President Joe Biden hosted the White House’s first-ever Lunar New Year reception on Thursday. Rep. Judy Chu, chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus and a former mayor of Monterey Park, encouraged Biden to keep the celebration going despite the tragic shootings, he said at Thursday’s reception.
Biden began his remarks in front of a backdrop of red fans with gold Chinese characters – symbols of good fortune – with prayers and a moment of silence for the victims before welcoming members of the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities.
“Jill and I are honored to welcome you to the White House, your home, for the first Lunar New Year reception of this scale,” he said. “This is your residence.”
President Biden emphasized the community’s “profound hatred, pain, violence, and loss” as a result of the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes, which was fueled in part by inflammatory rhetoric related to the coronavirus pandemic.
“That’s why, with the help of many of you in this room, we signed the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act into law,” Biden said, referring to legislation passed in May 2021 that addresses the rise in anti-Asian hatred and holds law enforcement accountable for tracking and reporting hate crimes.
On Saturday, a 72-year-old Asian American man is suspected of killing 11 people of Asian descent in Monterey Park. Two days later, a 66-year-old Asian American man was charged with the murder of seven people in Half Moon Bay. Chinese and Latino farm workers were among those killed. The motives for the shootings are still unknown.
Vice President Kamala Harris visited Monterey Park on Wednesday to meet with victims’ families and call for action on gun control.
“As a compassionate nation, we will always mourn for the loss and pray for those who survived and are recovering,” Harris said. “But we must also require that leaders in our nation, who have the ability and the power and the responsibility to do something, that they act.”
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