shortly. elsewhere we are covering hearings this afternoon on the senate side on covid response, including dr. fauci testifying on that, 2:00 p.m. eastern. the senate is in at this hour this morning. and they will vote on the nomination of javier becerra to be health and human services secretary at noon today. the house itself not coming in this morning. there is some training that members and staff are going through. in morning hour this morning. they come in at noon. will take up two bills today on u.s. immigration policy. you're watching live coverage of this hearing about to get under way on c-span. i remind members we have established an email address and distributions dedicated to circulating exhibits, motions, or other written materials and members may want to offer as part of the hearing today. if you like to submit those materials, the cite is judiciary docx@mail.house.gov. i ask unanimous consent that our judiciary colleagues participating in today's hearing. hearing no objection i welcome into our subcommittee. they'll be able to question our witness it is they are yield the time by subcommittee members. finally i ask all members both those in person and remotely to mute your microphones when you are not speaking. this will help prevent feedback and unmute yourself when you are recognized. i will now recognize myself for an opening statement. chair cohen: while there are still being details to be learned about tuesday's horrific shootings in hasn't. left eight people did, six reportedly of asian descent, one thing is certain. for many asian americans tuesday's shocking events felt like the inevitable culmination of a year which there were nearly 3,800 reported incident of anti-asian hate incidents that grew increasingly more haven't over time as the pandemic worsened and some people wrongly blamed asian americans. one implied such by calling it the china virus. these incidents include cases of verbal harassment, being spat at. slapped in the face. lit on fire. slashed with a box cutter. or shoved violently to the ground. and that number of reported incidents is likely the tip of the iceberg. i want to make clear that all asian americans who are understandably feeling hurt and afraid right now and wondering whether anyone else in america cares, that congress sees you, we stand with you, we'll do everything in our power to protect you. also provide an excuse for some to act on those prejudices. there have been discrimination against lots of people in this country and all of that has been exaggerated. but the asian situation has been the most extreme. pandemic's worst fuel tensions and the fear of resentment these create have provided conditions for any asian racialism and xenophobia leading to traffic consequences for asian americans. social and economic resentment against chinese labors in the 1800's led to the enactment of chinese exclusion act of 1882 which barred nearly all immigration from china. in the 1924 immigration act effectively barred immigrants -- emgration from all asian countries. in 1942, the united states government committed a sweeping violation of civil liberties in american history. other than slavery itself. the forced internment of 120,000 japanese americans. many of them second and third generation americans. during the second world war. based not on any legitimate national security concerns but on the racist and zone phobic assumption that americans of japanese ancestry would be disloyal. in 1982, chinese american was beaten to death by two white auto workers because the attackers thought he was japanese and therefore responsible for the decline of u.s. automobile industry. on september 15, 2001, a sikh gas station owner in arizona was murdered by a man who blamed him for the 9/11 terrorist attacks. to this list we now add the most recent victims of anti-asian hate as asian americans are wrongfully blamed for the covid-19 pandemic. while many of the recent anti-asian incidents may not meet legal definition of hate crime, these attacks nonetheless create unacceptable environment of fear and terror in asian american communities. attacks like the one on 84-year-old on january 28 this year was on a walk in his neighborhood, he was walking in his neighborhood. violently slammed to the ground. he died a few days later from the brain trauma he sustained. i would like to play a video of that attack caught by a nearby surveillance camera. [video clip] sadly this is one example of recent ones where elderly asian americans were similarly knocked violently to the ground. it was stoked by racist rhetoric can have deadly consequences for people as we just witnessed in that sad clip. in such a fraught time as the ones we are living in it is incumbent on all public officials, elected or otherwise, and public figures to speak out against the irrational hatred and prejudice that is can overtake society in the face of a national emergency. in short, words matter. indeed, the wrong words can be very harmful. leaders who promote stereotypes to use rhetoric aimed at a particular ethnic or racial group can cause increases of levels of discrimination violence directed against that group. when politicians use terms like china virus or congress flu -- or con flu has the -- refer to covid-19, has the infect intentional or not of putting the target on the backs of all asian americans. use of words for our leaders can calm fears, reassure those feelings -- the feeling under threat and remind everyone we all share the same basic dignity as human beings and treat each other accordinglyly. thankful we have two panels of witnesses who can show our way forward. as best we can tell the last time it was specifically focused on any asian hate was in 1987 before this subcommittee. that hearing took place during another time when economic and social problems were inflamed -- were blamed on an asian company and unfair extension asian americans. we can't ever forget asian americans. not asians. asian americans. clearly more work needs to be done. let us use this hearing as a chance to do better. now i'd like to recognize the -- the ranking member's not here, mr. roy, are you taking his place? in lieu of mr. johnson, mr. chip roy of texas will give the statement for the minority as the ranking member. you're recognized for five minutes. mr. roy. mr. roy: thank you, chairman cohen. i appreciate our gathering here today. this obviously an important subject matter. to be clear all americans deserve protection and to live in a free and secure society. the fundamental nature of what we can expect out of government, right? secure the blessings of liberty as we say in the constitution of the united states. the victims of race-based violence and their families deserve justice. the case we are talking about here the tragedy we just saw occur in atlanta, georgia. i would also suggest that the victims of moving illegal aliens deserve just t. the american citizens in south texas, they are getting absolutely decimated by what's happening at the southern border. the victims of eluding -- rioting in the street last summer deserve justice. we believe in justice. there are oleation in texas about find all the rope in texas and get a tall oak tree. we take justice very seriously. and we ought to do that. round up the bad guys. that's what we believe. my concern about this hearing is that it seems to want to venture into the policing of rhetoric in a free society. free speech. and a way -- away from the rule of law and taking out bad guys. and as a former federal prosecutor, i'm predisposed and wired to want to take out bad guys. that's bad guys of all colors. that's bad guys of all persuasions. that's bad guys targeting people for all different reasons. and i think we need to be mindful of that. so now we are talking about whether talking about china, the chinese communist party, whatever phrasing we want to use, some people are saying, hey, we think those guys are the bad guys, for whatever reason, let me just state clearly, i do. i think the chinese communist party running the country china, they are the bad guys. and i think they are harming people, and i think they are engaging in modern day slavery. i think that what they are doing, the uighurs, what they are doing targeting our country, i think what they are doing to undermine our national security, and steal our intellectual property, and build up their military and rattle throughout the pacific i think it's patently evil and deserving of condemnation. i think what they did, to hide the reality of this virus is equally deserving of condemnation. there is hardly any getting around that, in fact, happened. we've got the world health organization, on twitter, saying, preliminary investigation conducted by the chinese authorities found no clear evidence of human to human transmission of the novel cruffers. w.h.o. had to go back and redo all of that. we know full well i have a bill introduced to award a gongal gold medal to dr. hwang for coming out and exposing what the chinese government had done to hide the cry russ. -- virus. he was a 34-year-old ophthalmologist in wuhan, china, who died from the 2019 coronavirus after he sought to draw attention to the spread of the virus. the first patient infected exhibited symptoms in early 2019. dr. hwang and seven ears were questioned by chinese officials, forced to sign a statement retracting his warnings and spreading illegal rumors. that's the reality. he ended up dying. he was beaten. they were targeted for engaging in free speech. trying to bring to light what was happening. that's the reality of what i tend to refer as the chi-coms. i'm not going to be ashamed of saying i oppose the chi-coms. the chinese communist party. when we say things like that and talking about that, we shouldn't be worried about having a committee of members of congress policing our rhetoric. because some evildoers go engage in some evil activity as occurred in atlanta, georgia. because when we start policing free speech, we are doing the very thing that we are condemning when we condemn what the chinese communist party does to their country. and that's exactly where this wants to go. this is the road this wants to head down. and nothing could be more dangerous that going down that road. who decides what is hate? who decides what is the kind of speech that deserves policing? a panel? panel of this body? a panel on the executive branch? a panel on the department of justice? what does that mean? who is deciding? when we get into making crimes out of speech, thought. as opposed to crimes out of the actions of evildoers. find those who perpetrated what happened in atlanta. find those who engage in hate of all forms. and punish the absolute hell out of them. but don't go around policing thought. another thing. i hope these hearings will exam discrimination against asian americans in educational settings, as the trump administration prioritized and acted on t in october, the department of justice sued yale for and national origin discrimination, when they determined they were not in compliance of the civil rights act. following a two-year investigation the department of justice included that asian american and white students have only .1 of african-american applicants with comparable credentials. yale discriminated against asian americans by favoring certain applicants based upon their race rather than looking for race neutral attorneys to achieve the university's goals. then assistant attorney general of the civil rights division explained all persons who apply for college should be judged by their carketerks talents, achievements, and not the color of their skin. to permit our institutions to foster stereotypes -- i couldn't agree. the biden administration suddenly reversed course and dropped the lawsuit against yale. mr. chairman, ail close but just say i hope this is the direction we'll go. i hope we'll look at this and look through the lens of clarity and objective truth trying to seek justice and not try to police speech and trying to achieve the objectives we want to achieve. i thank the chairman. chair cohen: before i recognize the chairman for his statement, i'd like to reiterate that while speech is important, and has meaning, the incidents i mentioned in my opening statement were being spat at, slapped in the face, lit on fire, slashed with a box cutter, and shoved violently to the ground as the video showed. that's not speech. mr. roy: i didn't suggest it was speech. mr. cohen: that's not speech, that's action. i'd like to recognize the chairman for his opening statement, mr. nadler. mr. nadler: thank you. mr. chairman, we are here today to address the horrific rise in violence, harassment, and discrimination against asian americans that are surging across the country. as we convene this hearing, our thoughts are with the victims, especially the asian american victims in georgia who were brutally murdered on tuesday night. although the mowive is still to be investigated, the effect on the asian american community has been profound. and it is certainly appropriate for us to address the fear gripping the asian american community. so i want to thank the chairman for convening this hearing. hate crimes and hate incidents against asian americans have been on the rise since 2017. last year alone, nearly 3,800 incidents were reported with about 68% of asian americans reporting that they have experienced racist slurs or verbal harassment since the pandemic began. distressingly one of the largest increases in the contry of hatred and violence against asian americans has occurred in my own congressional district in new york city. this short clip shows just some of the verbal and physical abuse many asian americans have faced in recent years. [video clip] >> a wave of violence unprovoked attacks against asian americans, consuming the city of new york, a 56-year-old man in manhattan this week, pummeled for no apparent reason. a man riding the subway sliced across his face from cheek to cheek. a woman vicious in queens, a 71-year-old woman, punched in her face in chinatown. a 36-year-old man stabbed in the back fighting to stay alive. mr. nadler: last february, a woman was hit in the face on the subway and called diseased. last march, a chinese american dad from queens and his 10-year-old son were harassed and attacked by an assailant screaming at him for aparing to be chinese. last april, an asian american woman in brooklyn suffered significant burns after a chemical attack. last july, an 89-year-old grand mother was attacked and set on fire by two men. just last month, a new yorker was slashed across the face with a box cutter. he needed more than 100 stitches. also last month, in separate incidents on the same day, two elderly women were punched in the face on the subway. a few weeks ago, a man was stabbed outside of the federal courthouse. just this tuesday, a woman in midtown had an unknown liquid poured on her neck as she was picking up packages. the demon denominator? all of the victims were asian american or asian descent. these are our neighbors, friends, family members, constituents, and fell americans. it is not -- fellow americans. it is not only severe violence asian americans in new york have had to fear, there has been a barrage of verbal attacks and discrimination against the community. new yorkist have had racially derogatory remarks written on the outside of their restaurants. and blaming asian americans for the virus. many of these attacks go unreported and official statistics represent only a fraction of hate crimes or hate incidents. these examples are certainly not exhaustive. and harassment, abuse, and violence extend to communities across the country. we have witnessed asian americans bloodied and beaten in stores, learned that asian american parents fear sending their children back to school because of racial violence. and observed harrowing videos of verbal attacks named at asian americans in our public spaces. perhaps even more heartbreaking, we have seen our asian american frontline workers battle not only the pandemic but also racism and disproportionately high death rates. it's important to recognize that this surge did not spontaneously rise only out of fears regarding the coronavirus pandemic. some of this blame lies squarely on political leaders who have demonized china because of both the virus and ongoing political tensions and in turn asian americans have fallen in harm's way. words have power. what we say matters. how we treat each other matters. the expectations and standards we set in how we address this pandemic matter. the conversation we are having today is long overdue and it is vital congress shine a light on this issue. the last congressional hearing held on violence against asian americans was in 1987 in this subcommittee. 34 years is too long for congress to leave this issue untouched. our government must thoroughly investigate and swiftly address growing tensions in violence against the asian american community, especially in light of the pandemic, because lives and livelihoods are truly at stake. last week we reached the one-year anniversary of the covid-19 pandemic in this country. a solemn and difficult moment for our nation as we reflected on all we have suffered and lost. but hardship cannot be used as an excuse or dismissing the pain of our fellow americans, enabling discrimination against them, or devaluing their sense of belonging and citizenship. today we are privileged to have our fellow members of congress from both sides of the aisle testifying about their personal experiences. in addition, we have an expert panel that will walk us through the rise in discrimination of violence and its impact on the community. as well as historical perspectives and challenges to inform our legislative efforts moving forward. i look forward to hearing how we can better ensure protection, justice, and healing to our asian american neighbors in this time of crisis and moving forward. thank you, i yield back. chair cohen: thank you, mr. nadler. we welcome our witnesses. thank them for participating in today's hearing. i will now introduce each of the witnesses and after each introduction will recognize that witness for his or her oral testimony. please note each of your witness statements will be entered into the record in its entirety. accordingly, ask you to summarize your testimony in five minutes. to help you stay within that five minutes while you are testifying, there is a timing light on your table. of course we don't have a table. is there a process -- on the screen they can see if it's green you're good. if it's yellow the last minute. if it's red, finish it. it means your five minutes are up. that's on your webx view. before proceeding with the testimony i would like to remind all the witnesses appearing on the panel you have a legal obligation to provide truthful testimony and answers. any false statement you make today could subject you to prosecution under section 1001 of title 18, united states code. today we have two witness panels. first panel will be members, first witness doris matsui, congresswoman matsui represents the sixth congressional district of california the represented that area of sacramento envie runs since 2005. you are recognized for five minutes. it apparently -- congresswoman matsui, you are recognized for five minutes. apparently there are technical problem with webx and not with my ipad. we are going to recess for as much as time as necessary to correct this error. technology is not perfect. >> doris, can you hear me? >> i'm experiencing the same thing. chairon: we can hear you. if you can hear us, wave your arms. they can't hear us. >> it's the judiciary subcommittee on the constitution, civil rights, and civil liberties chaired by steveon of tennessee. they are having some issues with their webx technology. their panel today, their hearing today looking at discrimination and violence against asian americans. they have heard opening statements. they were just about to hear from witnesses when they ran into issues with their webx. we'll stay here live. that is unless they recess, of course. until noon, at least, when we will bring you live coverage of the u.s. house. the house is coming in today at noon. no morning hour this morning as staff and members went through some mandatory training. the house will take up a couple of bills, two of those dealing with immigration policy with votes later on this afternoon. the senate is in session. they will have a vote at noon on the nomination of javier ba zeiera to be health and human services secretary. that's at noon eastern. follow the senate over on c-span2. we are covering hearings today elsewhere on capitol hill. one under way on the senate side, the health committee hearing from dr. fauci, the c.d.c. director, and others. that's going on now, it's a covid response hearing. at 2:30 on c-span3, the house ways and means subcommittee hearing from the i.r.s. commissioner. chair cohen: the hearing will now come back to order. now being in order i recognize the distinguished lady from sacramento, california, the whom yorble doris matsui -- the honorable doris matsui, for five minutes. mrs. matsui: thank you very much, mr. chairman. ranking member. and members of the committee for this opportunity to testify. i'm proud to join this distinguished panel of our colleagues and yet i wish it were not necessary for us to be here under such troubling circumstances to address the disturbing spike in discrimination and violence against aapi communities across the nation. just a couple days ago eight people, six of whom were women of asian descent, were shot and killed outside of atlanta. this latest attack stands as a horrible reminder of the fear and pain that the aapi -- felt by the aapi community across the country. i lived the american story. i grew up on a farm in california. went to u.c. berkeley. got a great public education. i got married. settled in sacramento with my husband. we raised our son. and i have the privilege to work on public service in the white house and here in congress. we work together on issues of health care and clean energy and all the issues that define us as a country. but i have a responsibility and moral obligation to speak out about the normalizing of attacks on the aapi community. since the beginning of the pandemic, we heard constant rhetoric directed at the aapi community, including from leaders at the highest levels of our government. there is a systemic problem here. and we are duty bound to stop the spread of homophobic and racist ideas that have escalated to physical threats. justice ruth bader ginsberg, who fought against discrimination in a remarkable life, used to talk about her mother and ask questions what the difference was between a bookkeeper and brooklyn garm meant district and supreme court just tifments her answer, one generation. this kind of family history is essential to understanding american history. we all share the charge to ensure that our country not only learns but does not forget its past. because of my history and background i know i have a duty to speak up. future generations are listening, especially my grandchildren. in 1942 president franklin roosevelt signed executive order 9066 approving asian americans to internment camps. my grant parents were one of those to leave their businesses, sent by their government, our government, in arizona. they lived in appalling conditions surrounded by a barbed wire fwens, armed guards on towers, incarcerated solely because of their ancestry. despite the good fortune in my life, i am not even one generation removed from that experience. i was born in an internment camp. because i was a baby i have no personal memories. and my parents rarely talked to me about their time there. i had an ordinary childhood. i think my parents didn't want to burden me with that experience. they just wanted me to move forward and reach for the stars. i would hear conversations from time to time about life in the camp. i knew what happened. i did not realize at that time how much their lives had been turned upside-down. it's when i went to college that i met students whose parents were very affected by the internment and we started talking. the vast majority of the people who were sent to camp were american citizens. and you wonder how does this happen? it was then that we all realized that we had to learn more about it. it is part of our family history. it is part of american history. during world war ii many were blinded by prejudice. our government and many leaders advanced the myth that the japanese american community was inherently the enemy. americans across the country believed it. acceded to institutionalized racism, and acted on it. it was not uncommon to accuse an innocent person of violating our country's trust with no evidence. this societal shift took normalized wrongdoing with putting japanese americans in prison for over three years. these were americans who previously lived normal lives. they owned homes, shops. farmers, doctors, lawyers, teachers. just regular folks who were betrayed by their country because of a dangerous spiral of injustice. last year when i heard the highest levels of government, those people use racist slurs like china virus, and cast blame on innocent communities. it was all too familiar. anti-asian sentiment and insensitivity that seeks to divide our nation. so, yes, i was deeply shaken by the current in our nation. the heated discourse at the highest levels of our government cannot be viewed in isolation. the fear of the other, whether racial, religious, or tribal that works to suppress the better angels of our nature, we have seen the consequence when is we go down this path. my family has lived through these consequences. this is what we are working to root out in the deepest place and a social conscience. after incarceration of the japanese american community, our country moved on for decades without coming to terms with what our government did and what many americans turned a blind eye to. it took decades for temperatures to be heard in congress. it took decades for long makers to hear our pain. my late husband, bob matsui, first elected to congress in 1978, and served on the ways and means committee. he loved that work. but because of his parents' experience, experience of a japanese american community, he passionately believed that justice could not be denied. and therefore he devoted an enormous amount of time and dedication to the passage of the civil liberties act of 1988 which the united states government apologized and paid token compensation to the japanese americans incarcerated. he believed it was possible because this is a great and wonderful country. today's hearing is another reminder that our country is capable of growth. that this legislative body will no longer sit in silence while our communities suffer racism and hatred. now is the time to recommit to moving forward with a shared vision for our future based upon basic human dignity. i thank the chairman and ranking member. i yield back. thank you. chair cohen: thank you, congresswoman matsui, for that history and that testimony. our next witness is representative judy chu. she represents the 27th congressional district of california which includes pasadena polytechnic school and the san gabrielle valley, in that order. she's been a member of congress since 2009. among other things she's chair of the congressional asian pacific american caucus. congresswoman chu, you are recognized for five minutes. congresswoman chu, you need to unmute. unmute. ms. chu: thank you. thank you, chairman nadler, ranking member, ranking member johnson, and other distinguished members of the committee for the opportunity to testify before you today. it is with a heavy heart that we are here today still shocked and heartbroken about the murder of eight in georgia, including six asian american women, by a gunman who targeted three asian businesses. the first one being young's asian massage. then driving 27 miles to two other asian spas. his targets were no accident. and what we know is that this day was coming. and because of crimes like this, i, as chair of the congressional asian pacific american caucus urged the committee to undertake this hearing because the asian american community as reached a crisis point that cannot be ignored. since the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic, asian americans have been terrified by the alarming surge in anti-asian bigotry and violence we have witnessed across our nation. in fact, it was over one year ago that we first began to sound the alarm bells about the anti-asian discrimination we were beginning to see due to stigma that longley associated asian americans with the coronavirus. but what started out last january, as dirty looks and verbal assaults, escalated to physical attacks and violence against innocent asian americans. these attacks have increasingly become more deadly. just as many asian americans were preparing for the lunar new year last month, we saw a surge in anti-asian violence. many of the victims have been older and vulnerable like an 84-year-old thaiman in san francisco who was killed in an unprovoked assault while on his morning walk. in new york, 61-year-old was slashed from ear to ear with a box cutter in the subway requiring 100 stitches. in oakland's chinatown, captured a 91-year-old man being thrown to the ground by an assailant n my own congressional district, a chinese american man was attacked at a bus stop and hit with his own cane causing him to lose part of his fingers. this has become almost a daily tragedy and has a chilling effect on our community. today we find there have been nearly 3,800 anti-asian hate crimes and incidents in just a year alone. they were stoked by the words of former president donald trump who sought sew shift blame and anger away from his own blah response to the coronavirus. he used racial slurs like wuhan virus, china plague, and kung flu. though they were warned not to associate the virus with a specific ethnicity, contry, or geographic region due to the stigma it causes. immediately we took donald trump on about his racist terminology. we issued statements, held press conferences, and sent letters. our pleas and guidance from experts were ignored. instead, he doubled down on using these slurs directing more hate and blame at the asian american community. over the past year, hostile anti-asian hits on twitter increased by 900% and saw nearly 150% surge in anti-asian hate crimes in major u.s. cities. and even with donald trump no longer president, i believe the most recent voundround of anti-asian attack are the aftermath of one year of hate, four years about immigrants and people of color. that's why i'm grateful we have a new president, joe biden, who is working to stop these attacks,. within his first week as president, president biden issued a presidential memorandum to combat and condemn xenophobia against the aapi and assure the department of justice works with our community to address these surging hate crimes. but congress must do its part as well. that's why capac's legislation, such as congresswoman meng, to condemn anti-asian sentiment related to covid-19 which passed the house last fall. and that's why it's important to pass critical legislation by congress member meng's hate crimes act that will help us to better track the ugly -- the hate crimes and incidents against asian americans. we are calling for a national day to speak out against asian hate on march 26. it is time that we continue to push back against xenophobia every time it rears its ugly head. asian americans must not be used as scapegoats in times of crisis. lives are at stake. and it's critical that congress take bold action to address this pandemic of discrimination and hate. i yield back. chair cohen: thank you, congressman chu. our next witness is senator tammy duckworth. after her we'll hear from representative kim. senator duckworth represents the state of illinois in the united states senate, first elected in 2016. she previously served in the united states house of representatives. and she represented the 18th congressional district of illinois for two terms. she has an outstanding communications team. and standing record in congress. you're recognized for five minutes. senator duckworth: thank you, mr. chairman. it was a pleasure to serve alongside you previously in the house. it's good to see you on the diaz today. thank you for this -- dais today. thank you for this hearing. in new york, as we heard, an 89-year-old was slaed. in california, a 91-year-old was pushed to the ground. in the middle of a park a little girl was shoved off her bike and in the middle of a city sidewalk. a little boy watched as his father was beaten up. nurses have been spit on. heroes, frontline workers, hospital staff have been blamed for covid-19. and have been denied service, treated as other than, as less than simply because they are members of the aapi community. and now less than 48 hours ago, six members of the asian american community were murdered in atlanta, georgia, and other unspeakable tragedy after a year of unfathomable cruelty. there is nothing, nothing we can say today that will piece back together the shattered lives of the victims' loved ones. there is nothing we can do that will give them the solace they deserve. nothing we can provide that will even begin to make sense of this senseless tragedy. but what we can say and should say clearly unambiguously is blaming the aapi community for a public health crisis is racist and wrong. and continuing to treat our fellow americans as others only furthers divides our country at a time when we should be pushing, pulling, tugging at our nation with all our might until it lives up to its founding ideas of equality and justice for all. unfortunately, this type of prejudice is far from new. it's a similar brand of discrimination to the one during our country's darkest days and toughest fights from segregation to immigration. as congressman matsui has mentioned, it's in a similar vain what was witnessed in world war ii as our nation interned japanese americans because of their heritage. entrapped thousands of families even as their loved ones sacrificed everything on the war front to defend our nation overseas. ultimately the united states government recognized this type of bigotry was un-american. yet the risk of repeating past grave errors is real and chilling. that's why i introduced a liberties protection act which will be a first step toward safeguarding freedom and establishing a clear statutory prohibition against un-american policies that seek to impresson or otherwise detain american citizens on the basis of who they are rather than what they have done. as the daughter of an american vietnam veteran and american with chinese heritage, i'm deeply to supporting our community's fight against discrimination. i applaud the efforts of this subcommittee to raise awareness of this crisis and to discuss a plan to advance civil rights for asian americans and protect the well-being of all of our families. the american story as we know it would not exist without the strength of the aapi community. literally asian americans helped build this country with their bare hands and bent backs, they laid the railroad track that is connected us from coast to coast. they tilled the fields. and started the businesses that -- and also picked up the rifles necessary to develop and defend this nation that we all love. . our community is helping to keep the country running. i want to take a minute to thank all the heroic frontline workers getting us to -- through this crisis. to the cashier who is helping our families stay fed, to the teachers patiently help our kids learn their abc's over zoom. we want you to know we are forever in our debt. we cannot express gratitude for all those on the frontline. i will keep trying because that's the least they deserve. i want to thank you for everything they do. going forward, i hope that all americans will speak up against hatred towards their neighbors and i will work with president biden's executive order that will assist states and community organizations to make this kind of discrimination a thing of the past. please know we have so much work ahead. thank you for shedding a light on this issue. with that i yield back, mr. chairman. thank you. mr. cohen: thank you, senator. it's nice to see you and have you back in the house again. recognizing representative young kim. representative kim, representing the 39th congressional district of california which includes northern parts of orange county. she has the big a, in anaheim, first selected in 2020. you're recognized for five minutes, please. mrs. kim: thank you, ranking member and members of the community for holding this hearing today on a very important topic that has been prevailing in our national conversation but one that's very, very personal to me as an asian american. i represent california's 39th congressional district. this is one of the most diverse districts in the country and it's also a home to a vibrant asian american community. my district is truly a representation of america and what makes our country great. asian americans have and continue to make countless contributions to communities across the country and right here in the halls of congress. since the beginning of covid-19, we have increasingly seen asian americans becoming targets of hate across the nation. with more than 3,000 hate crimes against the asian american and pacific islander community. those crimes have been reported nationwide with an increase number of attacks against seniors. this week we saw senseless violence in atlanta that took the lives of six asian american women. an investigation is ongoing and we wait for more information. this comes during a time when violence and attacks against asian americans are on the rise. the hate, the bias, and the attacks we've seen against the asian american community are unacceptable and they must be stopped. this is wrong and it has no place in our political discord and it's contrary to the values that america stands for. this should not have to be said but i want to be very clear. no american of any race or ethnic group is not about the covid-19 pandemic. we must come together as americans, not just to fight covid-19, but also to stand against the rise of hate and discrimination against the aapi community and any other group of americans. we also cannot forget that discrimination we've seen against the aapi community is not limited to the violence and attacks. i hope we can look he it nation -- at the nation's elite universities and other institutions of learning. we have seen institutions discriminating against asian americans in their entry process in order to deny them entry. discrimination is wrong and goes against our fundamental american values that we hold dear. in america, we value the individual and we believe that people deserve to be judged on their merits and not penalized because of their heritage, race, or background. these are the values that my family and countless of immigrants came here for. when our country is more divided than ever, we should work together to unify our country and ensure future generations of americans, regardless of their background, have the same opportunity to access the promise of america. no matter our race or background, we are all americans. asian americans are americans. as an asian american and a member of congress, i feel a duty to speak out. so i stand with the aapi community today and always. so i want to thank you for allowing me to speak on this very, very important issue, and i yield back the balance of my time. thank you. mr. cohen: thank you, congresswoman kim. our next witness is congressman steele, first selected in 2020. you're recognized for five minutes. mrs. steel: thank you, mr. chairman and ranking member. thank you for holding this important conversation today. it's been heartbreaking to see the rise in anti-asian american hate and harassment over the last year. as we will hear today from our witnesses and we've been hearing from our witnesses, hate against the asian american community is not new. according to shawn wu, a former federal prosecutor, violence against asian americans have been underscrutinized, underprosecuted, and often condoned. this is a long sad history of intolerance and hate directed at our community, and in the last year almost 4,000 instances of verbal harassment, physical assault and discrimination have been reported. california is at the top of the list with 44% of all instances reported in my home state. new york is second on the list, making up 13% of all the instances reported. 58% of the instances and crimes were targeted towards asian american women. this has to stop. when i was chair of the orange county board of supervisors, i introduced a resolution that called for tolerance and concession towards all residents and condemned discrimination against the aapi community. i was proud to introduce a similar resolution in congress with other orange county congresswoman katie porter. that's because combating, hate is not a partisan issue. we can all agree that violence against any community should never be tolerated. as a first generation korean american, serving her community in the halls of congress, this is my american dream. i want future generations of americans to know they can achieve anything in this great country. that's why i also like to use some of my time today to talk about the discrimination that the aapi community is experiencing in our nation's education system. it's one of the reasons why my colleague, representative kim, and i joined ranking member jordan and subcommittee chairman to testify at today's hearing. last year, the department of justice filed a case alleging that yale university was discriminating against asian americans but the biden administration dropped the suit last month. this is totally wrong and sets a dangerous precedent. in 1996, i supported and campaigned for california's proposition 209 which banned racial preferences in public hiring, education, and contracting. it was modeled after the civil rights act. before prop 209 was passed, the full year graduation rate for racial minorities in the university of california system was 31.3%. by 2014, that has increased to 51.1%. the six-year graduation rate is even better. from 66% in 1998 to 71.5% in 2013. last year democrats introduced proposition 16 to bring back racial preferences in hiring, contracting, and our education system. californians overwhelmingly rejected it. as a new member of congress and immigrant to this country, we should be encouraging all students and young people to succeed, especially in our education system. discrimination is against the fundamental values of american culture and that includes discrimination against the aapi community in the halls of our schools and universities. this is wrong. this type of behavior is only hurting future generations. we should be stopping discrimination and hate in its track and to in -- encourage the next generation to achieve their american dream. i thank the committee for the opportunity to testify and share this with you today. i yield back. mr. cohen: thank you, congressman steel -- congresswoman steel. thank you very much. the honorable representative grace meng. congressman meng represents the sixth congressional district of the empire state, new york, flushing meadows and other portions of queens. she's been in congress since 2013. congresswoman meng, you are now recognized for five minutes. ms. meng: thank you, distinguished members of this committee for organizing today's hearing. the topic is discrimination and violence against asian americans. some of us seem to be going off topic. i'm not sure why. for over a year, asian americans have been fighting an additional virus of hate and bigotry. like china virus, kung-flu, have left asian americans traumatized and fearful for their lives. mr. roy mentioned the w.h.o. and it's the same world health organization that actually said not to use countries of origin when we're referring to diseases. since last year, there have been over 3,800 reported incidents of anti-asian hate. but we know the majority of incidents go reported and in fact nearly 70% of reported anti-asian hate incidents have happened to asian american women. in fact, just this week, we saw the terrible news about the six asian women who were shot and killed in the atlanta area. our community is bleeding. we are in pain, and for the last year, we've been screaming out for help. asian american discrimination, however, is not new in this country. from the 1882 chinese exclusion act, to the world war ii incarceration of japanese americans, and from the 1975 police brutality in manhattan chinatown, to the 1982 murder of vincent chang, discrimination against asian american is a shameful part of our history. so much of our history is not taught in our schools. excluding asian americans from our history books renders us invisible. in fact, history has excluded the history of asian americans, black americans, latino americans and that has led to systemic inequities at our academic institutions. in the 116th congress, i introduced my resolution to condemn anti-asian sentiment related to covid. and i was grateful my resolution passed the house with bipartisan support. except for 164 of our republican colleagues who voted against it. even though some had the audacity to tweet condolences after atlanta's tragedy. i'm glad to hear about my colleague, representative steel's resolution and i hope she has better luck getting her party to support the resolution. during this last year, it became painfully apparent that we need a comprehensive effort from our local communities to the federal level. that's why i support bills like the no hate act and that's why senator hirono and i introduced the covid-19 hate crimes act, which would assign a point person at the department of justice to quickly review hate crimes and to make it easier for people to report these incidents. my bill also builds on president biden's presidential memorandum by directing relevant federal agencies to work with community-based organizations to find ways to talk about the virus in a way that's not racist. i urge my colleagues on this committee for swift consideration of these bills. we cannot turn a blind eye to people living in fear. i want to go back to something that mr. roy said earlier. your president and your party and your colleagues can talk about issues with any other country that you want. but you don't have to do it by putting a bull's eyes on the back of asian americans across this country, on our grandparents, on our kids. this hearing was to address the hurt and pain of our community. to find solutions. and we will not let you take our voice away from us. thank you. i yield back. mr. cohen: congresswoman meng, thank you very much. you're correct about the genesis of this hearing. now we will go to our second panel. the second member panel should turn their cameras on. there we go. i think we're coming along there. first member panel can turn their cameras off. great light show. first witness is mr. john yang. president and executive director of asian american advancing justice, the aajc, which seeks to advance the civil rights of asian americans and to build an equitity policy of policy and litigation. he served his b.a. from washington university in st. louis. mr. yang, you're recognized for five minutes. mr. yang: thank you very much. thank you very much, chairman cohen. thank you to the ranking member johnson and the other members on the committee. really appreciate the opportunity to testify before all of you today. and i really appreciate the powerful words from representative meng and the other members as to why we are here today. when i agreed to testify at this hearing, no one would have imagined this would have come two days after the horrific shooting in atlanta, georgia. i also want to take a moment to recognize and honor the victims and their families and the sufferings they are going through at this moment and to remember that we -- the atlanta community and all the local communities that have been affected during this past year with respect to the anti-asian violence. look, for a year now, asian americans have been fighting two viruses. the covid-19 pandemic affecting all of us as well as this virus of racism. asian americans, like all americans, have suffered economic and health consequences of covid-19. but at the same time, asian americans have been at the frontlines as essential workers, in grocery stores, in delivery trucks, in custodial services as well as in health professions. unfortunately, asian americans have been fighting the second virus, this virus of racism. we have long struggled for visibility and equity and now our communities are faced with this additional physical and mental harm that is rising out of the covid-19 pandemic. web-based self-reporting tools have reported a tremendous increase in anti-asian hate we have seen this past year. a pew report from last year confirmed what that data shows, that a majority of asian americans say it's more common for people to blame asians for covid-19 and have expressed insensitive and completely inappropriate views about asian americans than before covid-19. and a survey shows 30% of the american population say they have witnessed blame of the asian community for covid-19, and 60% of the asian american population show this was similar behavior that they were seeing. so these fears are real. the other thing, as the impact on the asian american community is clear with respect to their businesses. as noted in a report by mckenzie and company, misguided fears of the virus ekt iffively -- effectively shuttered businesses a full month before the lockdown began nationwide. our organization started talking about this issue in late january when we saw this happening an i -- during that time when we saw this happening. and to say it was still safe to go there before the lockdowns. in new york, as demonstrated by a study by our community partner, asian american federation, there has been record job losses. in new york there was a 6,000% increase in unemployment benefit applications from february through june of 2020. asian americans suffered the largest increase of unemployment, going from 3% in february, 2020, to over 25%. now, look, asian americans racism is rooted in two very dangerous stereotypes, that of the perpetual foreigner and that of the minority. the perpetual foreigner say we can be here and born here and live here as long as we want but we are still seen as foreigners, we're still seen as the other, not to be trusted and to be feared. on the flip side of that stereotype is the so-called modeled minority, to suggest that asian americans are a good people of color when it's convenient. to plant seeds of division within our communities of color. and people that will try to use affirmative wedge between asian americans and other minorities of color. even as the covid-19 pandemic received, we must remember that anti-asian racism is likely to continue. we do have legitimate concerns and geopolitical differences with the chinese government and the chinese communist party but that's likely to be seen in the foreseeable future. if we are not careful, those differences will have consequences in our asian american communities. we've seen that happen with the japanese american community in world war ii. we've seen that with the arab, middle eastern, south asian community after 9/11. and we saw that happen after the murder of vincent chang in 1982. we have to do better. we have to have the proper nuance to call out rate racism and we must stop this cycle of violence. it is only then that we will stop seeing asian americans as a perpetual foreigner to be feared and come up to a better place. thank you very much. i look forward to your questions. mr. cohen: thank you, mr. yang. our next witness is manjusha kulkarni, executive director of the asian pacific policy and planning council. serve and represent the 1.5 million asian americans and pacific islanders in los angeles county. she has an online tracking tool. she received her j.d. from boston university school of law and her b.a. from duke university. ms. kulkarni, you are now recognized for five minutes. ms. kulkarni: -- mr. cohen: ms. kulkarni, can you hear me? you are now recognized for five minutes. you may unmute. did we lose sound again? can anybody hear me? amy, this isn't my fault. we will have a five-minute recess and we'll be back. >> thanks for waiting. we've let the host know that you're here. >> this subcommittee hearing, the judiciary committee hearing taking another break. they've had issues earlier with technology. having issues again. we'll stay on this live until they resume here on c-span. mr. cohen: ms. kulkarni, you're recognized for five minutes. unmute. ms. kulkarni: thank you, mr. chairman, ranking member, and members of the subcommittee. go back to wuhan and take the virus with you. you are the reason for the coronavirus. damn, another asian riding with me. hope you don't have covid. these are but a few examples of what asian americans have experienced over the course of the last year. alongside with refusal of service, workplace discrimination, and sadly, now, homicide. for that reason on march 19, 2020, my organization, asian pacific policy and planning council, in conjunction with chinese for affirmative action in san francisco university state launched stop aapi hate. we received almost 3,800 self-reported incidents of bias and discrimination from all 50 states and the district of columbia, making stop aapi hate the leading aggregator of hate. the following trends have emerged. 68% involve verbal harassment. 20% avoidance and shunning. 11% of physical assaults and 7% of civil rights violations including refusal of service, vandalism, workplace discrimination and discrimination in housing. the vast majority do not involve a hate crime. businesses, including grocery stores, pharmacies, and big box retail are the primary site of discrimination. this is followed by public streets and public parks. the fact that so many incidents take place at businesses is especially concerning, given that retail venues sell goods necessary for daily living, essential during a pandemic. 38% occur in public spaces is also worrisome. these figures give credence to the anxiety felt by aapi that purchasing food, getting prescriptions or going on a walk might leave them vulnerable for attack. especially vulnerable populations, including women and seniors have experienced hate incidents at significant rates. as have been noted, 68% of incident reports come from women. this is perhaps to be expected given the lessons learned from the me too movement and it found that 81% experienced street harassment in their daily lives. while chinese americans have often been the explicit target of perpetrators, they make up only 42% of individuals who reported to our site. 15% identify as korean americans. 9% as veit in a meese. and 8% -- 9% as vietnamese and 8% as filipino americans. evidencing the fact that asian americans across ethnicities are experiencing hate and racism today with our pacific islanders sisters and brothers. sadly, the 3,800 reported to stop aapi hate represent only a fraction of what has happened in this country. the widespread nature of anti-asian hate is confirmed by a study by the pew research center released last july that found that three in 10 asian americans experience racist jokes and slurs. similarly, a poll by the center for public integrity found that 68% of asian americans have witnessed someone blaming our community for covid-19. before i close, i want to acknowledge the tremendous mobilization done by asian american groups in georgia in response to the violence there and read a portion of their statement. during this time a broader crisis and trauma in our asian american communities, we must be guided by a campus of community care that prioritizes assessing and addressing our community's immediate needs, including language support for mental health, legal, employment, and immigration services. we must stand firm in decrying misogyny, systemic violence and white supremacy. in addition to sharing our data and the statement from georgia advocates, i want to share the fact that we have been developing resources for community members who experience incidents of hate and providing direct assistance through local networks. we are also closely working with local, state, and federal policymakers to address hate incidents that occurred and seek to prevent additional incidents from taking place in the future. thank you for the opportunity to testify, and i look forward to taking any questions. mr. cohen: thank you very much. you were perfect on the five minutes. our witness is erika lee, she's a regent professionor of asian american studies and director of the immigration history research center at the university of minnesota. author of four award winning books including america for americans, a history of xenophobia in the united states, which won the 2020 american book award and the 2020 asian pacific american award for literature. professor lee received her p.a. from the university of california-berkley and b.a. from tufk university. professor lee, you are now recognized for five minutes. ms. lee: thank you so much, chairmancon. and members of the -- chairman cohen and members of the community. i want to thank all of the congressional staffers who helped make this hearing possible. as we just heard from my fellow witnesses, anti-asian racism and violence has risen alarmingly. as shocking as these incidents are, it's so vital to understand they 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. we've heard in the past 24 hours many describe anti-asian discrimination and racial violence as un-american. unfortunately, it is very american. this history, this american history is over 150 years old. let me share just a few examples. in 1871, 17 chinese were lynched by a mob of 500 in los angeles. this was the largest mass lynching in u.s. history. in 1886, a mob of 1,500 forced out all of seattle's chinese residents. in the early 19th century, south asians were expelled from cities. and filipinos and japanese americans were attacked. in 1982 vincent chen, was beaten in detroit and they thought he was japanese and blamed him for the auto industry. after 9/11, hate crimes targeting muslims, middle eastern, and south asian americans increased by 1,600%. as these instances reveal, asian americans have been terrorized. we've been treated as enemies. we've been discriminated against. today, we are still viewed as foreigners rather than u.s. citizens. the government of this country has not just ignored this problem, it has been part of the problem. throughout much of our history, congress and other elected officials have promoted and legalized anti-asian racism through its laws and its actions. in 1875, congress passed the so-called page act, which effectively barred the entry of chinese women because lawmakers believed that all chinese women were prostitutes. in 1882, congress passed the chinese exclusion act. the first federal law singling out an entire group for immigration exclusion based on race. by the 1930's, all other asian groups, japanese, korean, south asians, filipinos, were also barred from the u.s. and prevented from becoming naturalized citizens. asian immigration did not fully open up again until 1965. in 1942 president roosevelt signed and executive order that provided for the incarceration of japanese americans as prisoners. i want to thank representative matsui so much for sharing her own family's history so we never forget the real consequences of racism. for many years, after 9/11, not just right after the attacks, but many years after, they faced racism in the form of profiling by government agencies. during this past year, some of our highest elected officials deliberately and consistently used racist language tying covid-19 to asians. this included the phrases that we've been talking about this morning, chinese virus, wuhan virus, and also telling americans to, quote-unquote, blame china for the pandemic. these words matter. especially when they repeatedly came from the white house during the previous administration. researchers have found that the anti-asian rit receipt -- rhetoric -- this history of racism is not taught in our schools. instead, many americans believe that deceptive stayio types -- stereotypes say they're success stories proving that aapi's are institutionalized remain a challenge. the last time and seemingly the only other time in our country's history that congress has held hearings on anti-asian racism was 34 years ago before this committee. over 20 million, asian americans are the fastest growing racial group in the united states. we are your constituents but we are in crisis from the multiple and disproportionate effects of the pandemic on our diverse aapi communities. they're being told to go back to their own countries. people on the frontline see tirades. asian businesses are being attacked and all of this especially target women. aapi's are struggling with a public health crisis and a shuttered economy, but we also have to worry about being attacked or harassed in our own neighborhoods makes our pandemic experience even more difficult. congress needs to ask definitively and immediately to address the problem of anti-asian racism in the u.s. the asks facing aapi's today is a national tragedy. they will not simply go away after the pandemic. we call upon our leaders to condemn racism in all of its forms, invest in the appi communities and support individuals who experience race-based violence. we cannot afford to wait another 34 years for congress to act. thank you very much. mr. cohen: thank you, professor lee. our next witness is charles lehman. mr. lehman is a fellow at the manhattan institute, working primarily on the policing and subsafety initiative. contributing editor of city journal. he received his b.a. from yale university. mr. lehman, you're recognized for five minutes. mr. lehman: thank you to the committee for the invitation to speak today about the important issue of rising crime against asian americans. many of our fellow citizens now fear for their safety in their own neighborhoods. i am glad this matter has not escaped congress' attention. i'm speaking today as a researcher focused on crime and it's in that capacity i want to offer two points. the first, while some of these offenses were motivated by bias, you should be cautious when interpreting a broader trend sole at the spike in hate crimes. the second relatedly is these crimes should be understood as part of a larger surge in violence. as you are aware, crime is rising in several asian communities. the bay area and new york city. there have been reports of assaults, robberies and general mayhem targeting the elderly. hate crimes was inspired by the pandemic. the f.b.i. defines a hate crime as one motivated by an offender's, quote, bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender or gender identity. last spring saw hate crimes against asian americans. there was 150% increase. in the latest wave, some offenses are plainly bias motivated like the attack in seattle. said asians need to be put in their place. he shoved her to the ground. the shootings in atlanta remain unclear. but police say it's not racially motivated. many are not investigating many of these as hate crimes. including one arrested for shoving three adults in chinatown. watson, allegedly shoved and killed one in san francisco. had reports of mental health. filipino new yorker can tanna was a victim of a subway night attack which one called racially motivated. but several non-asian -- part of a rising trend of crime. my purpose in making these points is not to deny that real bias has played in these offenses but to downplay the seriousness of anti-araban bigotry. i want to condemn hate crimes of all sorts. they are motivated by special anments. no american should have to face discrimination of any kind. rather, i wish to emphasize to the committee that if they analyze it as hate crimes, they will risk making underperformed decisions. we cannot discuss the offenses without highlighting the past crime rate. a criminologist has estimated that 2020 saw the largest one-year spike in homicides on record as murder increased by more than 34% in nearly 40 major cities. new data say it's shifted into early 2021. that appears in cities where asian residents are being attacked. in san francisco, homicide was up 17%. in new york, homicides 40%, shootings doubled. in oakland, 2020 saw the highest homicide rate in eight years. and the city is on track for a worse 2021. 157 dead, the atlanta journal constitution said 2020 was the deadliest year in decades. this is a product of criminals. carl chan describes how, quote, businesses are so fearful they prefer to close early. we also have many juveniles carrying guns. they're hurting people before they're being robbed. this is a description of hate crimes -- not of hate crimes but lawlessness. this is tied to recent hostility toward police. this as they they cut public services. history may have played a role in these incidents. but changing the hearts and minds of bigots is harder than preventing bigotry driven crimes. if anyone -- public officials's dereliction to public safety. i ask members of the committee by pushing back on anti-police rhetoric and by supporting more federal funding to police. this is to help all americans can walk streets free from the fear of violent crime. thank you and i look forward to your questions. mr. cohen: thank you, mr. lehman. our next witness is with us here in person. that's a nice exception. nice for you to be here. mr. wencong fa. mr. fa is an attorney with the pacific legal foundation. litigating cases focused on free speech. he received his j.d. from the university of michigan. not in the naacp tournament, i think. maybe they are. i don't know. master's degree of political philosophy. b.a. from the university of texas at dallas. mr. fa, you are recognized for five minutes, sir. mr. fa: mr. chairman, ranking member, thank you for inviting me to testify today. i want to express my -- i want to say i'm saddened by the violence committed in georgia on tuesday. i express my heart-felt condoleanses to the families of the -- condolences to the families of the victims. i could not imagine being here today when i boarded a flight from beijing to san francisco. i knew two words. banana. which i learned. and goodbye. since then i became the first person in my family to receive a law degree and i won the first case i litigated before the supreme court in june, 2018. a few hours after i got the decision in the supreme court case, i went to take a citizenship test in front of an immigration officer. and i laughed when he asked me how many justices there were on the supreme court. i have since become a proud citizen of the united states. i am here today to say that racial discrimination is wrong. but when it comes to asian americans in education, far too many in our government condone discrimination. this is something i've experienced firsthand as an attorney with the pacific legal foundation. where my colleagues and i represent asian american families who have felt the sting of government sanctioned discrimination. these families seek to vindicate the principle of equality before the law which requires government to treat people as individuals and for this government from treating us differently on the basis of government sanctioned stereotypes. last week, pacific legal foundation filed a case about fairfax county for thomas jefferson high school. t.j., as it's more commonly known. we represent a coalition of parents, including dr. chen, a chinese american -- a chinese immigrant who is now a chemistry professor. his eldest daughter attends t.j. but her younger sister may not get that chance. that's because the county replaced an objective test, the so-called wholistic process, designed to racially balance the student body at the extent of asian american students. the changes at t.j. were made against the backdrop of unfounded racial stereotypes. one school board member referred to the culture as toxic. a virginia state delegate accused asian americans of being dishonest in getting their children admitted. and made the baseless claim that the parents had no intention of staying in america. we're pursuing a similar case in montgomery county where efforts to racially balance the magnet middle schools have drastically reduced the number of asian american students. and yet, another case. i represent asian american families in new york. my clients include asian american immigrants who want the opportunity for their children to earn their way into public schools like stiverson, bureaucracy science, and brooklyn tech. but mayor de blasio stated that the majority asian compositions of those schools was a, quote, monumental injustice, and changed the admissions policy to make it harder for low-income asian american students to get into those schools. pacific legal foundation has also filed a brief in students for fair admissions vs. harvard, a case using harvard's explicit use of race that decreases asian american enrollment. this led to stereotypes, including telling asian american students to refrain from saying they aspire to pursue a career in medicine or major in math or science. apparently those interests are too asian. this is america. government should not condone discrimination. and it must not actively engage in it. the subcommittee should continue to explore ways in which official government policy has discriminated against asian americans and continue to work with pacific legal foundation and others to end this racial discrimination. thank you. mr. cohen: thank you for your testimony. thank you for appearing in person. thank you for keeping your mask up. that's appreciated by all on the committee. our next witness is mr. daniel dae kim, mr. kim is an actor and producer. he's best known for his role as quan on the tv series "lost" which he shared a 2006 screen actors guild award for best ensemble and portrayed kelly on the series "hawaii 5-0." he offered a $25,000 award for information of an assault of a 91-year-old man in oakland's chinatown. mr. kim received a master of fine arts degree from new york university. undergraduate degree. mr. kim, you are recognized for five minutes. mr. kim: thank you, chair cohen and ranking member roy and members of the judiciary committee. i'm both honored and dismayed to be back in front of you again. you may remember i was with you this past september. you may recall the reason i was moved was because the house recently passed h.r. 908 condemning all forms of aept asian hate sentiment. i was disheartened that for a bill, a simple condemnation of act against people of asian dissent, 164 members of congress, all republican, voted against it. and now here i am again because, as every witness in this hearing pointed out, the situation has gotten worse. much worse. one murdered. pa -- pak ho, murdered. an 85-year-old woman set on fire. a professional jazz pianist beaten so badly he cannot play piano. and seven dead in atlanta. six of whom were women. i was speaking to a pollster during the recent elections and i asked him why when i see polling results broken down by race i rarely see asian americans as a separate category. he heard my question, he looktd me -- looked me dead in the eye and he said asian americans are considered statistically insignificant. statistically insignificant. now all of you listening to me are employer familiar of the intory cassies of polling than i am. undoubtedly you know what this means. statistically insignificant literally means we don't matter. we as asian americans have come to this country because we believe in the american dream. many of us have succeeded. and some of us are even in the frontline health care workers upon all whom we've come to depend during this terrible pandemic. but many of us are struggling, too. in fact, the wealth disparity between the richest asian americans and the poorest is the largest of any ethnic group in america. in new york, asian americans have a higher poverty rate than any other minority group. fully one in four are living below the poverty line. and poverty rates among asian american seniors are much higher than the national average. that's something to consider as we watch the most vulnerable get taunted, pushed, slashed, and murdered. despite this wide disparity of experience, we continue to be tagged the model minority. we simply cannot continue with the myth that the most successful represent the totality of us. the question for us here is, what can we do about them? one of the places that starts is with education. let's teach them everything that professor lee so eloquently highlighted for us, including celebrating the fact that the most decorated combat unit in u.s. military history was the unit in world war ii made up entirely of entirely of asian americans. now, these are not moments in asian american history. this is american history. when we are erased from our history books, we are made invisible. and the result, to quote congresswoman meng, we are perptually made to feel like foreigners in our own country. include our stories. because they matter. we must also empower our local community organizers by directing funds to areas that have been historically impoverished, not just for the benefit of the aapi community, but for the benefit of all communities living there. most of whom are non-white. it's no wonder there's historically been tension among racial groups when the thing they have most in common is poverty and lack of access to services. and there happens to be two pieces of legislation before this committee as we speak that deal with these specific issues. one is the no hate bill. it provides necessary grants and money to community organizations, counseling for those convicted of hate crimes, and improve data collection for hate crime reporting, among other important services. the committee also has before it right now the covid-19 hate crimes act introduced by congresswoman meng and senator hirono. it's crucial we have reporting for these hate crimes and infrastructure that makes it easier for whom english is not their primary language. chairman nadler, you have been an ally for the aapi in the last. i hope you see them through so they can be passed by the full house and then on to the senate. now, i'm not naive enough that i will convince all of you to stand up for us. trust me, i have seen your voting records. but i am speaking to those to whom humanity still matters. in closing, let me just say, that there are several months in our country's history that charted its course for the future. for asian americans, that moment is now. what happens right now and over the course of the coming months, we'll send a -- will send a message to generations to come as to whether we matter. whether the country we call home will choose to include us or dismiss us, invisiblize us or see us. because you may consider us statistically insignificant now, but one more fact that has no alternative is that we are the fastest growing racial demographic in the country. we are 23 million strong. we are united. and we are waking up. thank you. mr. cohen: thank you, sir. our next witness is shirin sinna. she's professor of law and john a. wilson faculty scholar at stanford law school. her scholarship focuses on the role of institutions protecting individual rights and democratic values. her recent work assesses the legal regime for domestic and international terrorism. under u.s. law. professor sinnar holds a j.d. from stanford. a master of philosophy and international relations from cambridge. and b.a. from harvard. law clerk for the honorable warren j. ferguson for the ninth circuit. professor sinnar, you are now recognized for five minutes. ms. sinnar: thank you for convening for this important hearing and inviting me to participate. i want to begin by acknowledging the horrific mass shootings in atlanta. whatever the motive, those murders have traumatized asian american communities already reeling from a year of persistent hate violence. i'd like to make two points today. first, while the causes of hate crimes have complex, academic research shows that hostile rhetoric from political leaders toward rashal immigrants -- racial immigrants can promote violence against them. research also shows that political events that change perceptions of social norms, like the accessibility of racist or xenophobic views, have triggered hate violence. and specifically, with respect to former president trump, prior studies have shown that hate crimes spiked immediately after his election and that negative tweets towards muslims strongly correlated to anti-muslim hate crimes. that brings us to the past year when former president trump and other political leaders relentlessly characterized the coronavirus in racist terms. as recently as this week. stop aapi hate research shows that donald trump's anti-asian tweets were shared on social media over a million times. a substantial number of anti-asian hate incidents used language similar to trump's. beyond rhetoric, the racial profiling of chinese and chinese american researchers, scientists, and students as security risks exposes asian american communities to a higher risk of societal discrimination and violence. this is familiar from the experience of south asian, muslim, sikh, and arab american communities treated as suspects over the nearly two decade long war on terror. while hostile rhetoric or discriminatory policy is certainly not the sole cause of recent asian -- anti-asian violence. it has made asian americans vulnerable, both to racially motivated and to opportunistic attacks. the second point i'd like to make is that while the response to hate crimes has often build to call for increased sentences, many asian american community organizations are now advocating a broader set of strategies to address hate crimes. horrific acts like the atlanta shootings require a serious law enforcement response. but for several reasons, community groups are also looking for solutions beyond criminal law, especially with respect to the more common source of hate crimes that occur. for one thing, many incidents of hate speech targeting asian americans do not qualify as criminal, but they still create significant harm. in addition, many victims do not report incidents to police because of mistrust of law enforcement. and concern around overpolicing and mass incarceration has led many in communities of color to consider other avenues to help victims heal, hold perpetrators accountable and prevent violence. numerous asian american organizations have emphasized the importance of cross-racial solidarity in response to hate crimes. rather than pitting struggling communities against one another. many have advocated deep investments in communities to strengthen support systems. both to prevent violence and to -- >> continuing watching this hearing online at c-span.org. we're going to leave this because the u.s. house is about to come in. it's part of c-span's long time commitment to bring you gavel-to-gavel coverage of congress. the house today taking up a couple of immigration measures. we may also see introduction of a privileged resolution from house republican leader kevin mccarthy who earlier filed a resolution to remove representative eric swalwell from the house intelligence committee. now live to the house floor on c-span. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2021] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

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