Anti-Asian Violence Is Spiking; Here's What You Can Do To Help
Here's a compilation of resources and tools that you can use to help our Asian communities.
After a white man shot and killed eight people — six of whom were Asian women — at three spas in Georgia on Tuesday, national attention has been given to the extreme increase in anti-Asian hate crimes.
Much of the increase in violence has been attributed to the association between Asian people and COVID-19. However, police currently say it is too early to determine whether the shootings in Georgia were racially motivated.
Instead, the suspect told police that he has a sex addiction and targeted the spas to “take out that temptation,” causing many people to reflect on the hypersexualization of Asian women.
Capt. Jay Baker, the director of communications and community relations at the sheriff's office, also came under fire after saying the suspect had "a really bad day."
On Tuesday morning, Stop AAPI Hate released a report showing that there have been at least 3,795 reported anti-Asian hate incidents between March 2020 and February 2021.
Stop AAPI Hate is proud to announce our latest national report, measuring anti-Asian hate incidents from March 2020-Feb 2021. In the last 12 months, we have tracked 3,795 hate incident reports from APIs in all 50 states and DC.
Stop AAPI Hate is a national coalition that formed during the COVID-19 pandemic to address anti-Asian hate, and it's a collaboration between A3PCON, CAA, and SFSU Asian American Studies.
In major US cities, anti-Asian hate crimes have increased by 150% in 2020, according to California State University’s Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism.
The highest increase was seen in New York City, with an increase of 833%. There was a 114% increase in Los Angeles, 133% increase in Boston, and 33% increase in Seattle. While anti-Asian hate crimes have spiked, overall hate crimes decreased in 2020.
Many of these violent hate crimes target elderly Asian American people.
In San Francisco, an elderly Asian American woman, 75-year-old Xiao Zhen Xie, was punched and attacked by a man while waiting at a traffic light. While she fought back, the attack left her with a swollen face and unable to see out of one eye.
In Oakland, 75-year-old resident Pak Ho was killed after hitting his head and suffering a traumatic brain injury when a man assaulted and robbed him during his morning walk. The suspect is facing felony charges but is not being charged with a hate crime.
But not all victims are elderly. A 36-year-old man was stabbed in the torso while walking in New York City's Chinatown and taken to Bellevue Hospital in critical condition.
In Midtown New York City, a 41-year-old woman had liquid poured down her neck and onto the packages she was carrying as her assailant told her to "go back to China."
While these hate crimes have received less national attention, many Asian Americans — including celebrities — have been speaking out against and protesting these acts of violence and racism for months.
This week has been difficult for many of us. I tried to put my emotions into words, the best I can. I hope this resonates with you and that we can work together to create change. Thank you @TIME for allowing me to use your platform. https://t.co/akpkjx9fNJ #StopAsianHate
The hypersexualization of Asian women plays a HUGE part in the violence we face. I've been cornered on the street as men say "me love you long time." I've been offered money for a "happy ending massage." I've been hit on because I'm Asian and told it's a "compliment."
The roots of anti-Asian violence stems from the long history of US wars and militarism in Asia and Pacific. When you can drop thousands of bombs and splatter napalm and agent orange on millions of Asian lives, that dehumanization will come home to roost. https://t.co/O71JNFqeWO
there are people so unfamiliar with oppression, that they actually think the oppressed can wield their trauma like a playing card, like they do with their privilege. read that again.
stop diminishing asian experiences, stop invalidating asian emotions, stop excusing asian discrimination + hate crimes, stop dehumanizing asian bodies, stop undermining the gravity of asian racism. read, listen, learn, and amplify asian voices.
.@DanielDaeKim testifies before Congress on #AAPIHate: ’We are 23 million strong. We are united and we are waking up.’
Most people know about the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. But did you know about the Page Act of 1875? It was the first federal law to restrict immigration in general, and it specifically targeted Asian women who were believed to be entering the US for prostitution or polygamy.
Asians are not a monolith. The continent includes around 48 countries and 3 territories, all with unique cultures, food customs and traditions. But a racist attack against one of us is an attack against all of us. #StopAsianHate
Beyond raising awareness online, here is a list of ways to be anti-racist and support the Asian community right now:
PLACES TO DONATE:
• Asian American Advocacy Fund
• Asian Americans Advancing Justice
• Asian Americans For Equality
• DRUM
• Support the AAPI Community Fund
• Asian Mental Health Resources
• National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC)
• Mekong
• Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN)
• Chinatown Community for Equitable Development
• Asian American Youth Leadership Empowerment and Development (AALEAD)
• Japanese American Citizen League
• CAAAV
• VietLead
• CPC
• South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT)
BOOKS TO READ:
• Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park Hong
• The Making of Asian America: A History by Erika Lee
• We Gon' Be Alright: Notes on Race and Resegregation by Jeff Chang
• Asian American Dreams: The Emergence of an American People by Helen Zia
• The Karma of Brown Folk by Vijay Prashad
• Model-Minority Imperialism by Victor Bascara
• Yellow: Race in America Beyond Black and White by Frank H. Wu
• Serve the People: Making Asian America in the Long Sixties by Karen L. Ishizuka
• Racial Melancholia, Racial Dissociation: On the Social and Psychic Lives of Asian Americans by David L. Eng
• Yellow Peril!: An Archive of Anti-Asian Fear by John Kuo Wei Tchen and Dylan Yeats
• Immigrant Acts: On Asian American Cultural Politics by Lisa Lowe
• Margins and Mainstreams: Asians in American History and Culture by Gary Y. Okihiro
• America Is in the Heart: A Personal History by Carlos Bulosan
• Vestiges of War: The Philippine-American War and the Aftermath of an Imperial Dream 1899-1999 by Angel Velasco Shaw and Luis H. Francia
• I Hotel by Karen Tei Yamashita
• Virtual Orientalism: Asian Religions and American Popular Culture by Jane Naomi Iwamura
• Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations by Mira Jacob
• All You Can Ever Know: A Memoir by Nicole Chung
• The Color of Success: Asian Americans and the Origins of the Model Minority by Ellen D. Wu
• Driven Out: The Forgotten War Against Chinese Americans by Jean Pfaelzer
• To Save the Children of Korea: The Cold War Origins of International Adoption by Arissa H. Oh
• Contagious Divides: Epidemics and Race in San Francisco's Chinatown by Nayan Shah
• Global Asian American Popular Cultures by Tasha Oren, Shilpa Davé, and LeiLani Nishime
PODCASTS TO LISTEN TO:
• Asian Voices Radio
• Self Evident: Asian American Stories
• Bad Asian
• Asian American History 101
• Emil Amok's Takeout
• Asian Enough
• Rock the Boat
• Redefining ABCD
• Books and Boba
• Asian American / Asian Research Institute (AAARI)
• Dear Asian Americans
• Anti Anti-Asian Socialist Club
• New Books in Asian American Studies
• Model Majority Podcast
• AsianBossGirl
• They Call Us Bruce
• AAWW Radio: New Asian American Writers & Literature
• Asian America: The Ken Fong Podcast
• Asian Not Asian
• Asian Americana
• Queer Asian Podcast Club
• Asian Provocation
• Southeast Asian American Podcast Network
FILMS AND SERIES TO WATCH:
• Asian Americans
• #AsianAmCovidStories
• American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs
• Who Killed Vincent Chin?
• Abacus: Small Enough to Jail
• Rabbit in the Moon
• K-Town '92
• NBC Asian America Presents: Deported
• Anna May Wong: In Her Own Words
• Halmoni
• Call Her Ganda
• Every Grain of Rice
• 9-Man
• Leities in Waiting
• Saving Face
• Bad Rap
• The Search for General Tso
• The Slanted Screen
• The Grace Lee Project
• Vincent Who?
