Several Asian American celebrities and personalities have called out the 164 Republicans who voted against legislation that condemned anti-Asian hate crimes amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Voicing out: Celebrities and online personalities, including Hollywood actor Daniel Dae Kim, Philip Wang of Wongfu Productions, actor/producer Brian Yang and writer Celeste Ng, took to social media to call out the Republicans who voted no on the resolution.
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A deeper look: House Resolution 908 was passed last Thursday, with a total passing vote of 243 (229 from Democrats and 14 from Republicans) while 164 — all Republicans — voted in opposition, HuffPost reported.
- H.Res.908 was introduced by Democratic New York Representative Grace Meng in March, NBC News reported.
- “For months, Asian Americans in my home state of New York and in communities throughout the nation have been verbally and physically attacked, spat on and shunned,” Meng said. “Enough of the demeaning usages of ‘Chinese virus,’ ‘Wuhan virus’ and ‘Kung-flu,’ especially from our nation’s leaders, such as President Trump, GOP leader McCarthy and others. Enough of the scapegoating. Enough of using the Asian American community to stoke people’s fears about Covid-19.”
- The resolution “calls on all public officials to condemn and denounce anti-Asian sentiment, racism, discrimination, and religious intolerance related to COVID-19” and urges federal, state and local officials to document, investigate and gather all data from the incident reports they receive.
- “[The bill] calls on federal officials to expeditiously investigate and document all credible reports of hate crimes and incidents and threats against the Asian-American community and prosecute perpetrators,” its summary continued.
- “The House made clear that we reject this xenophobia and violence, and I thank all who joined me in standing up to bigotry and ugliness against Asian Americans,” Meng said, as reported by NBC. “Everybody deserves to feel safe in the country we call home.”
The defense for no: Some of the Republicans who voted no on the resolution defended their stance on the matter.
- “There is no kitchen in America that thinks this is the priority,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said.
- Republican and representative of Georgia’s 9th congressional district, Doug Collins, claimed the bill was not “really about” racism, but “Democrats ignoring the real issues plaguing Americans just for the opportunity to criticize President Trump.”
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