By Ankita Joshi
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – A new report released Thursday Stop AAPI Hate has found that the number of hate incidents against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) has increased over the last year.
The new data revealed that Stop AAPI Hate had received 9,081 reports of hate incidents against AAPIs across the U.S. between March 19, 2020 and June 30, 2021.
Stop AAPI Hate, a national coalition aimed at addressing anti-American discrimination, found that since the coronavirus was first reported in China, AAPIs have been attacked solely based on their race.
Of 9,081 incident reports, 4,548 hate incidents occurred in 2020 and 4,533 of hate incidents occurred in 2021. So far.
Of the data collected, the following indicate the majority of the incidents reported:
- Verbal harassment (63.7 percent) and shunning (16.5 percent) — the deliberate avoidance of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders — continue to make up the two largest proportions of the total incidents reported.
- Public streets (31.6 percent of incidents) and businesses (30.1 percent of incidents) remain as the top sites where anti-AAPI hate occurs.
- Hate incidents reported by women make up 63.3 percent of all reports.
The report also included firsthand accounts of some of the hate that AAPIs have been suffering, ranging from avoidance, slurs, violence to getting fired from work.
Manjusha Kulkarni, co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate and executive director of Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council stated, “Our data clearly shows that Asian Americans across the country continue to be attacked, and that the hate incidents that we have been tracking since March 2020 are not going away,”
This report also includes concern that the Biden Administration’s release of the “Wuhan Report ” will lead to increases in hate incidents against AAPIs.
Other prominent members of Stop AAPI Hate have also spoken out about their concerns, especially in regards to the Wuhan Report “potentially legitimizing conspiracy theories about China’s involvement will catalyze a new surge of hate, racism, and discrimination against the AAPI community.”
“Unfortunately, our data shows this trend is continuing today. Of 9,081 hate incident reports included in this report, 48.1 percent included at least one hateful statement regarding anti-China and/or anti-immigrant rhetoric,” said Russell Jeung, Ph.D., co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate and professor of Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University.
“When the U.S. vilifies China with words and policy, our data shows it endangers the lives of the AAPI community. We must condemn the anti-China rhetoric and discriminatory policies that undermine our civil rights and ultimately our multiracial democracy,” said Cynthia Choi, co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate and co-executive director of Chinese for Affirmative Action.
Kulkarni also urged policymakers to take action to better protect the AAPI community.
“California’s API Equity Budget, which will allocate $156.5 million to largely community based organizations to provide victim services and prevention, NYC’s AAPI Community Support Initiative, which will drive $4 million in funding to organizations that are led by and serve AAPIs in the city, and advocating for additional funding tied for the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act are strong examples of policymakers taking action to address hate incidents,” she said.
