Anti-Asian Violence and Hate Crimes: Government Perspectives

Violent attacks and other crimes against Asians and Pacific Islanders have increased dramatically in recent months all over the United States, including in our own region. The most violent of these was the murder of eight people in Atlanta on March 16, where six of the eight victims were women of Asian descent. Such crimes have both frightened and shocked the entire country. In the Puget Sound area, immigrants from all parts of Asia and the Pacific Islands have long made important economic, technological, educational and cultural contributions, and, at least in the decades since the end of World War II, they have lived largely peacefully and without fear.

The Washington State China Relations Fund will explore this topic from different perspectives in a series of two webinars. In the first webinar on June 24th, members of the AAPI community shared their individual and group experiences, concerns and responses to the upsurge in violence and crime. In the second webinar to be held on July 8th, both local and federal law enforcement and prosecutorial officials will discuss their own positions, views and reactions to such violence and crime. Officials from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, FBI, and Seattle Police Department will discuss recent developments in the anti-Asian hate crimes and violence. They will discuss possible reasons for this surge in anti-Asian attacks and will describe how both victims and bystanders can respond to such criminal activity more safely and effectively. They will also explore community-based responses and the ability and limitations of different law enforcement techniques to combat such violence, including use of hate crime laws.

This event is produced by the Washington State China Relations Fund, a 501(c)3 non-profit sister organization operated by the Washington State China Relations Council.

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PANELISTS

Ye-Ting Woo, Assistant United States Attorney, United State Attorney’s Office in Seattle
Ye-Ting Woo is an Assistant United States Attorney in the Terrorism and Violent Crimes Unit of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington in Seattle, Washington. Ms. Woo earned her Juris Doctorate and a Master’s in Social Work at Washington University in 1990. Earlier in her career, Ms. Woo was a Deputy Prosecuting Attorney for the King County Prosecutor’s Office, and an associate attorney at the law firm of Graham & Dunn.

Ms. Woo has been a federal prosecutor for 27 years and handles a wide variety of prosecutions, including domestic terrorism, hate crimes, color of law, cybercrime, threats to federal officials, human trafficking and child exploitation, money laundering, financial fraud, offenses involving arsons, explosive devices, and firearms, murder and felony assaults, and transnational drug crimes. She currently serves as the Criminal Civil Rights Coordinator, and has previously held positions as the Human Trafficking Coordinator and the Indian Country Tribal Liaison within her office. During 2016 to 2018, Ms. Woo was detailed as the DOJ-OPDAT Resident Legal Advisor at the U.S. Embassy in China. Ms. Woo has conducted and led criminal justice training programs in other countries and regions to include Azerbaijan, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Canada, China, Taiwan, Myanmar, and Montenegro. In July 2021, Ms. Woo will begin her service as the DOJ-OPDAT Resident Legal Advisor for Maldives, posted at the U.S. Embassy in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Adrian Diaz, Chief of Police, the City of Seattle
Chief Diaz has been a dedicated member of the Seattle Police Department for more than two decades. His work building relationships that bridge race, ethnicity and every flavor of humanity can be seen across the Department and in every neighborhood in Seattle.

Chief Diaz began his career in Patrol, the Mountain Bike Unit, and the Anti-Crime Team before joining the Investigations Bureau. He is also a Master Defensive Tactics instructor at the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission. He served as Assistant Chief of a newly created Collaborative Policing Bureau prior to being promoted to the Deputy Chief. Chief Diaz is now serving as the Interim Chief of Police.

Chief Diaz holds a B.A. in criminal justice from Central Washington University and a Master’s in Public Administration from the University of Washington. He has completed the Major Cities Chiefs Associations Police Executive Leadership Institute, the Cascade Executive Program and the Senior Management Institute of Policing. Chief Diaz has authored numerous national publications in community policing, misdemeanor justice and juvenile justice.

Yessenia Manzo, King County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney
Yessenia Manzo is a King County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney, working in the General Crimes Unit as well as a Co-Lead Hate Crimes Prosecutor. Yessenia was born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico and raised in a migrant community on the Yakama reservation.  She received her B.S. in Psychology from Whitman College, M.S. in Mental Health Counseling from Central Washington University, and J.D. from Seattle University Law School.  Prior to starting a legal career, she worked for 10 years as a mental health practitioner, specializing in serving the Spanish-speaking immigrant community as well as the criminal justice population.

Ryan Bruett, Supervisory Special Agent, FBI’s Seattle Field Office
Mr. Bruett supervises a squad responsible for investigating Public Corruption, Civil Rights Crimes, and Transnational Organized Crime. Since joining the FBI in 2006, Mr. Bruett has served in various roles at the agency, including as a Special Agent at the Seattle Field Office, a firearms instructor and member of the Evidence Response Team (ERT) and Hazardous Evidence Response Team, a ERT Senior Team Leader for the Seattle Field Office, and as an instructor at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia. He was promoted to Supervisory Special Agent in 2017. Mr. Bruett is a member of the FBI Adjunct Faculty Program and has taught Crime Scene Management and Interviewing and Interrogation to law enforcement officers in Washington state, Hungary, El Salvador, Kazakhstan, and Vietnam.

Mr. Bruett is a Washington State native. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Santa Clara University, a Master of Professional Accounting degree from the University of Washington and a Graduate Professional Certificate in Strategic Management from the Harvard Extension School. Prior to joining the FBI, he earned a Certified Public Accountant license, a Certified Fraud Examiner certification, and worked for three years with KPMG LLP in its Audit and Forensic Services practices in Seattle and New York City.

David Bannick, King County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney

David Bannick is a Deputy Prosecuting Attorney with the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. David has been with the office since 2015. Currently, David works as the Hate Crimes-Co Lead. In this role, David prosecutes assists in filing, negotiating, and taking Hate Crime cases to trial, as well as advising law enforcement on Hate Crimes. In addition to his role in Hate Crimes, David is a trial attorney in the Homicide and Violent Crimes Unit, assigned to the Seattle Courthouse. Prior to his current roles, David has specialized in gun violence prevention, as part of the Regional Domestic Violence Firearms Enforcement Unit, and litigated appeals for King County as the RALJ Deputy for the District Court Unit.

David received a B.A. from the University of Washington and a J.D. cum laude, from Seattle University School of Law.

MODERATOR

Nelson Dong, Partner, Dorsey & Whitney
Nelson is a partner in the Seattle office of the Dorsey & Whitney law firm and is head of its National Security Group and co-head of its Asia Group.  He is an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the East-West Center in Honolulu and serves on the boards of the Washington State China Relations Council in Seattle and the National Committee on US-China Relations in New York City.  Nelson is also an active member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Committee of 100, and he has been deeply involved in Asian American civic and civil rights activities and causes for over 50 years.

During the Carter Administration, Nelson served as a White House Fellow and Special Assistant to Attorney General Griffin B. Bell and was Deputy Associate Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice.