Ever since the outbreak of the Coronavirus last December, Asian Americans have been reporting a growing hostile sentiment from people who associate them with COVID-19. Lately, an Asian-American representative has proposed a resolution that condemns all forms of anti-Asian sentiment related to COVID-19.
My #HRes908 condemning anti-Asian sentiment related to #COVID19 just passed the House. ?
— Grace Meng (@RepGraceMeng) September 17, 2020
We reject racism.
Thankful 4 my colleagues' support.
It's on @senatemajldr 2 allow the Senate 2 pass the Senate version of my resolution by @SenDuckworth, @SenKamalaHarris & @maziehirono. pic.twitter.com/xnUfIzDEuk
Even though the law was passed by a majority of votes, commentators noted that a whopping 164 representatives who voted against the resolution were all of one political party and one racial background.
According to many social media users, the law suggested by Rep. Grace Meng of New York was opposed by 164 republican representatives, who after a little bit of research turned out to be White Americans.
This link between their vote against the resolution and their racial background has sparked a lot of anger amongst online people, who argued that this is yet another example of how far right the Republican party has gone, refusing to condemn racism against a whole ethnic group of the American population.
Many also called it "unashamed racism" pointing at the fact that "many politicians no longer feel the need to mask their apathy towards people of color, especially ones affected by the COVID-19 crisis."
Recently they passed a bill to condemn anti-Asian racism, but all the “No” votes were Republican. That’s 164 Congress members saying they see nothing wrong with Asians being harassed & attacked. I’m not into politics but I encourage all of us to vote out as many of them as we can
— Alan Z (@AlanZmusic) September 23, 2020
Wow. 164 politicians who can’t do the bare minimum of saying “Yes, anti-Asian racism and discrimination is bad.” They’re THAT openly racist and shitty.
— Brendan Hay, Regular Human Writer (@B_Hay) September 23, 2020
Also, they all look like the need to take a remedial smiling class. https://t.co/F1SCVZt5NH
The anti-Asian sentiment was first traced in the first couple of weeks of 2020, after many countries around the world started to report infections with the virus that is believed to have originated in the wet market of the Chinese city of Wuhan.
Additionally, remarks made by the US President Donal J. Trump associating the virus with China, most famously calling it "the China Virus" have ignited the rising hostility against Asian Americans, who reported being harassed and attacked more often than ever.
The House voted to condemn anti-Asian racism and 164 Republicans just said, “Nah, we’re good.” pic.twitter.com/Ey3mNLZtR0
— Jeffrey Zhang @ NYFF (@strangeharbors) September 20, 2020
Recently they passed a bill to condemn anti-Asian racism, but all the “No” votes were Republican. That’s 164 Congress members saying they see nothing wrong with Asians being harassed & attacked. I’m not into politics but I encourage all of us to vote out as many of them as we can
— Alan Z (@AlanZmusic) September 23, 2020
In their tweets highlighting the Congress vote, many users called on Asian Americans to reflect on this stance on the Republican Party's part, saying that "should be voted out in next elections."
With 11 million eligible voters, Asian Americans are the fastest-growing demographic group in the US according to the Pew Research Center, making up about 5% of all voters in the country.
