an outpouring
of support for the Asian American and Pacific Islander community, and
actions were taken across the country to address anti-Asian hate;
Whereas March 26, 2021, was designated as a ``National Day of Action and
Healing'', in response to the rise of anti-Asian hate and the Georgia
shootings;
Whereas, on May 20, 2021, President Biden signed the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act
into law to make resources available to address anti-Asian hate and
improve the hate crime reporting process;
Whereas, in the year since the Atlanta shooting, hate crimes have continued to
spike;
Whereas, in 2021, anti-Asian hate crimes increased by 339 percent, and in 2020,
they increased by 124 percent;
Whereas over 11,000 hate incidents have been reported to Stop AAPI Hate since
the start of the pandemic, and many more have gone unreported;
Whereas nearly 1 in 5 Asian Americans (21.2 percent) and Pacific Islanders (20.0
percent) has experienced a hate incident in 2021;
Whereas Asian American and Pacific Islander women are more likely to be targeted
according to Stop AAPI Hate;
Whereas 74 percent of AAPI women overall have reported experiencing racism or
discrimination in the past year;
Whereas the majority of East Asian American women report feeling less safe since
the start of the pandemic;
Whereas 1 in 3 Asian American parents (30.6 percent) and Pacific Islander
parents (31.4 percent) has a child that has experienced a hate incident
at school in the past year;
Whereas 42 percent of Asian Americans believe that racial discrimination is the
factor in their lives that has had the greatest negative impact on their
mental health;
Whereas, before this rise in hate incidents, online hate speech against Asians
increased 2,770 percent between 2019 and 2020;
Whereas the use of anti-Asian rhetoric related to COVID-19, such as the
``Chinese virus'', ``Wuhan virus'', and ``kung flu'', has perpetuated
anti-Asian stigma that has resulted in Asian Americans being harassed,
assaulted, and scapegoated for the COVID-19 pandemic and economic
distress in the United States;
Whereas the use of rhetoric that portrays Asian countries, and by extension
Asian nationals, as enemies of the United States has further contributed
to the scapegoating of Asian Americans and the rise in anti-Asian hate;
Whereas xenophobic rhetoric that paints China as a unique and existential enemy
or which seeks to make all of China responsible for the coronavirus,
contrary to advice from the World Health Organization, contributes to
anti-Asian hate;
Whereas the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, legislation to address the rise of anti-
Asian hate and improve hate crimes reporting, was passed with strong
bipartisan support in both the House and Senate; and
Whereas the people of the United States continue to remember the victims of
these shootings and stand in solidarity with those affected by this
senseless tragedy: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) condemns the heinous and inexcusable acts of gun
violence that led to the tragic loss of 8 lives in Georgia on
March 16, 2021;
(2) condemns the racism and sexism in the choice of the
shooter to target Asian-owned businesses and murder 7 women, 6
of whom were of Asian descent;
(3) honors the memory of the victims and offers heartfelt
condolences to their families;
(4) recognizes the irrevocable impact the shooting has on
the Asian American and Pacific Islander community and all
communities impacted by this tragedy;
(5) recognizes that anti-Asian hate continues to impact the
Asian American and Pacific Islander community;
(6) reaffirms the importance of addressing anti-Asian hate
at all levels of government and improving hate crimes reporting
infrastructure through the implementation of the COVID-19 Hate
Crimes Act; and
(7) reaffirms the commitment of the Federal Government to
combat hate, bigotry, and violence against Asian Americans and
Pacific Islanders and to prevent tragedies like this from ever
happening again.
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