Wayne County Commission Decries Crimes Targeting Asian Americans

WAYNE COUNTY, MI — The Wayne County Commission has joined a growing number of municipal entities formally decrying crimes targeting Asian Americans.

The commission on Thursday unanimously adopted a resolution denouncing the rise in hate crimes directed at Asian Americans. The move comes in the wake of the recent killing of six Asian American women at an Atlanta spa.

“This is something that goes against the fabric of America,” said Wayne County Commissioner Jonathan Kinloch (D-Detroit), who proposed the resolution.

Physical and verbal attacks against Asian Americans have been on the rise in the past several years, county officials said in a news release. The increase — as well as the Atlanta spa shooting — has prompted government bodies to condemn the violence.

Alisha Bell (D-Detroit), the chair of the Wayne County Commission, noted in a statement that Wayne County is one of the most diverse counties in the U.S. and is home to more than 45,000 Asian Americans.

Commissioner Sam Baydoun (D-Dearborn) said that, as an Arab American, he had firsthand experience with xenophobic attacks in the aftermath of 9/11 and called on all Wayne County residents to respect the contributions Asian Americans have made to “our state, our county and our nation.”

The resolution encourages people who experience or see hate crimes to report them to the local police as well as the Michigan Attorney General’s hate Crimes Unit and the Michigan Department of Civil Rights.