Stop AAPI Hate was a national coalition that collected data on racially motivated attacks in relation to the pandemic. It received 9,081 incident report between March 19, 2020 and June 2019. Last year, there were 4,548 and 4,533. People of Asian and Pacific Islander origin have been made scapegoats since the first coronavirus outbreak in China.
Lawmakers, activists, and community groups have responded to the attacks. Numerous social media campaigns, training sessions for bystanders and rallies have been held. In May, President Joe Biden signed the bipartisan COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, expediting Justice Department reviews of anti-Asian hate crimes and making available federal grants. Stop AAPI Hate leaders stated that those who support the cause should not be discouraged by the fact that data has not changed much.
"Encouraging hate is not like a genie in a bottle that you can pull out and push back whenever you want," stated Manjusha Kalkarni, cofounder of Stop AAPI Hate and executive Director of the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council. These belief systems are too strong to be destroyed.
According to Kulkarni, there were many factors that contributed to the increase in incidents and greater reporting. She said that the economy has been more open in recent months which meant there were more opportunities for attack and more interactions with the public. A boost in reporting usually occurs after high-profile incidents, such as the shootings at a spa in Atlanta on March 16, which left six Asian women dead.
Kulkarni stated that there were also incidents that occurred weeks or months ago, but that they were not aware of the reporting center or did not report them.
Stop AAPI Hate aggregates reports from victims or others reporting on their behalf. The report revealed that verbal harassment and shunting -- interactions that aren't considered hate crimes legally -- made up the largest proportion of incidents. The third largest category was physical assaults. Their percentage increased this year from 10.8% to 16.6%.
Women submitted more than 63% of all incidents. 31% of the incidents were reported on public streets and 30% in businesses.
Many Asian Americans blame Donald Trump for creating a new danger by referring to the virus in racist terms. Biden has shown a strong allyship but there are concerns that the U.S. might be more hostile than this. An investigation into COVID-19's origins could result in more hostility towards Asian Americans and their treatment as enemies foreigners.
Kulkarni stated that "We know that other nation-states compete with the United States" and noted that some of them have authoritarian regimes. "But how we talk about people and the way in which blame is assigned somehow seems different for communities with color than it does for the Russian or German governments."
The elderly Asian population on both the east and west coasts has been the target of many headline-grabbing attacks in the last year and a quarter. Most of these cases involved senior citizens being beaten, kicked and shoved out of the blue. Many of these incidents were caught on video.
An earlier U.S. Census survey found that Asian American households were twice likely than white households to say they didn't have enough food during the pandemic. This was not due to transportation or affordability issues, but because they were afraid of going out. However, households from other races reported feeling food insecurity due to the pandemic. Respondents from Asian American households didn't specify if they were afraid of racial attack that kept them home.
Anni Chung is the president and CEO at Self-Help for the Elderly in San Francisco. She says that the senior citizens they serve were affected by a second virus, which is a hate virus. The non-profit provides food and other programs to over 40,000 seniors in the Bay Area. Most of these older adults are Asian. From transporting 400 meals per day in the pre-pandemic period, to more than 5,000 each day, the organization now has over 5,000 meals per day. They distributed 963,000 meals last year, compared to 436,000 in the norm.
Chung stated that seniors often say this hatred drove them to stay in their homes even more than the pandemic.
They see fear as more than just a headline. It is something they can do in their backyard.
"One of our clients was riding on the bus. Chung stated that the man punched her right before he got off the bus. "She claimed that no one, not the bus driver or a few Chinese on the bus, went to her care," Chung said.
Seniors who give in to this fear miss important appointments and exercise at the park. Self-Help for the Elderly launched a volunteer escort program in June with funding from the city. This service was designed to assist seniors on outings and errands around Chinatown, as well as other areas. This service received more than 200 requests in June.
Some have expressed more suspicion than sympathy for the onslaught verbal and physical attacks. Peter Yu, a Republican U.S. Senate Candidat in Colorado, was criticized last month for calling anti-Asian hate crime exaggerated.
Kulkarni stated that he would be happy to examine the data and find a significant rise in these numbers. "This could be because people are unable to see the racism and misogyny. They are refusing to see the reality. It is unfortunate that these forces have been allowed to stop people living their lives in America.
