Vice President Kamala Harris addressed the horrific shooting in Atlanta that happened on Tuesday - an attack that has added to the vitriol of rising anti-Asian American hate in the country.
Harris called the attack "tragic." She said the country and President grieve the loss.
"Our prayers are extended to the families of those who have been killed, and it speaks to a larger issue, which is the issue of violence in our country and what we must do to never tolerate it and to always speak out against it," said Harris, according to a CNN story.
Georgia officials have not yet called the shooting of eight people Tuesday, seven of whom were women and the majority of whom were Asian-Americans, as a hate crime.
Harris is the first female Vice President and the first Vice President of color.
The attacks in Atlanta are part of the growing number of incidents across the country. Between March 19, 2020 and February 28, 2021, verbal harassment, shunning, and physical assault made up the three largest categories of incidents against Asian Americans, according to a national report from Stop AAPI Hate.
Stop AAPI Hate was launched by the Asian Pacific Planning and Policy Council (A3PCON), Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA), and the Asian American Studies Department of San Francisco State University in March 2020 in response to the bigotry stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. Nationally, Stop AAPI noted that women report hate incidents 2.3 times more than men.
President Biden has indicated he will address the nation later on today.
Harris went on to say, "(K)nowing the increasing level of hate crimes against our Asian American brothers and sisters, we also want to speak out in solidarity with them and acknowledge that none of us should ever be silent in the face of any form of hate."
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