The power (and limits) of a hate-crime law

Post Reports

The Washington Post

Daily News, Politics, News

4.4 • 5.1K Ratings

🗓️ 20 May 2021

⏱️ ? minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

What new legislation can –– and can’t –– do to address anti-Asian hate crimes. And, the growing role of people of color in far-right organizations.

On Thursday, President Biden signed the Covid-19 Hate Crimes Act, which Congress passed in a rare moment of bipartisanship. Rep. Grace Meng (D-N.Y.) discusses the promise — and limits — of the bill aimed at combating anti-Asian hate crimes and how it will be implemented.

People of color are playing increasingly visible roles across the spectrum of far-right activism. Today, non-White activists speak for groups of radicalized MAGA supporters, parts of the “Patriot” movement and –– in rare cases –– neo-Nazi factions. Hannah Allam reports on what’s attracting people of color to these groups and how the groups might be benefiting from their membership.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	From the newsroom of the Washington Post.
0:07.0	Hi, good afternoon. This is Tulu O'Rourer-Nipo with the Washington Post.
0:11.0	Hi, this is Amy Britton calling me in the post.
0:13.0	This is Peter J. Vincent from the Washington Post.
0:15.0	This is Post Reports. I'm Martin Powers.
0:18.0	It's Thursday, May 20th.
0:23.0	Today, while the federal government is taking action on hate crimes against Asian Americans,
0:29.0	and the people of color on the far right.
0:36.0	All of this hate hides in plain sight.
0:41.0	It hides in plain sight. And too often, it is met with silence.
0:48.0	On Thursday, President Biden took a major step in addressing violence against Asians and Asian Americans.
0:54.0	He signed the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act.
0:57.0	It's a new law meant to combat the wave of racially motivated attacks.
1:02.0	My message to all of those who are hurting is we see you.
1:06.0	And the Congress has said we see you.
1:09.0	And we are committed to stop the hatred and the bias.
1:16.0	Several members of Congress were standing next to the President as he signed the bill, including Grace Meng.
1:23.0	The word, I think, of most is relief because for the last year and a half, you know, I really felt like no one was listening to the community.
1:33.0	Meng is a Democrat, a representative from Queens, New York. And she is Asian American.
1:38.0	She was a person who introduced the bill in the House.
1:41.0	I felt like I was on a zillion zooms and meetings and rallies.
1:46.0	And I often wondered, is anyone hearing us?
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Washington Post, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Washington Post and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.