State Representative Gene Wu of Houston has proposed a resolution asking the state legislature to condemn racism and hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
Last week, six women of Asian descent were among eight people murdered in mass shootings in and around Atlanta.
Wu says the Asian community has, since the start of the pandemic, asked politicians and leaders to be careful of the language they use. "While it may be a joke to some people, other people take it as a cue that it's ok to go after these communities."
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His resolution states, in his words, that "it's not Ok to make the Asian American community a target of these types of attacks. That racism of any kind, the targeting of any community."
He says the level of violence and threats and danger has increased month by month. "We watched these things start escalating. While it may start out as a confrontation in shopping mall parking lot, it escalates to assaults, it escalates to beatings, and now what we've all feared is now there's a mass murder."
He says all leaders share an obligation to protect all community members.