News on Anti-Asian Racism, Hollywood, Law, and Language
❌ANTI-ASIAN RACISM AND HATE CRIMES
House Judiciary Subcommittee Holds Hearing on Discrimination and Violence Against Asian Americans The GOP proved once again that they have no business being in the room. Chip Roy, a Republican from Texas, made a lynching reference and tried to focus the hearing on college admissions and policing speech. Then Tom McClintock, a Republican from California, offered the most basic and foul white words about white American exceptionalism. People are being attacked and murdered and the GOP wants to talk bout college admissions, policing speech, and white American exceptionalism. They’re garbage, and don’t deserve the privilege of governing.
Erika Lee’s testimony was a highlight. Lee is the author of the book “The Making of Asian America.” Senator Tammy Duckworth and Representative Grace Meng mentioned legislation to address hate crimes: The No Hate Act and the COVID 19 Hate Crimes Act. The No Hate Act was introduced in 2019 and it hasn’t moved. The COIVD 19 Hate Crimes Act has several provisions including a POC at the DOJ to review and report on COVID 19 hate crimes.
The U.S. Has A Long-Standing History Of Vilifying Minority Groups During Times Of Crisis “[O]ne reason why we’re seeing discrimination and other racist acts against Asians: America once again fears China’s dominance.”
“Black Americans have also been stigmatized, particularly during the 2014-16 Ebola epidemic in West Africa. Navarro College, near Dallas, denied admission to two Nigerian students, not because they were diagnosed with Ebola but simply because they were from a country where cases of the disease had been identified.”
H.R.1843 - To facilitate the expedited review of COVID-19 hate crimes, and for other purposes. On March 11, 2021, Congresswoman Grace Men introduced legislation to review COVID-19 hate crimes. Text for the bill isn’t available yet.
⚖️Law
AG sues ex-Bumpy's ice cream shop owner over race-based police report “Attorney General Letitia James is suing David Elmendorf, the former owner of the once-popular Bumpy’s Polar Freeze ice cream shop, contending he made a bogus police report alleging that people attending a Black Lives Matter rally outside his business were toting weapons.”
This is the first suit of its kind after the state legislature made “race-based” police reports a crime. The suit comes with financial penalties.
Illinois becomes first state to end cash bail as part of criminal justice reform law “This will be rolled out slowly under a two-year plan and will not go fully in effect until 2023, while other parts of the law will go into effect as early as July.”
While this change is a positive step forward, note that the Breathe Act calls for an end to all pretrial detention.
🗣LANGUAGE
‘Finna’ and ‘Chile’ added to Dictionary.com to reflect growing diversity “We have added such terms as BIPOC, Critical Race Theory, and overpolice, which have risen to the top of the national discourse on social justice,” said John Kelly, managing editor at Dictionary.com, in a statement Thursday.”
🎥 HOLLYWOOD
New Study Finds Undervaluing Of Black-Led Projects Costs Hollywood $10 Billion Annually “The research found that media and entertainment make up a bedrock industry with revenues of nearly $150 billion each year. That said, Hollywood has the potential to gain an additional $10 billion in annual revenues — which amounts to nearly 7% more than its baseline — by addressing the racial inequities.”
Why Are There No Filipino Nurses on Medical TV Shows? “Filipino nurses are just 4 percent of the nursing workforce In the United States, but constitute nearly one-third of nursing deaths, according to a research study conducted by National Nurses United last fall.”