GARDEN GROVE — Garden Grove Councilmember Diedre Nguyen, a cancer scientist, led a unanimous, 7-0 vote of the Garden Grove City Council on April 28 to pass a resolution in response to increasing attacks directed at Asian Americans during the coronavirus pandemic.
“This pandemic tests all of us,” said Ngueyn. “Many, like our healthcare workers, first responders, retail clerks and other essential workers, have responded with brvery and heroism. Day after day they place themselves in harm’s way of a deadly virus, sacrificing themselves for others.
“Sadly, we’ve seen the ugly side of how some people respond under pressure, too. Blaming, verbally attacking, and even physically assaulting Asian Americans for this pandemic is wrong and we must condemn this behavior.”
The resolution recognizes the positive contributions to the economic growth and success of the City of Garden Grove and notes that many of Garden Grove’s residents at the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic in healthcare are of Asian descent and that only 40 percent of the city’s residents are of Asian descent.
The resolution condemns the use of anti-Asian terminology and rhetoric related to COVID-19 and its effect of perpetuating anti-Asian stigma; states the importance of a racially inclusive environment for the health and safety of all city residents; calls on local law enforcement to work with state and federal law enforcement officials to investigate and document all credible reports of COVID-19-related hate crimes and threats; and asks the city to collect and publicly report data on reported COVID-19-related bias in the City of Garden Grove.
“It is important to call out hatred and bigotry. I want to condemn this behavior and call on all of you to do the same,” said Nguyen, who is running for State Assembly in the November election.