March 25, 2021, Houston, Texas- ADL’s Coalition for Mutual Respect, a diverse group of nearly 40 Caucasian, Black, Hispanic and Asian American community and spiritual leaders representing, among others, the Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Hindu faiths, was founded in 1995 to speak with a unified voice and provide leadership in the fight against prejudice, bias, and hate. It also shares ADL’s timeless mission to “secure justice and fair treatment for all.”

The hatred, discrimination and violence that has been and continues to be directed at members of the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic antithetically and patently renders such actions as offensive to the Coalition’s core mission.

The fatal attacks in Atlanta underscore the dangerous intersection of misogyny and extremism, and Coalition members stand united with our Asian American brothers and sisters in confronting Xenophobia, hate, violence, and all forms of bias.  In addition to demanding the immediate cessation of derogatory and harmful rhetoric that fuels bigotry and hate against the AAPI community, we urge the following action:

• Passage of H. Res. 151: Recognizes the damage to the social fabric that expressions of anti-Asian hate cause, and urges our communities, law enforcement agencies, and other federal actors to stand up against bias and hold its proponents accountable.
• Passage of H. Res. 6759: Increases capacity and responsibility at the Department of Justice to facilitate the expedited review of COVID-19 hate crimes and reports of COVID-19 hate crimes.
• Passage of the No Hate Act: Authorizes incentive grants to spark improved local and state hate crime training, prevention, best practices, and data collection initiatives and makes grants available for state hate crime reporting hotlines to direct individuals to support services.
• Increasing funding for the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act: Makes $100 million available for “technical, forensic, prosecutorial, or any other form of assistance” to state and local law enforcement authorities for investigating and prosecuting hate crimes.

While scapegoating has never resolved societal ills, it has created new ones. The Coalition hopes the path to the end of the pandemic is paved with respect and love, not hate and bigotry. We call upon all people to help set these stones,

 because united, all of us will walk to the other side.  Coalition members who have signed this statement include:

Dr. James Bankston                        Rabbi David Lyon

Bishop Andy Doyle                          Rev. Laura Mayo

Ghulam Bombaywala                      Sr. Jane Meyer

Michael Y. Chou                                Rev. Donald Nesti

Rufus Cormier                                   Fr. Bin Quach

AJ Durrani                                          Pastor Steve Quill

Mark Finkelstein                               Bishop Mike Rinehart

Archbishop Joseph A. Fiorenza      Regina Rogers

Most Rev. Curis J. Guillory              Manpreet Singh

Kenny Friedman                                 J. Michael Solar

Rabbi Steve Gross                              Jack Sweeney

Mark Kaufman                                   Rabbi David Rosen

Dr. Basheer Khumawala                  Mustafa Tameez

Dr. Stephen Klineberg                      Mark Trachtenberg

Rev. William A. Lawson                   Pastor Harvey Clemons

Shariq Abdul Ghani                          Rishi Bhutada

Michael Trevino

For more information or to set up an interview, call Dena Marks at 832-567-8843.