‘We must all say: Enough is enough’
County elected officials speak out against violence targeting Asian Americans
Oakland County elected officials are speaking out, making it clear that hateful and violent acts directed at Asian Americans will not be accepted.
On March 16, 21-yearold Robert Aaron Long open fired inside three Atlanta-area spas killing eight people, including six Asian women. The shooting prompted widespread concern that the killings could be the latest in a surge of hate crimes against Asian Americans.
Long was later charged with eight counts of murder and homicide and one count of aggravated assault. Police say they are still trying to determine a motive.
On Thursday, Kristen Nelson (D-Waterford Township) introduced a resolution at the board of commissioners meeting that “condemned and denounced all forms of antiAsian sentiment, including those related to COVID-19.”
The resolution was unanimously supported by the 21-member board.
The resolution read in part:
The Board of Commissioners condemns all manifestations and expressions of racism, xenophobia, discrimination, anti-Asian sentiment, scapegoating, and ethnic or religious intolerance. The Board of Commissioners recognizes that the health and safety of all Oakland County residents, no matter their back
ground, must be the upmost priority. The Board encourages all who experience, or witness hate crimes to report such incidents to local law enforcement, the Michigan Attorney General’s Hate Crime Unit, and the Michigan Department of Civil Rights.
According to Stop Asian American Pacific Islander Hate (AAPI), 3,795 incidents targeting Asian and Pacific Islander Americans were reported between March 2020 and February 2021, from all 50 states, including 16 in Michigan.
Verbal harassment (68.1%) and shunning (20.5%) (the deliberate avoidance of Asian Americans) made up the two largest proportions of the total incidents reported. Physical assault (11.1%) comprises the third largest category of the total incidents. Chinese were the largest ethnic group (42.2%) that reported experiencing hate, followed by Koreans (14.8%), Vietnamese (8.5%), and Filipinos (7.9%). Earlier this week, County Executive David Coulter, issued a statement that he was “disturbed” by the “ignorance, hate and violence directed at AsianAmericans. He also called on residents to donate to organizations that support the Asian community.
“After all we have been through, we now find ourselves mourning lives lost in targeted acts of violence, rooted in racism and hate,” he said. “We find our friends and neighbors of Asian descent fearful and isolated. We must all say: enough is enough...In Oakland County, we stand together against hate and violence; and we stand together in the fight against COVID, because we still have work and healing to do.”
Around 8.2% of Oakland County’s population is Asian, which is about 103,000 residents. No other county in Michigan has more Asian residents, according to July 2019 U.S. Census Bureau estimates.
The county is also home to 1,000 foreign companies from 40 countries, which includes over 200 Japanese companies, the county’s largest cluster of foreign companies. There are also over 70 Chinesebased firms with operations in the county.
Michael Spisz (R-Oxford), chair of the board’s GOP caucus, said he finds it appalling that anyone would seek out individuals that are different from them to instill fear or to harm them.
State Rep. Padma Kuppa (D-Troy), who is the first Indian immigrant to serve in the Michigan Legislature, said she has heard from many Asian American community members about the increase in hostile treatment they are facing during this pandemic.
“It’s only when we build relationships across diverse communities that we move toward inclusion, where all voices are heard,” she said. “Those who are in positions of leadership in our communities can be allies and help protect those who are vulnerable.”