State lawmakers have approved 1.4 million dollars to track and stop hate crimes against Asian Americans.
Late last month, a Thai American man in San Francisco died after being attacked while on a morning walk. Racist and xenophobic attacks against Asian Americans have increased several times over since the beginning of the pandemic.
On Monday, the California legislature approved $1.4 million to help stop these attacks. The bill they passed could support initiatives including Stop Asian American Pacific Islander Hate, a collaborative which has recorded 2,800 discriminatory incidents across the country since March — 1,200 of them in California.
“It’s so important to have data.”
State Assemblymember Phil Ting of San Francisco introduced the bill.
“For so long you hear anecdotal stories, you hear “this happened here this happened there” but you have no idea how large the problem is.”
The bill included unrelated funding for voter outreach and information guides, among other items. It still requires the governor’s approval.
