White House press secretary Jen Psaki blamed the Trump administration’s rhetoric on the coronavirus pandemic for elevating threats against Asian Americans as investigators probe the motives of a suspect in a shooting spree that killed six Asian women in and around Atlanta, Georgia.
Former President Donald Trump has been repeatedly accused of racism for referring to the “China virus” or “Wuhan flu” when talking about COVID-19.
Psaki made her comments hours after a 21-year-old man was arrested following attacks on three massage parlors in the Atlanta area that left eight people dead.
“I think there’s no question that some of the damaging rhetoric that we saw during the prior administration, calling COVID the ‘Wuhan virus’ or other things, led to perceptions of the Asian American community that are inaccurate, unfair, … [It] has elevated threats against Asian Americans, and we’re seeing that around the country,” she said during the White House daily briefing.
In his first days in office, President Biden issued a memo condemning inflammatory and xenophobic rhetoric directed at Asian Americans during the pandemic.
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And last week, he denounced crimes against the group during a prime-time address, describing the violence as “un-American.”
However, on Wednesday, he said he would not be speculating on the motive behind the Atlanta shooting.
“I’m making no connection at this moment to the motivation of the killer,” he told reporters in the Oval Office, adding that he was awaiting further details from the investigation.
Robert Aaron Long has been charged with killing eight people. Investigator said he told police the attack was not racially motivated and that he claimed to have a “sex addiction.”
Even so, the deaths immediately provoked fears among local Asian Americans that the attack was directed against them following an apparent surge in assaults coinciding with the coronavirus pandemic.
Speaking earlier, Vice President Kamala Harris offered sympathy to the community.
“We don’t yet know — we’re not yet clear about the motive — but I do want to say to our Asian American community that we stand with you and understand how this has frightened and shocked and outraged all people,” she said. “But knowing the increasing level of hate crime 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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A day earlier, a group monitoring violence against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders reported that from March 2020 to February 2021, it received 3,795 reports of anti-Asian hate incidents. Stop AAPI Hate reported verbal harassment represented 68% of hate incidents and that physical assaults represented some 11%.
