Clark County prepares to condemn attacks on Asian-Americans

Clark County leaders appear poised to formally condemn and combat a rise in xenophobia against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders that has been stoked by the coronavirus pandemic.

Commissioner Tick Segerblom requested that county lawmakers adopt a resolution to address heightened harassment, acts of violence and hate crimes that have come amid fear of the coronavirus, which originated in China, calling it a “huge issue around the country.”

“Fortunately we haven’t seen visible, public signs of this happening in Las Vegas, but 10 percent of our population is Asian and I think it’s important to be proactive and let them know that we stand behind them,” Segerblom said Tuesday.

The commission directed county staff to draft a resolution to bring to the commission for a vote in the near future, which is likely to occur next month. A resolution would follow President Joe Biden’s executive order issued in January to address the escalation of inflammatory and xenophobic rhetoric. The Nevada Legislature in August passed a resolution declaring racism a public health crisis.

Craig Valdez, vice chair of AAPI Democratic Caucus of Nevada, urged the commission Tuesday to pass the resolution as he spoke on behalf of the AAPI Community Commission — a council created in late 2019 to advise county lawmakers on social and economic issues important to Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

Recent attacks — including the slaying of an 84-year-old Thai man in San Francisco — have created a climate that hails back to historical “yellow peril” ideology where Asians are viewed as a threat to the Western world, according to Valdez.

“These events tell a morbid story of America’s past and highlight a more troubling truth: There is systemic oppression and discrimination against AAPIs that do exist and are often left out of our textbooks and national dialogue,” he said.

The organization Stop AAPI Hate reported nearly 3,800 hate occurrences against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the U.S. between March 2020 and February, with most being verbal harassment and shunning. About 11 percent were a physical assault, the group reported. Nevada was not among the top states for attacks.

Roughly 2 million Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have served on the front lines during the pandemic, according to Biden’s executive order, and the population is the fastest-growing in Southern Nevada.

The community has tripled in the county since 2000 to more than 220,000, largely because of an influx of Filipinos, according to recent U.S. Census estimates.

Contact Shea Johnson at sjohnson@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0272. Follow @Shea_LVRJ on Twitter.