By Robert Haugh
Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen sent a strong message about hate crimes related to COVID-19 in our community. You can watch it here. It’s less than one minute.
Rosen also took some time to answer a Q and A we sent to him last week.
Q. Why did you create the PSA? Was there an increase in attacks on individuals in our community?
A. This video was made to send a message to all the members of our community who might feel alone and vulnerable. We stand with them and we – with the help of law enforcement – will protect them. It was made to send a message to the world that this community stands together against hate. Neither political rhetoric nor the pandemic will break us apart. We have so far filed one charge against someone who committed a pandemic-related hate crime. That may seem like a small number of reported incidents, but it is one too many.
Q. Are other DAs in the state doing anything similar to your PSA?
A. We sent the PSA to prosecutors in California and the rest of the country. They sent back many messages of solidarity. I know that they are spreading the word in their own way.
Q. Will you encourage other DAs or law enforcement agencies to do something like this?
A. Hate crime is a law enforcement concern, one that every DA I know takes seriously. However, we must face it as a community – from cops to carpenters. I encourage everyone to find their own way of making sure we support each other, teaching our children about it, and reporting it when we see it.
Q. Can you give us a sense of the consequences for someone who attacks an individual blaming them in some way for the COVID-19 crisis?
A. We can – and will – charge someone criminally if they commit a hate crime against someone in our community. Depending on their severity, hate crimes can be charged as misdemeanors or felonies. There will be accountability.
Q. After 9/11, there was a reported increase in assaults against the Muslim community. What lessons did your office take from that period that you’re applying now?
A. Hatred is not new. This Office’s commitment to fight hatred is not new. What is new is this pandemic and the tools that we are using to fight it: the PSA, social media, our team of community prosecutors who have embedded in neighbors of need.
Q. The PSA is well done. Who produced it?
A. I am proud to say that my Office created the concept, wrote it, participated in it, and produced it – with the help of a professional and talented videography crew. It’s only 55 seconds. But we feel that in that short time, we captured the issue and our community’s shared passion to fight against ignorance, racism, and hatred.
Funny how Rosen is standing up now to protect any members of the community who might feel alone and vulnerable. Really???? Where was all his passion in protecting all the young girls who came forward telling their story how they were sexually harrassed by the serial sexual predator Domenic Caserta. Where was he when the most vulnerable members of our community, our children needed him. Thanks to Rosen no charges were filed against guilty Caserta and he roams free to continue his 20 year sexual predator run but Rosen is all in to bring up charges against anyone that offends an Asian.
At least you agree China covered up the coronavirus causing tens of thousands of deaths. You feel that the rest of the world made mistakes dealing with the virus that China knowingly infected them with that may change our entire way of life? If you support communist China over the USA you must be a communist.
This has nothing to do with Asains. Many Asains have suffered under tyrannical communist Chinese government.
It’s interesting that people want to call it the Chinese virus. The question is why?
There’s really no purpose. Except to try to lash out at another country and another race for causing a global pandemic. The problem is that it serves no useful purpose and it causes some people to irrationally blame Asians.
It’s like renaming the Swine Flu the American Flu because the major outbreaks this century started here. Why? There’s no purpose and consequences of tarnishing a nation or nationality are unnecessarily negative.
Yes, it started in China. Yes, the Chinese government covered it up. They should have reported it 20-30 days earlier. It would be good if their government officials could be held accountable.
But it’s also true that other countries acted slowly, like the US and England. The question is why? Leaders may have been trying to avoid public panic or economic shutdown. This is likely true of the Chinese government, too.
But when the Chinese government did take the problem seriously, they acted decisively. We still haven’t. England is starting to, especially now that Boris is in critical condition.
Trump didn’t do enough early. He only partially shut down travel from China. 40,000 people traveled to the US after his “travel ban.” He then dilly-dallied for 70 days before taking real action. But what’s worse is his early public statements that said this would all go away quickly and his more recent statements that we’re going to have a cure soon.
Trump is acting as badly or worse than the Chinese government when it comes to denying the problem or covering it up. If you want to place blame and call it the Chinese virus, then call it the Trump Pandemic, too. But I’m not advocating with do either of those things.
Mac, do more research. If you want to rename the swine flu more correctly call it the Mexican flu.
Wuhan flu, China flu, mox nix.
But why insist on it?
1. To hold the Chinese govt accountable.
2. To trigger people like you.
The second is much easier than the first, apparently.
If I say “I love the Italian Food at Fiorillio’s” is that a racist comment? I don’t think so, nor is it a lie.
I hate the liberal-left trying to cover up reality. It’s all about percentages. No matter what you do there is going to be a percentage of racism molesters murders and what have you. That does not make us all racist molesters murderers and what have you. Thank God these are very small percentages, but they do exist.
Human beings like all animals are flawed. This is something we must realize and deal with, not sweep it under the rug. We must stop altering the truth and deal with the reality. The types of crimes I mentioned can typically be prosecuted. I suggest that’s the path society should take.
It’s very clear China and the World Health Organization lied and covered up the truth that could have saved most of the deaths in this covid-19 pandemic. Any accurate postmortem has to use clear facts to understand what really happened. It may take a little longer to uncover, but I’m sure more heinous details are to come.
I’m also unhappy with the guidance regarding face masks. It’s understood our courageous healthcare workers and others need these specific masks more than the general public. But everybody has piece of cloth. Rather than letting us know we can use a scarf or bandana, we were lied to. Without covering up this causes further spread of the virus.
Please let the truth set us all free an be safe.
It is a Chinese virus. It started in China and the Chinese govt did very little to contain it, did not tell the world about it immediately, let hundreds of thousands of their residents travel the globe, and lied to us saying it was not transmissible human to human. It is estimated that if the Chinese govt had been honest from the start 95% of the fatalities would have been prevented. It is a Chinese virus not because of the honorable Chinese people, but because of the Chinese govt which should be held accountable. Along with their lap dog the WHO that backed up every lie they told. Sorry if some thing this is too political for this blog, but the posting is political in nature.
I respect the Chinese people but not the communist dictatorship that treats them horribly.