Minnesota Asian and Pacific Caucus leaders say they live in state of 'red-alert,' mourn shooting victims

Legislators in the Minnesota Asian and Pacific Caucus put an anti-hate crime bill at the top of their agenda unveiled Monday and answered all-too-familiar questions about the mass shooting during a Lunar New Year celebration in California.

Recently elected caucus chair Ethan Cha of Woodbury began the Capitol news conference with a moment of silence for the victims of the weekend shooting. Rep. Samantha Sencer-Mura of Minneapolis, who is sponsoring the hate crime bill, described speaking with "an extremely heavy heart."

While little has been revealed about the 72-year-old Asian man who allegedly shot and killed 11, the sense of fear and dread is familiar for members of the community, Sencer-Mura said. She cited anti-Asian backlash related to COVID-19's origins and the 2021 spa shootings in Atlanta where six of the victims were of Asian descent.

"Our communities are living in this state of red alert," Sencer-Mura said. "That's the state our community has been living in for the last few years."

She said the hate crime bill would provide money to better track bias crimes and train law enforcement in dealing with victims.

In unveiling their agenda, Sencer-Mura and the other nine members of the caucus, all Democrats, talked about how issues such as education, poverty and financial support for nonprofits are intertwined and can give rise to violence and hate within and targeting the Asian American community.

"White supremacy is here and it's something we have to fight," said Rep. Liz Lee of St. Paul.

Other bills prioritized by the caucus include increasing the per-student funding amount for English language learners from $704 to $1,000 and requiring that school curriculums include ethnic studies providing accurate versions of history. Two additional bills would provide support for culturally specific nonprofits and the health and wellness of veterans who are of Asian and Pacific Island descent.

The overall goal of the bills is to "increase equity and opportunities" for Asian and Pacific Islander communities, said Sen. Susan Pha of Brooklyn Park, who is vice chair of the caucus.

Lee, who also mentioned the shooting last week at the Jimmy Lee Recreation Center in St. Paul near where she went to school, said the caucus will advocate for gun regulations because "gun violence affects all of our communities."

Rep. Kaohly Her of St. Paul said the caucus would work on measures such as safe storage and red flag bills because gun violence is not going away. "On any issue that we work on there is no one law that is a panacea," she said.

In the aftermath of the California shootings, Lee said first responders were able to hold new conferences in multiple languages, showing the importance of funding nonprofits and connecting communities.

Authorities are still searching for a motive for the gunman during the Lunar New Year party, one of the largest celebrations of a holiday observed in many Asian cultures. The suspect in the killings, Huu Can Tran, was found dead Sunday of a self-inflicted gunshot.