Incidents of hatred of Asian and Pacific Americans in the U.S. surge
The US non-profit organization "Stop Hatred of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders" recently released a report showing that from March 19, 2020 to June 30, 2021, the organization recorded a total of 9,081 incidents of hate against Asian-Pacific descents, 4,548 of them. This will happen in 2020, and 4,533 will happen in 2021.
According to data from the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, hate crimes in the United States increased by 2% overall last year, but hate crimes against Asian-Pacific Americans increased by 146%.
A report from the California Attorney General's Office released in June showed that discrimination and crimes against Asians in California more than doubled in 2020.
The report released by "Stop Hatred of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders" shows that the main forms of discrimination and hatred of Asian Americans are verbal harassment (63.7%), avoidance (16.5%) and personal assault (13.7%). There are other forms as well. Discrimination in the workplace, denial of service and prohibition of transportation.
Compared with 2020, the proportion of personal attacks and property damage will increase in 2021.
In addition, about 31% of hate cases occurred on public streets, and 30% occurred in office spaces.
In the past few days, hatred of Asian-Pacific descents has occurred in many cities in the United States.
A man attacked an Asian woman near Broadway in New York and threw food at her husband, shouting discriminatory remarks.
In San Francisco, at least seven elderly Asian residents were attacked from January to July this year.
Rock Shaw, an associate professor in the Department of Asian American Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, said that the United States is not only facing the challenge of the epidemic, but also facing economic and political crises, and the sentiment of taking Asian Americans as a scapegoat is spreading.
"Stop hating Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders" co-founder Manyusha Kurkani pointed out that after the formation of discrimination against Asian-Pacific descents in American society, it is difficult to easily subside.
In particular, some serious incidents of violence against Asian-Pacific descent have also caused "imitation" and chain reactions.
An article by Vox News pointed out that from stigmatizing China through the use of the epidemic to continuously strengthening the concept of strategic competition with China, the US government has contributed to the hatred of Asian and Pacific Americans.
(This newspaper, Washington, August 19th)