On Tuesday, January 29, staffers at the Achievement First High School in Bushwick started receiving racist, anti-Asian emails as well as violent threats. Along with an email on Tuesday morning telling an employee to go back to Hong Kong, the sender threatened to bomb and shoot up the school building at some point during the school day. Police are investigating the incidents as terrorist threats according to the New York Post. These violent, anti-Asian threats to Achievement First High School come on the heels of the recent attack and killings of three Asian Americans at Seaport Buffet in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn who were targeted on the basis of their race.
The Asian American / Asian Research Institute extends our deepest condolences to the families of the victims and is deeply disturbed by the targeted threats and attacks on the Asian American community. Back in August 2018, anti-Chinese graffiti was found spray painted on the storefronts of several businesses in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. In response, the local community along with elected officials organized a rally to denounce hate and call on the NYPD to investigate the incidents as hate crimes. In December, a Brooklyn woman was arrested and charged with felony assault after her racist tirade towards an Asian woman on the subway was captured on video. The footage shows the Brooklyn woman kicking and striking the Asian woman while she hurled anti-Asian slurs and made anti-Muslim remarks at subway riders.
The racist motivations of these violent attacks and hateful speech are part of a deeper, troubling trend of increasing hate violence against minority groups. The FBI reported that hate crimes have increased for the third consecutive year with 2018 being the worst year for violent crimes against the LGBTQ+ community. Although hate crimes remain vastly underreported, the FBI’s annual report indicated that there were increases in attacks motivated by racial, religious, and sexual orientation bias.
This alarming spike in violent hate crimes can often leave impacted communities feeling helpless. The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has available on their website a comprehensive list of actions that can be taken in response to and in the prevention of such events. Their “Ten Ways to Fight Hate: A Community Response Guide” emphasizes the importance of collective organization. For instance, the SPLC encourages individuals and coalitions to “call on groups that are likely to respond to a hate event, including faith alliances, labor unions, teachers, women’s groups, university faculties, fair housing councils, the YMCA, and youth groups.” More information on this resource is available on their website. Additionally, Prof. Arjun Singh Sethi offered testimonials and important advice on how best to respond to hate crimes during his Fall 2018 presentation at AAARI.
We hope that this statement serves as a resource for advocates, community groups, and other coalitions in support of their calls to action. Silence = death (ACT UP). We urge our communities to be aware and understand how to protect themselves in order to defend their civil liberties.
References
“Bushwick charter school receives anti-Asian emails, violent threats”, Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 30 Jan 2019.
https://brooklyneagle.com/articles/2019/01/30/bushwick-charter-school-receives-anti-asian-emails-violent-threats/
“A Gruesome Hammer Attack Left 3 Asian Men Dead. Was It a Hate Crime?”, New York Times, 30 Jan 2019.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/30/nyregion/hammer-attack-brooklyn-chinese-restaurant.html
“Bensonhurst Rallies Against Hateful Anti-Chinese Graffiti”, Bklyner, 6 Aug 2018.
https://bklyner.com/bensonhurst-rallies-against-hateful-anti-chinese-graffiti/
“Subway rider makes citizen’s arrest after filming woman hurling kicks and racial slurs at Asian commuter”, Independent, 15 Dec 2018.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/subway-video-racist-fight-brooklyn-woman-kicking-racial-slur-asian-commuter-new-york-a8684446.html
“Hate Crimes Increase for the Third Consecutive Year, F.B.I. Reports”, New York Times, 13 Nov 2018.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/13/us/hate-crimes-fbi-2017.html
“Ten Way to Fight Hate: A Community Response Guide”, Southern Poverty Law Center, 14 Aug 2017.
https://www.splcenter.org/20170814/ten-ways-fight-hate-community-response-guide#speak%20up
“American Hate: Survivors Speak Out (Book Talk)”, Asian American / Asian Research Institute, 14 Sept 2018.
https://aaari.info/18-09-14sethi/
“Silence = Death”, ACT UP.
http://www.actupny.org/reports/silencedeath.html
