In response to the increase in attacks against Asian-Americans and Pacific-Islanders, a Torrance-area lawmaker seeks to create a statewide hate crime hotline.
Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi says the goal is to provide a "safe space" to make it "as easy as possible" for victims to report hate crimes.
His bill would require the state's Department of Justice to set up a toll-free hotline and an online system in various languages that victims and witnesses could use to anonymously report hate crimes and incidents.
"We are working to get this passed as quickly as possible. Clearly, the Atlanta shooting has added urgency to this effort," he says.
Muratsuchi describes that attack - which left eight dead, including six Asian women - as the "culmination of a yearlong rise in anti-Asian activity."
"Ever since the pandemic started Asian Americans across the country have seen this spike in anti-Asian hate crimes, anti-Asian verbal harassment so this is no surprise," he says.
The group Stop AAPI Hate says it's received reports about nearly 4,000 incidents targeting Asian Americans and that's likely "only a fraction of the number of hate incidents that actually occur."