@StopAAPIhate reports 11,000 incidents of hate against AAPI since the beginning of the pandemic

 

A week before the March 12 first anniversary of the devastating Atlanta spa shooting, Stop AAPI Hate released its latest national report containing nearly 11,000 self-reported hate incidents alongside recommendations for policymakers on how to address the hate experienced by AAPI communities.

“AAPI communities across the country have experienced enormous amounts of pain and suffering, particularly the families of the victims of the Atlanta spa shooting,” said Russell Jeung, Ph.D., co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate and professor of Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University. 

The latest number of self-reported anti-AAPI hate incidents to Stop AAPI Hate, — a national coalition aimed at addressing anti-Asian and Pacific Islander (AAPI) discrimination -- indicates the attacks are continuing raising fear in the AAPI community and frustrating law enforcement and government officials.

Law enforcement and community advocates believe the number of hate crimes are severely underreported because of the victims don't bother to report the incidents.

Last year, on March 16, a man murdered eight people in Atlanta across three Asian-run businesses. Six of those who died were Asian American women. As the country reckons with lessons learned since the tragedy, Stop AAPI Hate is releasing its latest self-reported incident count to continue to raise awareness of the high levels of hate AAPIs face, to encourage other AAPIs to continue to report incidents, and to call on lawmakers to partner with the coalition and other AAPI organizations in creating programs that will prevent further incidents and support victims. 

Stop AAPI Hate will further be marking the anniversary by supporting the efforts of AAPI communities in Atlanta, where local organizations are holding an in-person community remembrance on March 12.

Stop AAPI Hate’s new report indicates that it has received a total of 10,905 reports of hate incidents against AAPIs across the U.S. between March 19, 2020 and December 31, 2021, with 535 incidents happening from October to December 2021 alone.

• Verbal harassment (63.0%) continues to make up the biggest share of total incidents reported.

• Physical assault (16.2%) comprises the second largest category of total reported incidents followed by the deliberate avoidance of AAPIs (16.1%).

• Almost half (48.7%) of all hate incidents took place in public spaces —- in public streets (31.2%), public transit (8.4%), and public parks (8.0%).

• Hate incidents reported by women make up 61.8% of all reports.

• For the first time the report includes disaggregated data from non-binary AAPI respondents. It shows that they experience more deliberate avoidance or shunning (21.4%), being coughed at or spat on (13.9%), denial of service (8.3%) and online harassment (12.1%) than AAPI women and men.

• Civil rights violations — e.g., workplace discrimination, refusal of service, being barred from transportation, and housing-related discrimination — account for 11.5% of total incidents.

• Chinese Americans continue to report the most hate incidents (42.8%) of all ethnic groups, followed by Korean (16.1%), P/Filipinx (8.9%), Japanese (8.2%), and Vietnamese Americans (8.0%).

STOP AAPI HATE

The report also provides gender-specific descriptions of hate incidents for AAPI women (6,506), AAPI men (3,290) and AAPI non-binary people (356). Non-binary people include individuals who self-identified as gender non-binary and gender non-conforming.

Key findings related to gender:

• AAPI women report more harassment (69.8%) than AAPI men (63.0%) and AAPI non-binary people (56.3%).

• A higher percentage of hate incidents experienced by AAPI women occurred in public streets (34.5%), compared to AAPI men (32.1%) and AAPI non-binary people (29.5%).

• Higher percentages of hate incidents experienced by AAPI non-binary people occurred online (13.9%), at school (11.8%) and at university or college (7.8%).

• Higher percentages of AAPI women (19.1%) and AAPI non-binary people (23.1%) identified gender/gender identity as one reason for discrimination compared to AAPI men (5.5%).

“The new report underscores the importance of continuing to report and raise visibility of anti-AAPI hate, which unfortunately continues to be ongoing,” Cynthia Choi, co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate and co-executive director of Chinese for Affirmative Action. “But as painful as sharing our experiences with racism are, it also has allowed us to not be marginalized or dismissed. We must continue to share and report them in order to advocate for investments that will truly make our communities safe. ”

Stop AAPI Hate received reports of incidents from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. They include the following first-hand accounts:

I was walking to school when a woman stuck her head out of her window and started screeching racial slurs at me. She called me a c—k, a b—h, and told me to go back to my country and go to hell. I told her to have a nice day and tried to walk away. She found me on a different street then stuck her middle finger out at me. (Burlingame, CA)

I used to be a bagger at a grocery store and an elderly woman did not want me to bag her groceries because I am Filipino. She asked the cashier if me and my coworker were Filipino and then said she wanted someone else to bag her groceries because, “Filipinos are more likely to have COVID.” (Fort Walton Beach, FL)

I was standing in front of my workplace when a couple walked by and the man started yelling “Ch-ng!” I asked him to stop and we began arguing. His female companion stood to my right and also began yelling, “Ch-ng” at me then sprayed pepper spray into my eyes. (New York City, NY)

During a book club discussion by a city-run Asian American organization, a group of Zoom bombers entered. Even though they were removed by hosts, the last Zoom bomber was able to get in “Ch-ng Ch-ng” noises before they were removed. They tried to re-enter using fake Asian identities that they used to get the Zoom link originally. (Austin, TX)

READ the full report from Stop AAPI Hate.

The report also highlights recommendations for policymakers to address experiences with hate in their communities. These include policies from Stop AAPI Hate’s recently released California State Policy Recommendations to Address AAPI Hate platform, which can be adopted in states around the country. Its recommendations include creating a statewide framework to prevent street harassment, taking a gender-based approach to rider safety on public transit, and strengthening civil rights protections against hate at businesses.

Stop AAPI Hate also urges states to invest in community-based efforts for supporting victims and survivors of hate. States including California and New York have allocated funds to be spent through AAPI community organizations that provide victims and survivors with the mental health and other support that they need.

Finally, Stop AAPI Hate is also supporting efforts across the country to address anti-AAPI hate through education. Education is one of the most effective tools against racism, and implicit bias is learned early. Asian American studies programs promote racial empathy and solidarity, while decreasing bullying and harassment in schools, helping AAPI students thrive. 

States around the country, including Illinois and New Jersey, have passed legislation for Asian American studies. Stop AAPI Hate is working with national organizations, educators, policymakers and other experts on creating Asian American studies frameworks for states to adopt and follow.

The report from Stop AAPI Hate comes days after a report with similar findings was released by NAPAWF. The State of Safety for Asian American and Pacific Islander Women in the U.S.. which found that 74% of AAPI women have experienced discrimination or an attack during 2021.

The Stop AAPI Hate coalition encourages any member of the AAPI community who has experienced hate during the pandemic to report the incident at: https://stopaapihate.org/reportincident/.

“It’s alarming to see these numbers stacking up because they are absolutely preventable,” said Manjusha Kulkarni, co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate and executive director of AAPI Equity Alliance. “We urge state lawmakers to review and implement our policy recommendations and work with us to invest in all of our communities and stop anti-AAPI hate.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AAPI perspective, follow me on Twitter @DioknoEd.