Casey Lee
Pronouns: she/her
Research Mentor(s): Melissa Borja
Research Mentor School/College/Department: American Culture / LSA
Program: UROPF
Session: Session 5 (2:40pm – 3:30pm)
Authors: Olivia Lee, Angela Ebreo
Abstract
The Covid-19 pandemic witnessed a surge of acts of racism towards Asian Americans. In response, elected officials have worked to create and pass pieces of legislation to combat anti-Asian racism. Within this study, we will look at the efforts of politicians who have worked to create and pass pieces of legislation to combat anti-Asian violence, harassment, discrimination, vandalism, and stigmatization focusing on the question: How did elected officials take action on these issues through proposed legislation? This study examines legislation proposed in the House of Representatives from 2020. It analyzes the features of the bills that aimed to help Asian-Americans facing racism and violence, as well as the congressional debate around the bills and patterns in the bills’ co-sponsorship. This project adds to other research on politicians’ responses to the problem of anti-Asian racism. While other scholars have focused on politicians’ rhetoric on social media, this study improves understanding of what politicians actually tried to do to address the problem in their role as legislators and identify the policy solutions that found most support among legislators during the pandemic.
