The House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties will hold a hearing on discrimination and violence against Asian Americans on Thursday morning. The subcommittee is slated to discuss how Asian Americans have faced discrimination both historically and since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Hundreds of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders turned to social media to air their anger, sadness, fear and hopelessness. Numerous Asian American organizations say Trump's rhetoric has emboldened people to express anti-Asian or anti-immigrant views. Nearly 3,800 incidents have been reported to Stop AAPI Hate, a California-based reporting center for Asian American Pacific Islanders, and its partner groups, since March 2020.

SAN ANTONIO – Myra Dumapias, a leader with the Asian American and Pacific Islanders for Justice grassroots group in San Antonio, is tired of the silence and says she’s ready for her community to speak up about the racial injustices and attacks they have been experiencing. One instance, she says, is the lack of coverage following the shooting in Atlanta, in which eight people, mostly women of Asian descent, were killed. It’s an act of gender violence, and it’s part of a long-time problem of Asian women being minimized only down to our sexuality,” Dumapias said. State Rep. Gene Wu, D-Houston, said it’s time for the Asian American community to join the equality movement. AdAlong with other Texas House members of Asian descent, Wu signed a resolution Condemning Violence and Hate Against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) in Texas.

San Antonio – Romelette Metz, a business owner in San Antonio, says she like many others were victims of hate incidents last year. A recent study by the organization looked at hate incidents from 2020 and showed nearly a 150% increase in hate crimes against Asians in 16 major cities. Around 2010, he said hate crimes were increasing against Latinos with a lot of concerns about undocumented immigrants crossing the southern border. He said words matter and the rhetoric that people hear is often correlated with hate crimes going up. Levis urges victims to report hate crimes to law enforcement and hate incidents to advocacy groups like Stop AAPI Hate.