Asian American groups criticize Seattle's anti-Asian hate budget reduction in new proposal
Asian American organizations are calling out the 2023 budget put forth by Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell, who proposed reducing the city’s fund to combat anti-Asia
Asian American organizations are calling out the 2023 budget put forth by Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell, who proposed reducing the city’s fund to combat anti-Asian hate by nearly half.
The budget proposal, announced last month, would reduce the city’s hate crime funding from $400,000 in the 2022 adopted budget to $167,000 in the 2023 budget.
The office for the mayor, who is the first Asian American to hold the position, defended the proposal saying it also included a number of funding reductions in the human services department and other departments in the city as a response to the $140 million revenue gap Seattle is facing.
Kyle Kinoshita, the co-president of the Seattle chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL), the country’s oldest Asian American civil and human rights organization, said JACL strongly opposes the funding cuts.
“It is connected to a long history in the past century and a half of open anti-Asian violence, from anti-Chinese riots in the late 1800s, incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, and anti-Asian hate crimes during the 1980s connected to American economic competition with Japan,” Kinoshita said. “We support the continuation of anti-hate crime resources and feel that, if anything, they should be increased to root out the causes of violence against all who are targets of hate.”
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