Asian Americans' smart phones and the Internet fight against hate attacks

INSTAGRAM / JORDAN CHAN

A video of Michael Lofthouse's racist attack against an Asian American family led to his resignation from his job.

Asian Americans are fighting back against racist attacks. Weapon of choice? The cellphone.

In recent weeks, videos of people harrassing, bullying or trying to intimidate Asian Americans have been posted on social media sites. Since the coronavirus began ravaging the US, racists have taken out their frustration on Asian Americans because Covid-19 originated in China.

“With the rising stress and anxiety, we knew we’d see a rise in hate incidents,” said Cynthia Choi, co-executive director of Chinese for Affirmative Action, one of the organizations that created a website to collect reports of anti-Asian incidents.
The AAPI community is highly plugged in and savvy at searching the Internet to gather information about the racist perpetrator. The public shaming and pressure that is brought forth -- and in some cases punish -- against the attacker is a kind of karma.

• A woman harassing a Filipina American trying to exercise in a public park in Torrance, California resulted in identifying the woman and police made contact. After an outcry over the lack of action, police arrested her but she was released on $1 bail.

• A couple approached a Filipino American man painting "Black Lives Matter" on a retaining wall. A woman scolded the man for apparently vandalizing private property in a posh San Francisco neighborhood. She called police. Turns out the Filipino American lived at the residence and it was HIS wall that he was painting. As a result, the woman and the man she was with were identified and business firms cut ties with her online business.

• A man began hurling racist insults and slurs at a Filipino American family at a restaurant in Carmel Valley, California. Internet users identified the man as Michael Lofthouse and began bombarding his business and the firms that worked with him. Lofthouse apologized and resigned from his CEO position.

• A woman told a Japanese/Filipino American family that they were breaking the law while hiking on a trail in Northern California and told them they couldn't hike with their dog on the trail. The Internet identified her and her employer. She was forced to resign her position.

Earlier, there were videos of attacks on subways, streets, stores, coffee shops. One woman who was doused with a chemical was on her front porch and the incident was captured on a security camera.

It was a video of George Floyd slowly being killed with a police officer's knee on his neck that launched the latest round of protests and demonstrations against racism.

Anti-Asian American racism is on the rise across the United States. "Harrowing, dehumanizing incidents," said Choi.

Nationally, there have been over 2,100 reported incidents of hate against Asian Americans since advocacy groups began collecting the data three months ago.

The spike in hate incidents isn't a surprise to the FBI, which warned about the increase of anti-Asian attacks due to the coronavirus and the Trump administration's insistence in reminding the public of its origins in China by calling it the China virus, Wuhan virus or "Kung flu." and blaming China for reportedly misreporting the dangers of the coronavirus.

While a cell phone recording of a hate attack might not stop the hate incident, it could dissuade the attacker from continuing while avoiding a physical confrontation.