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 Julie 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 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 kung flu 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 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.

Summary: This resolution condemns the acts of gun violence that led to the tragic loss of eight lives in Georgia on March 16, 2021.