THE BIG STORY

This is where 150 years of ignoring anti-Asian racism got us

Last week, a white man killed eight people, six of them Asian women, at Atlanta-area spas. After the murder spree, law enforcement told reporters the suspect gave no indicators that these attacks were racially motivated.

But here’s the thing: the attack comes after a brutal year, during which many Asian Americans are grappling with heightened anxiety about their personal safety and the bleak sense that no matter how many people are punched, shoved, knifed, hospitalized, and even killed, people continue to question whether a wave of hate crimes is really happening.

Venessa Wong filed a searing report about anti-Asian hate crimes, and the ever-persistent myth that these crimes are rare and infrequent. From the piece: “When it comes to anti-Asian racism, skeptics have demanded a greater burden of proof. It’s as if people are saying: There must be some other explanation — let’s calm down and not add fuel to the flames.”

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👉 People carried candles to remember and signs to protest at events across the US to rally against anti-Asian racism after the spa shootings.

👉 Joe Biden and Kamala Harris condemned the “scapegoating” of Asian Americans after the shooting in Atlanta.

Chinatown, New York, March 2021. Ahmed Gaber for BuzzFeed News

STAYING ON TOP OF THIS

US border officials are holding 5,000 unaccompanied children in custody

According to government data we reviewed, US border officials held more than 5,000 unaccompanied immigrant children in their custody at the end of this past week.

The high figure is the latest sign that the number of children arriving at the border is continuing to rise. Many of the children have been in Customs and Border Protection stations and facilities for longer than 72 hours, which is the government-mandated limit for children in custody.

In a statement, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said, “We are on pace to encounter more individuals on the southwest border than we have in the last 20 years. We are expelling most single adults and families. We are not expelling unaccompanied children.”

SNAPSHOTS

You won’t be able to travel to Japan for the 2020 Olympics. Organizers announced that international spectators will be barred from the Summer Olympics and Paralympics. They said the decision was meant “to give clarity to ticket holders living overseas and to enable them to adjust their travel plans.”

Proud Boys members allegedly warned that cops were “the primary threat” the night before the Capitol insurrection. A grand jury indicted four Proud Boys leaders in the latest conspiracy case to come out of the riot investigation.

Democrats are willing to rein in their gun control ambitions to break the NRA’s hold on Congress. Dem. senators told us they are considering curtailing the scale of gun reform and pushing a narrower piece of legislation that can actually pass, rather than sweeping reforms that would likely be doomed.

West Virginia is trying to block needle exchanges amid the worst HIV outbreak in the US. A nonprofit needle exchange that detected an HIV outbreak in Charleston has triggered a backlash in the state legislature. “It’s a public health disaster,” one expert said.

Five staffers were fired over past weed use even though the White House said it’d be more chill. Weeks after the Biden administration said it would loosen White House policies in an effort to modernize and expand the pool of people who can work there, five White House staffers have been fired as a result of prior marijuana use.

RAPIDLY DETERIORATING

COVID-19 has torn through prisons. Advocates want Biden to act now.

Since the pandemic began, advocates and congressional leaders have been raising concerns about the safety of incarcerated people in federal prisons and questioned the management and policies of the Bureau of Prisons.

To give you an idea of the numbers: Over 47,000 inmates of the 125,371 in BOP-managed facilities have tested positive for COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic. 226 inmates have died from COVID-related causes, according to the agency’s data.

Advocates have been making pleas to reform and repeal Trump administration directives that they say have put incarcerated people in danger and made it harder to reduce population numbers. But those advocates are running out of patience for President Joe Biden to change a situation that they say is rapidly deteriorating.

A HOPEFUL FUTURE

Freedom, hope, relief: what the COVID vaccine means to you

The vaccine rollout in the US is moving along at a steady clip after a slow start. Last week, we asked to hear your stories about the vaccine — what your experience was like, how you feel about receiving the vaccine.

We heard from hundreds of people in less than 24 hours. People from all over the country, ages 19 to 85, wrote in about their experiences.

Some said scheduling was easy, while others described it as nearly impossible. One person said it “was worse than trying to get BTS concert tickets,” and another said it was “basically like playing the Hunger Games.”

But when it comes to receiving the shot itself, many people were emotional and filled with relief.

Celebrate the courage that carried you here,

Elamin