Washington: U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have condemned anti-Asian violence in the country and warned against silence and complicity in the aftermath of this week’s shooting in Atlanta, in which eight people, including six Asian women, were killed.
According to the Xinhua news agency, Biden admitted during a speech at Emory University in Atlanta, after meeting Asian-American community leaders on Friday.
‘Whatever the motivation,’ Biden said of the reason for the shooting in the massage parlor, ‘we know, too many Asian Americans have been walking up and down the streets over the past year, getting worried and feeling for their safety and the safety of their loved ones is at stake ”.
“They were attacked, blamed, scapegoat, harassed. They were verbally assaulted, physically assaulted, murdered. ”
The president regrets that the families of the victims of Atlanta are left with a broken heart and unanswered questions, indicating that the country has not expressed enough outrage over innocent Asian Americans being targeted following the coronavirus pandemic.
‘Hate and violence are often hidden from view and are often dealt with in silence. This has been true throughout history. But that needs to change, because our silence is complicity. We can not be complicit. We need to speak out. We have to act, ”Biden said.
‘Because of all the good that the laws can do, we must change our hearts. Hate can have no safe haven in America. It must stop. And it’s up to all of us, all together to stop it. ”
Meanwhile, Harris sounded the alarm about a sobering reality that racism, xenophobia and sexism are all ‘real in America’ and have always existed.
Harris, who is of South Asian descent, said: ‘An injury to any of us is an injury to us all. The president and I will not be silent. We will not stand by it. We will always speak out against violence, hate crimes and discrimination, wherever and whenever it occurs.
“Whatever the killer’s motive, these facts are clear: six out of eight people on Tuesday night were of Asian descent; seven were women; the shooting took place in businesses owned by Asian Americans; the shooting took place as violent hate crimes and discrimination against Asian Americans have increased dramatically in recent years and more. ”
Eight people, including six Asians and two whites, were killed in three shooting incidents in the Atlanta area by a suspect identified as 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long.
He was arrested and charged with eight counts of murder and one count of aggravated assault.
Long claims that the attacks were not racially motivated, and that he has a ‘sexual addiction’ and that the massage parlors, according to the authorities, were a ‘temptation’ he wanted to “eliminate”.
When he was caught, he was on his way to Florida, where he was planning to commit similar crimes, authorities added.
The massacre came amid a worrying increase in violence against the Asian-American community – 3,800 hate incidents reported in the past year showed.
Although the motive in the massacre was not determined by the police, some public officials and anti-discrimination organizations have expressed concern about the role of racism.
Source: Telangana Today