End hate crimes against Asian Americans

Recent hate crimes and violent assaults against people of Asian descent should sound an alarm for America. Within the past month, an acid attack against a woman in New York caused her to suffer severe burns, and a man in Texas was charged with attempted murder after attacking an Asian American family.

Such stories have become disturbingly frequent since the start of the COVID- 19 pandemic, and the FBI has warned that this trend may continue.

On March 20, the U. S. Commission on Civil Rights expressed concern over violent attacks against people of Asian descent. Asian American and Pacific Islander leaders have condemned such bigotry.

And a bipartisan coalition of nearly 200 foreign policy and national security professionals support this letter condemning hate crimes and calling for solidarity ( see the full list at USATODAY. com/ opinion/).

There are many ways in which the COVID- 19 pandemic has brought out the best of our nation: health care workers laboring around the clock, scientists racing to develop a vaccine. Alarmingly, however, the crisis has also exacerbated prejudice.

All Americans must redouble the fight against those forces.

U. S. leaders must take action against anti- Asian racism by adhering to guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which details ways to reduce and avoid stigma and discrimination. Terms such as “Chinese virus” stoke discrimination.

America has a history of associating immigrants with diseases. We must learn from that painful history and continue to fight to uphold greater equality of rights and opportunity. America is strongest when it lives up to its guiding principles, including the embrace of diversity and inclusion.

History teaches us that injustice and divisions in the United States can be exploited by other governments. These issues can play into the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda in ways that undermine U. S. unity, national interests and global leadership while weakening Washington’s critiques of Beijing’s human rights abuses.

U. S. policies must also address the inequities, including access to health care, that are causing African Americans, Native Americans, Latinx and other communities to disproportionately experience the worst impacts of COVID- 19.

Chenny Zhang

Washington, D. C.

Elsa Kania

Cambridge, Mass.