750 reports of bias against AAPI since mid-March; FBI warns of increase of anti-Asian attacks as coronavirus cases climb

SCREEN CAPTURE / ABC

"Fight the Disease, Not the People"

The Federal Bureau of Investigations is warning of an even greater increase in hate aggressions against Asian Americans as the coronavirus crisis continues to grow, according to a new FBI analysis obtained by ABC News.

"The FBI assesses hate crime incidents against Asian Americans likely will surge across the United States, due to the spread of coronavirus disease … endangering Asian American communities," according to the intelligence report. "The FBI makes this assessment based on the assumption that a portion of the US public will associate COVID-19 with China and Asian American populations."

Data collected by the STOP AAPI HATE reporting center since its official launch on March 19, supports the FBI analysis. The SAH report shows 750+ reports from Asian Americans as of Friday, March 27 of coronavirus-related discrimination across the country.

"The data from our reporting center--both the numbers and the self-reported narratives-- clearly reveal that Asian Americans are being racially profiled as threatening, disease-carriers. Not only are Chinese Americans blamed and mistreated, but Asian Americans of other ethnic backgrounds are also being targeted," said Russell Jeung, Ph.D., chair and professor of Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University.

The FBI analysis and the independently collected data by the STOP APPI HATE reporting center demonstrates that the acts against Asian Americans is not the product of paranoia from an ethnic group often ignored or overlooked by the general populace and mainstream media when discussing civil rights or racial discrimination.

The STOP AAPI HATE report, based in San Francisco, notes that emerging trends include:

• Almost 100 reports daily, with 5.5% from limited English speakers.
• Women are three times more likely to report harassment than men.
• Asian Americans of different ethnicities are being racially profiled; 61% of respondents are non-Chinese.
• Verbal harassment/name calling is the most commonly reported type of discrimination, making up 2/3 of all reports.
• With shelter-in-place policies, Asian Americans are more likely to face coronavirus discrimination in public and at businesses, especially grocery stores, pharmacies and big box retail stores.

Anti-Asian acts range from physical attacks to vandalism (above) to ...

Encounters in a subway when a passenger sprayed an AsianAmerican man with Fabreeze. to ...

Ethnic slurs hurled at CNN reporter Kyung Lah (right) while reporting a story.

The STOP AAPI HATE reporting and monitoring website, www.a3pcon.org/stopaapihate, was launched by the Asian Pacific Planning and Policy Council (A3PCON), Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA) and San Francisco Asian American Studies Department “to collect and track incidents of anti-Asian American and Pacific Islander hate violence, adult harassment, discrimination, shunning, and child bullying in California and throughout the country.”

The first weekly report, which can be found here.

“These numbers do not detail the hate and vitriol that Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) are experiencing.  And they don’t make evident the fear and anxiety that community members feel when they leave their homes to buy groceries, pick up prescriptions, or just leave their homes for a walk in their neighborhoods, said Manjusha Kulkarni, executive director of Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council (A3PCON).  

Individuals who have experienced hate as a result of COVID-19 are encouraged to continue to report at www.a3pcon.org/stopaapihate.

The incident report form is available in English, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese and Thai, with Khmer, Tagalog and a few South Asian languages coming soon.

The lead organizations are working with public, private and other community based organizations to develop targeted education and media campaigns, to provide resources for impacted individuals and to advocate for policies and programs dedicated to curtailing racial profiling.

“Clearly the rise in hate incidents are heartbreaking and disturbing and point to a need to counter misinformation and bigotry,” said, Cynthia Choi, co-executive director of Chinese for Affirmative Action. “We need to make significant investments in public education efforts and to take stronger stances against all forms of hate.”