MIAMI-DADE – The Chairwoman of the Asian-American Advisory Board (AAAB), under the Office of Community Advocacy, a Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners division, Sharon Fine, issues the following statement regarding the recent acts of violence against Asian-Americans.

“We call upon all Americans to do what they can to stop these acts of violence against Asian-Americans; this must end now. Reported crimes against members of Asian Communities have risen significantly in the past year here in the United States, the assaults have been in various forms from verbal abuse on one end of the spectrum to the extreme of killing for no obvious reasons. This brings us to the awareness that hate crimes and incidents of biases do exists and do happen.

What can we do? We need to be vigilant as a community, stand up and help each other, look out for each other’s safety and wellbeing. How do we do it? By working with local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies, reporting crimes when witnessing them, or of any suspicion that may lead to potential action of crime. In Miami-Dade County, we encourage everyone who is aware of a potential hate crime to take advantage of Miami-Dade State Attorney Office Hate Crimes Hotline by calling (786) 687-2566 or 911.

The Miami-Dade County Asian-American Advisory Board stands together to denounce violence and actions of hatred in the strongest manner possible as we provide our community members our full support. We encourage members of our communities to participate in reporting hate crimes and incidents of biases. We will continually monitor potential hate crimes and incidents of biases with the support from the Miami-Dade Police Department Homeland Security Bureau, Hate Crimes Unit Office of the Office of Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle, and U.S. Department of Justice Community Relations Service. We are hopeful with proper resources we can help to create a more tolerant society with a peaceful environment that will ultimately benefit us all.”

For high resolution photo, email Communications and Media Director Griselle Marino, and for more information, please contact Asian-American Board Director Joshua Ho at 305-375-1585. Follow @mdcaaab on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

The Office of Community Advocacy, under the Board of County Commissioners, oversees ten advisory boards and the Miami-Dade County Goodwill Ambassadors Program. The Office is charged with making Miami-Dade County "One Community" that embraces our diverse and unique population. Subscribe to our YouTube channel and follow @AdvocacyMDC on, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.