WATCH: State Sen. Au & State Rep. Nguyen Issue Calls to Action to Combat Hate and Violence Against Asian Americans

Amid the horrific murders of six Asian American women in the metro Atlanta area yesterday, Georgia’s Democratic Asian American women lawmakers are amplifying calls to address rising hate and violence against the Asian and Asian American community in our state and across the nation.

Following the attacks, a speech given just a day prior by State Senator Michelle Au resurfaced, in which she decried the recent spike in hate crimes against Asian Americans, including in Georgia, and emphasized the need for recognition and protection. Today, State Representative Bee Nguyen gave speeches in the Georgia legislature echoing those calls.

WATCH: State Senator Michelle Au

“Asian Americans are an important part of our communities. They are an important part of Georgia. And they – we – are an important part of the fabric of our country…And all I’m asking right now, as the first East Asian State Senator in Georgia, is simply to fully consider us as part of our communities. Recognize that we need help, we need protection, and we need people in power to stand up for us against hate.”

WATCH: State Representative Bee Nguyen

“We don’t know the details of the shooting, or the motives of the shooting, but we do know in the last year that hate crimes against Asian Americans have increased by 150%, and of those hate crimes, 68% of them are directed towards Asian American women…We’ve been taught as Asian Americans to keep our heads down, because our parents believed it was safer for us, but what’s happened is we are now invisible, and when things happen to us, people don’t speak up until a tragedy like this one occurs. It is invisibility that hasn’t shielded us from hate crimes, xenophobia, or gender-based violence, and we saw all those intersections happening yesterday.”

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