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Journalist Roland Martin has called out actor-singer Tyrese Gibson for spewing misinformation about the Biden-Harris hate crimes bill.
The call-out came after Gibson's recent interview with civil rights attorney Ben Crump. During the interview, Gibson referred to S. 937 — COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act as the “Asian Anti-hate Crime Bill," claiming President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were ignoring crimes against Black and Latino communities.
“There is a crime bill that was signed into law that protects Asians at all costs,” Gibson told Crump. “Where is that same f***ng law to be signed into law when it comes to Black and Brown people? Because what you’re doing is — President Biden and Kamala Harris — what you’re doing is, you’re saying that Black and Brown people will continue to be disposable. That shit doesn’t make sense.”
The COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act was signed into law in 2021 amid a spike in violent crimes against Asians and Pacific Islanders during the pandemic. However, as Martin pointed out in multiple social media posts, the bill isn't limited to one group of people.
“I’m sick of celebrities talking about public policy and they do no fact checking. @tyrese did a video claiming Asian Americans received a hate crime bill and Black people did not. That is a 100 [percent] lie,” Martin wrote on Instagram. “I have debunked this lie on #RolandMartinUnfiltered on several occasions. I’ve also debunked the lie that there has never been in American history hate crime bills for African-Americans.”
“It does not only apply to Asian Americans. It applies to everybody," he added.
The COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act seeks to make reporting for all hate crimes more accessible at local and state levels. It also directed the Department of Justice to appoint a person to expedite the review of such crimes and authorized grants to state and local governments to implement crime-reduction programs.
Martin also shut down Tyrese's claims that there aren't any bills specifically aimed at protecting African Americans. The journalist cited the Civil Rights Act, the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, and the Emmett Till Antilynching Act.
“Tyrese’s statement is simply not true,” Martin tweeted. “There have been THREE hate crime bills passed specifically for African Americans. It’s important to have the facts straight when discussing such critical issues.”
Roland Martin is a correspondent for BIN.
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