AAPI need to be on guard against anti-Asian attacks throughout the holidays, warns DHS

DHS: AAPI should be cautious during the upcoming hohlidays.

Through the Holiday Season through to the Lunar New Year festivities  in 2022, Asian Americans need to brace themselves against racially or ethnically motivated violent attacks by extremists and anti-government/anti-authority violent extremists, says the Department of Homeland Security.

From 2010 through 2020, racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists advocating for the superiority of the white race have committed 18 lethal attacks in the United States, according to the FBI.

Although a DHS report concludes that it "is not aware of an imminent and credible threat to a specific location in the United States,"  DHS warns that domestic terrorists, including racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists advocating for the superiority of the white race, pose the greatest threat against the U.S. and the concept of Democracy.

The Secretary of Homeland Security has issued Wednesday (Nov. 10) an updated National Terrorism Advisory System (NTAS) Bulletin regarding the current heightened threat environment across the United States. 

The U.S. continues to face a diverse and challenging threat environment as it approaches several religious holidays and associated mass gatherings that in the past have served as potential targets for acts of violence. 

These threats include those posed by individuals and small groups engaged in violence, including domestic violent extremists (DVEs) and those inspired or motivated by foreign terrorists and other malign foreign influences. These actors continue to exploit online forums to influence and spread violent extremist narratives and promote violent activity.

 

The ongoing global pandemic continues to exacerbate these threats, in part due to perceived government overreach in implementation of public health safety measures and the racist undertones blaming COVID-19 on China and Chinese. 

Further, foreign terrorist organizations and DVEs continue to attempt to inspire potential followers to conduct attacks in the U.S., including by exploiting the clumsy withdrawal of U.S. personnel in Afghanistan. 

Despite the DHS report, as of Nov. 10, the department is not aware of an imminent and credible threat to a specific location in the United States.

The general public, but especially people of color, should exercise extreme caution while celebrating, shopping, attending sporting events or attending religious services during the holidays as they present "targets of opportunity" for violent attacks to amplify racist grievances or present the U.S. as an unstable and unsafe society.

The DHS warns that online activity from foreign and domestic threat actors, to include foreign intelligence services, foreign terrorist organizations, and DVEs, will continue to introduce, amplify, and disseminate narratives that promote violence, and have called for violence against elected officials, political representatives, government facilities, law enforcement, religious communities or commercial facilities, and perceived ideological opponents.

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