Biden and Harris decry racism during Atlanta visit

US President Joe Biden and vice-president Kamala Harris (AP/Patrick Semansky)

US President Joe Biden and vice president Kamala Harris have offered solace to Asian Americans and denounced racism hidden “in plain sight”. during a visit to Atlanta.

Their comments came during a visit to Atlanta, Georgia, just days after a white gunman killed eight people – most of them Asian American women – in the city.

Addressing the nation after a roughly 80-minute meeting with Asian American state legislators and other leaders, Mr Biden said it was “heart-wrenching” to listen to their stories of the fear among Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders amid what he called a “skyrocketing spike” of harassment and violence against them.

Silence is complicity — and we cannot be complicit.

We have to speak out. We have to act. pic.twitter.com/zJXEoKXOMm

— President Biden Archived (@POTUS46Archive) March 20, 2021

He said: “We have to change our hearts. Hate can have no safe harbour in America.”

Mr Biden called on all Americans to stand up to bigotry when they see it, adding: “Our silence is complicity. We cannot be complicit.

“They’ve been attacked, blamed, scapegoated and harassed; they’ve been verbally assaulted, physically assaulted, killed,” Mr Biden said of Asian Americans during the coronavirus pandemic.

The president also called the shootings an example of a “public health crisis of gun violence in this country” as his administration has come under scrutiny from some in his own party for not moving as swiftly as promised on reforming the nation’s gun laws.

Ms Harris, the first person of South Asian descent to hold national office, said that while the motive of the gunman remains under investigation, these facts are clear: Six of the eight killed were of Asian descent and seven of them were women.

This afternoon, Vice President Harris and I sat down with Asian American leaders in Atlanta. It was a heart-wrenching meeting that made clear the urgent work that lies ahead. We must come together as one America, stand against hate, and root out racism wherever we find it. pic.twitter.com/Z2DOKdxklZ

— President Biden Archived (@POTUS46Archive) March 20, 2021

She said: “Racism is real in America. And it has always been. Xenophobia is real in America, and always has been. Sexism, too.

“The president and I will not be silent. We will not stand by. We will always speak out against violence, hate crimes and discrimination, wherever and whenever it occurs.”

She added that everyone has “the right to be recognised as an American. Not as the other, not as them. But as us”.

Before leaving Washington, Mr Biden declared his support for the Covid-19 Hate Crimes Act, a bill that would strengthen the government’s reporting and response to hate crimes and provide resources to Asian American communities.