Asian American / Asian Research Institute
The City University of New York
“We did nothing to provoke this woman,” said the Leonia High School sophomore, who said she and her friends were all wearing double face masks. “Yet based on our appearance, and quite possibly even based on the flags flying in our hands, we were treated as if we were a contagious disease.
Hate crimes involving Asian-American victims soared in New York City last year. Officials are grappling with the problem even as new incidents occur.
For more on COVID-19’s toll on the physical and mental health of AAPI communities, The Takeaway spoke with Karthick Ramakrishnan, founder and director of AAPI Data and professor at the University of California – Riverside, and Leezel Tanglao, multimedia journalist and project director of the Tayo Help Desk, a project of the Filipino Young Leaders Program.
Social media posts have conflated violence against people who are Asian American with hate crimes against the community at large, tying the crimes to pandemic racism.
As Asian Americans experience high rates of poverty and unemployment, community groups are providing free groceries and meals to thousands every day.
A rise in assaults against Asian Americans last year seems primarily tied to the coronavirus pandemic. Some Asian Americans also worry that heightened tensions between the U.S. and China and growing fears of China’s espionage activities stateside could make them more vulnerable to racist attacks.