U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris arrived Friday in the southeastern U.S. state of Georgia, responding to the coronavirus pandemic and the massage parlor killings of six Asian American women and two others Tuesday near Atlanta.
The U.S. leaders will meet with Asian-American leaders to discuss the shootings and the targeting of people of Asian descent in the U.S. in apparent hate crimes.
Georgia officials, however, have not yet labeled the massage parlor shootings as hate crimes because the suspect said the shootings were a result of his sexual issues.
Before leaving the White House for Georgia, Biden issued a statement urging Congress to approve legislation related to the coronavirus and hate crimes.
“I urge Congress to swiftly pass the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, which would expedite the federal government’s response to the rise of hate crimes exacerbated during the pandemic, support state and local governments to improve hate crimes reporting and ensure that hate crimes information is more accessible to Asian American communities,” Biden said in the statement.
As he climbed the stairs to board Air Force One for the flight to Georgia, Biden stumbled several times before regaining balance and continuing to make his way onto the plane.
The president and the vice president will also meet with officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention while in Georgia to get an update on the U.S. handling the COVID-19 pandemic.
They were originally also planning to participate in a “Help Is Here” rally to promote the trillion-dollar COVID relief package. The rally was postponed in the wake of the shootings. Biden was, however, slated to meet with former gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, whose organizing is widely viewed as being responsible for the Democratic presidential win in Georgia in November, the first Democratic presidential victory in the state since 1992.
www.avantmlawi.com