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Entertainment

Esther Bejarano, 96, Dies; Auschwitz Survivor Fought Hate With Hip-Hop

After the war, she restarted her life in what would become Israel. She studied singing, joined a choir, gave music lessons and in 1950 married Nissim Bejarano, a truck driver, with whom she had two children, Joram, a son, and Edna, a daughter. In 1960, she returned to Germany, settling in Hamburg, and ran a laundry service with her husband.

She is survived by her children, two grandsons and four great-grandchildren.

She found it difficult to discuss the Holocaust with anyone until the 1970s, when she watched German police officers shield right-wing extremists against protesters. The incident turned her into an activist, and she joined the Association of the Persecutees of the Nazi Regime. She began to tell her story in schools, delivered protest speeches and sang with Coincidence, the band that she formed with her children in 1989.

“I use music to act against fascism,” she told The Times. “Music is everything to me.”

Around 2009, when she was in her 80s, Mrs. Bejarano’s musical career took an unexpected turn. She was asked to join Microphone Mafia, a German hip-hop group, with whom she continued to spread her message against fascism and intolerance to young audiences in Germany and abroad, from Istanbul to Vancouver.

Onstage with the group’s Kutlu Yurtseven and Rossi Pennino, Mrs. Bejarano was an unusual figure: a tiny woman with a snow-white pixie haircut, singing in Yiddish, Hebrew and Italian.

Hip-hop was not her preferred musical genre. She joked that she persuaded her bandmates to lower their volume and stop jumping around onstage so much. She believed that hip-hop’s influence on young people could help her counter a rise in intolerance.

“Twelve years together and almost 900 concerts together, and all this thanks to your strength,” Microphone Mafia wrote on its website after Mrs. Bejarano’s death. “Your laughter, your courage, your determination, your loving manner, your understanding, your fighting heart.”

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Politics

DOJ declined to prosecute 82% of hate crime suspects from 2005 to 2019

Dental students and others crowd during a vigil at the University of North Carolina following the murder of three Muslim students on February 11, 2015 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Brendan Smialowski | AFP | Getty Images

The U.S. Department of Justice declined to prosecute 82% of hate crime suspects investigated between 2005 and 2019, according to a report released Thursday.

The report follows recent efforts by Attorney General Merrick Garland to enhance the Justice Department’s role in combating hate crimes and incidents.

Four pieces of US Criminal Code define hate crimes as crimes committed based on a victim’s characteristics, such as race, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, or disability.

Recently, reports of hate crimes against Americans in Asia and Pacific Islanders have increased during the pandemic, with many attributing the surge to former President Donald Trump’s rhetoric blaming China for spreading Covid-19 in the US

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the federal prosecutor’s office completed investigations into a total of 1,878 suspects of potential hate crimes in the 2005 to 2019 financial years. However, only 17% of suspects were prosecuted by US lawyers, while 1% of cases were settled by US magistrate judges.

The report cited insufficient evidence as the most common reason hate crimes were prosecuted. Decisions to prosecute hate crimes generally rest with United States lawyers in the country’s 94 judicial districts.

The Justice Department did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request to comment on the report’s findings.

President Joe Biden signed a bill in May that would direct the Department of Justice to expedite the investigation of hate crimes related to the pandemic and provide more resources to local law enforcement agencies to follow up on the incidents.

In May, Garland announced its own six-step plan to tackle hate crimes. These include increasing resources and coordination, facilitating the expedited review of hate crimes, and improving the department’s voice access capabilities to overcome the incident reporting barrier, among other things.

“Since its inception, the Justice Department has tried to combat illegal acts of hatred,” Garland said in the memo that outlined the plan in May. “As members of the department, we need to continue this work as much as possible and build on it.”

Garland’s plan also instructs US attorneys across the country to “build trust” with the communities they serve to increase hate crime coverage and appoint local criminal and civil attorneys to act as civil rights coordinators.

While the report found low law enforcement rates for hate crime suspects at the federal level, it also found that hate crimes prosecuted by prosecutors are largely successful. The conviction rate for all hate crimes rose from 83% in 2005 to 2009 to 94% in 2015 to 2019.

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Politics

Senate passes invoice to fight hate crimes in opposition to Asian Individuals

The Senate passed a bill Thursday aimed at curbing an increase in hate crimes against Asian Americans during the coronavirus pandemic.

The chamber approved the measure 94-1, with Republican Josh Hawley of Missouri being the only Senator to oppose it. Legislation will go into the democratically held house. Spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Endorsed the bill, and President Joe Biden has signaled that he will legally sign it.

The proposal would direct the Department of Justice to expedite the review of hate crimes related to Covid-19. It would also allocate more resources to state and local law enforcement agencies to follow up the incidents and send guidance on eliminating discriminatory languages ​​describing the pandemic.

“The AAPI community is focused on hate crimes and other incidents, and Congress needs to stand up to condemn these types of actions,” Senator Mazie Hirono, a Hawaiian Democrat and co-author of the law, told CNBC on Wednesday in his passage.

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The law was passed almost unanimously in the democratically led Senate after the cross-party amendments were approved.

Legislation is the most tangible measure Congress has taken to respond to the increase in violence and harassment against Asian Americans since the pandemic began last year. This was followed by an increase in racist rhetoric against China about the origins of the virus – including from former President Donald Trump and his allies on Capitol Hill.

Anti-Asian hate crimes rose about 150% in 16 of the largest US cities over the past year, according to a study published last month by the California State University’s Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism in San Bernardino.

Hirono, who wrote the bill with Rep. Grace Meng, DN.Y., spoke about her own fear of violence. Earlier this month, she said she was uncomfortable walking while listening to an audiobook on her headphones.

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Entertainment

Bowen Yang Addresses AAPI Hate Crimes on SNL Weekend Replace

Bowen. Yang. Pic.twitter.com/PWxQO1KPQu

– Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) March 28, 2021

Bowen Yang is one of the funniest performers Saturday night live has seen the seasons, but on March 27th it took on a more serious tone to address mounting racism and hate crimes against Asian Americans. Yang joined Colin Jost and Michael Che on the Weekend Update, jokingly as “Asian Cast Member” on the series – and admitted that he gave Jost the title. Jokes aside, however, Yang’s segment focused on the resilience of the AAPI community and how people have to do “more” than absolutely necessary to support them.

“If someone’s personality beats Asian grandmas, it’s not dialogue. I have an Asian grandma – you want to hit her, there is nothing in common, mom,” said Yang, referring to San Francisco resident, 75-year-old Xiao Zhen Xie. “I see my friends donating, and that’s great, but then I tell them do more. You order in Chinese restaurants? Great. Do more. Let me know when you feed your white chicken feet. You have meanwhile cried Threatening? Congratulation. I sobbed into my boner for Steven Yeun. Do more. “

He continued, “So why are you telling me you gave your manicurist a good tip? Let me know if you get on your knees and scrub her feet while she looks at your cell phone. Do more.” Yang admitted that as a comedian he “doesn’t have all the answers,” but he knows he’ll find them by looking further than an Instagram post. “I’m not just looking for them online. I look around. The GoFundMe for Xiao Zhen Xie, the grandmother who fought back against her attacker, raised $ 900,000 which she immediately returned to the community. There we are as Asians. Now come and meet us there. “

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Business

There Is No Rung on the Ladder That Protects You From Hate

In nearly a dozen conversations with scholars, activists and historians over the past week, the sadness and grief at this turning point became apparent – as well as the realization of how strongly two career paths were divided for Asian immigrants in this country.

The Asian-American story was a complicated tale. There are restaurant workers and massage therapists nested in urban enclaves, but there are also high achievers who attend elite schools and have well-paid careers. Often times, one generation of immigrants in service occupations creates the next generation of entrepreneurial aspirants. At this point, however, the groups become increasingly isolated from each other as the population increases.

After a summer of racial justice protests and growing awareness of the Black Lives Matter movement, corporate black workers, including Asians, are calling for justice and inclusion to end a white-dominated culture. The workers in spas and nail salons do not have the luxury to think about it. They are more susceptible to the whims of their white clientele. In a nation that is already divided by politics, religion, and income, a community is divided here.

But the “kung flu” pandemic – the xenophobic language fueled by President Donald J. Trump that added hate crimes to a deadly disease, and the rest of the list of things Asian Americans should fear over the past year – may be gradually waning together.

Last year, reported hate crimes against people of Asian descent in New York City rose 833 percent from 2019. Nearly 3,800 hate incidents against Asian American and Pacific islanders, from attribution to assault, are said to be AAPI Hate, a group that has collected data for the past year. (The number could be higher as not all incidents were reported.) Sixty-eight percent of these incidents were reported by women.

As the country withdrew from the all-too-familiar scenes of mass shootings in Atlanta, particularly murders aimed at humans because of their race and gender, some scholars recalled an earlier death. In 1982, Chinese-American Vincent Chin was beaten to death by two white men as tensions mounted over Japan’s dominance of the auto market. The killers who insisted that the attack was not racially motivated were sentenced to three years probation.

The fact that the men were not serving prison terms shook the Asian communities. Activists formed civil rights groups in protest.

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Politics

Biden urges Congress to cross hate crime laws over violence in opposition to Asian Individuals

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“Although we don’t yet understand the motive, as I said last week, we strongly condemn the ongoing crisis of gender-based and anti-Asian violence that has long plagued our nation,” Biden said in a statement.

It was also approved the day after a Congressional hearing on violence against Asian Americans, the first in 34 years.

Biden and several lawmakers and activists at Thursday’s hearing urged Congress to pass the hate crime law introduced earlier this month by Rep. Grace Meng, DN.Y., and Sen. Mazie K. Hirono, D-Hawaii.

Senator Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, is seen during the Senate Justice Committee confirmation hearing for Merrick Garland, who has been appointed Attorney General, on Monday, February 22, 2021.

Tom Williams | CQ Appeal, Inc. | Getty Images

A study by the Stop AAPI Hate advocacy group published on Tuesday recorded 3,795 reports of hate incidents against Asian Americans and islanders in the Pacific between March 19, 2020 and February 28, 2021.

Incidents include verbal abuse, physical assault, workplace discrimination, and online harassment, among others. Many of the incidents were reported retrospectively from 2020.

The group stresses that the record represents only a fraction of the number of hate incidents Asian Americans have experienced across the country.

Some political leaders and supporters noted during the congressional hearing that hate crime legislation does not necessarily affect all forms of hatred that Asian Americans experience.

At a press conference in Atlanta Thursday morning, Georgian MP Bee Nguyen said: “Laws against hate crimes are not preventive. They will subsequently be used as a law enforcement tool.”

Prosecuting hate crimes requires law enforcement to find evidence that incidents are racially motivated.

“While many of the recent anti-Asian incidents may not fit the legal definition of a hate crime, these attacks nonetheless create an unacceptable environment of fear and terror in Asian American communities,” said Rep Steve Cohen, D-Tenn House Hearing.

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Politics

Biden calls on U.S. to unite towards hate concentrating on Asian People

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris called on the US to unite against hatred and speak out against violence against Asian Americans in a speech in Atlanta on Friday.

“Harm to one of us is harm to all of us,” said Harris, the country’s first Asian-American vice president.

The public statements came after the President and Vice President met with Asian American leaders in Georgia after the Atlanta area rampage that killed eight people, including six Asian women.

While law enforcement was still investigating the suspect’s motive, both Biden and Harris realized: the shootings are taking place amid mounting discrimination and violence against Asians and Asian Americans, and the country must work together to address the problem.

“Hate and violence are often hidden in public. There is often silence,” said Biden. “Our silence is complicit. We cannot be complicit. We have to express ourselves. We have to act.”

“It is up to all of us, all of us together, to stop it,” said the president, emphasizing that “words have consequences”.

Biden called on Congress to pass hate crime law to combat the rise in violence against Asian Americans during the Covid pandemic and the law against violence against women.

“I believe with every fiber in my being there are simply some core values ​​and beliefs that should bring us together as Americans, and one of them stands together against hatred, against racism – the ugly poison that has long plagued our nation . ” Said Biden.

President Joe Biden speaks after meeting executives from the Georgian Asian-American and Pacific islander communities at Emory University in Atlanta on Friday, March 19, 2021 while Vice President Kamala Harris listens.

Patrick Semansky | AP

The president, who himself mourned the loss of family members, offered words of comfort to the families of those who lost their lives in the shootings.

“I assure you the one you lost will always be with you,” said Biden. “The day will come when her memory will bring a smile to your face before it brings a tear to your eye, incredible as this is. It will be a while. And I promise you it will come. When it does doing that, it’s the day you know you will make it. “

The meeting with Asian American lawmakers and community advocates was held at Emory University, where Biden and Harris later made their comments.

The Atlanta visit, Biden and Harris’ first trip together since taking office, was originally part of a national tour that announced the passage of the $ 1.9 trillion Covid aid package. The White House announced Thursday that it would postpone the planned political event after the deadly shootings and focus on increasing discrimination and violence against Asian Americans.

The President and Vice-President will also meet with experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for information on the Covid pandemic.

Biden and Harris also planned to meet with proxy and former gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams during their visit to Atlanta, a White House official told NBC News.

The official said Abrams “played a leading role in accessing voting and protecting voters, and she will be an important partner in taking important action in this important area in the future.”

Abrams is widely credited for her years of electoral mobilization efforts that fueled Georgia’s democratic victories in the November presidential runoff and January Senate runoff.

The President and Vice President meeting with Abrams comes as civil rights activists in Georgia roll back voting restrictions proposed by Republican lawmakers. The activists are calling on Biden and Congress to pass federal voting rights, such as the For the People Act introduced in the Senate on Wednesday.