President Joe Biden has condemned the surge in hate crimes against Asian Americans amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
On Thursday night, Biden, 78, spoke about the harassment and scapegoating endured by the Asian community in the US over the past year in his first national primetime address as president.
The speech marked one year since Covid-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization.
Biden remarked that "too often, we've turned against one another."
Watch Biden's address below:He said during this tough time, there should be solidarity among Americans but instead, there have been extended periods of hostility and violence.
Biden said there have been "vicious hate crimes against Asian Americans who've been attacked, harassed, blamed and scapegoated."
"At this very moment, so many of them, our fellow Americans, are on the front lines of this pandemic trying to save lives and still are forced to live in fear for their lives just walking down streets in America. It's wrong, it's un-American, and it must stop," he added.
In January, the Democrat signed a memorandum denouncing the targeting of the Asian American and Pacific Islander community over the past year, per NBC.
As reported by NBC, lawmakers stated on Thursday that they planned to reintroduce a bill proposing to increase support for law enforcement agencies to focus on prejudice and discrimination during the pandemic.
"We've seen the horrifying consequences of racist language as AAPI communities across our country experience hate crimes and violence related to the pandemic," Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, who helped spearhead the bill, said in a statement.
"The bill also provides resources for communities to come together and fight intolerance and hate. This is no less than victims deserve."
Interestingly, 2020 saw an overall reduction in hate crimes - and yet hate crimes related to the Asian community soared by almost 150% in big cities, according to a report. The increase was mostly seen in New York City and Los Angeles.
The general decrease in hate crimes most likely came as a result of lockdowns and quarantining across the country, meaning that people have a lot less contact with those in other households.
However, with Covid-19's association with Wuhan in China and former President Trump's dubbing the disease the "China Virus", hate crimes have mainly been targeting people of East Asian descent.