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来源:美国之音,南华早报
2021年1月26日(星期二),美国总统拜登签署行政令,打击针对亚裔的种族歧视。
拜登说:“今天我下达指令,要求联邦政府部门打击种族歧视行为的再度抬头,特别是针对亚裔和太平洋岛族群,我们看到新冠疫情期间针对这些族裔的仇视行为急剧上升。这是不可接受的,是不符合美国精神的”。
拜登在推特上写道:“美国从来没有实现过建国时作出的人人平等的承诺,但我们从未停止过努力。今天,我将采取行动,推进种族平等,拉近我们彼此之间的距离,建立我们一直在努力实现的目标 — 一个更加完美的联邦。”
受到新冠疫情源于中国等说法的影响,美国在新冠疫情期间发生了多起反亚裔事件。由亚太政策和规划委员会(A3PCON)、华人平权行动(CAA)和旧金山州立大学联合创办的一个名为“停止针对亚太裔的仇恨” (STOP AAPI HATE)的报告中心自2020年3月正式启动以来,截至2020年10月,已收到2800多份来自全美各地的亚裔遭遇歧视和仇恨事件的报告。
南华早报还报道说,一些批评人士认为美国司法部在2018年开展的旨在对涉嫌从事经济间谍活动的中国公司和个人展开调查并起诉的“中国行动计划”(China Initiative),造成了重大的附带损害,其中就包括对科学交流的寒蝉效应,以及对亚裔美国人的妖魔化。
据哥伦比亚广播公司新闻频道(CBS News)报道,拜登过渡团队和白宫国内政策委员会(White House Domestic Policy Council)几周来一直在准备有关亚裔美国人和太平洋岛民的行政措施。
拜登的指令还包括指示司法部协助收集更加准确的数据和报告针对亚裔美国人的骚扰和仇恨事件。此外,他还要求联邦机构检查川普政府时期的任何现行政策、指示或政府网站中是否有歧视和仇外言论。
美国总统拜登上星期也签署了一项旨在促进种族平等的行政命令,并称美国必须采取“一种系统的方法,将公平嵌入决策过程”。
华盛顿智库布鲁金斯学会高级研究员佩里(Andre Perry)和位于纽约的新学院种族、阶层和政治经济研究中心主任汉密尔顿(Darrick Hamilton)在星期一(1月25日)的一篇文章中指出,拜登的行政命令有可能建立一个反种族主义的政策制定框架。
US President Joe Biden has banned references to Covid-19 by geographical location, after labels like “China virus” and “Wuhan virus” led to a racist backlash.
“Inflammatory and xenophobic rhetoric has put Asian-American and Pacific Islander persons, families, communities and businesses at risk,” Biden said in a memorandum released on Tuesday.
“The federal government must recognise that it has played a role in furthering these xenophobic sentiments through the actions of political leaders, including references to the Covid-19 pandemic by the geographic location of its origin,” he said.
“Such statements have stoked unfounded fears and perpetuated stigma about Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders and have contributed to increasing rates of bullying, harassment, and hate crimes against AAPI persons.”
The memo said executive departments and agencies would ensure that official actions, documents and statements “do not exhibit or contribute to racism, xenophobia, and intolerance against Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders”.
No political leaders were named in the memo, but Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump repeatedly used terms like “Wuhan virus”, “China plague” and “kung flu” to describe the disease caused by the new coronavirus.
One week after testing positive for the coronavirus last year, Trump said he was “in very good shape” and that “I beat this crazy, horrible China virus”. He heard earlier said China would “pay a big price” for the pandemic.
These descriptors were blamed for a rise in attacks and abuse targeting minority communities in the US.
In the memo, Biden pointed out that 2 million Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders worked as health care providers and in other supporting roles, contributing to the effort to stop the spread of Covid-19 in the US.
Asian-Americans reported more than 2,600 hate incidents in just a few months last year, compared with a few hundred in most years going back to 1999, said Aryani Ong, an Asian-American rights activist and former civil rights lawyer.
参考资料:
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3119404/biden-bans-linking-covid-19-china-bid-quell-racist-backlash-us
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/26/memorandum-condemning-and-combating-racism-xenophobia-and-intolerance-against-asian-americans-and-pacific-islanders-in-the-united-states/
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