Photo Credit: PBS
The Asian community within the United States have been relentlessly targeted by hate crimes from individuals who express anti-Asian aggression through verbal, and physical abuse. Stop AAPI Hate, the leading organization that documents crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders during the pandemic, began tracking violence and harassment against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders on March 19 last year.
From then through the end of 2020, Stop AAPI Hate received a total of 3,292 complaints from all 50 states and Washington, DC. The rise of hate crimes towards Asian Americans has become a national dilemma that has gained tremendous notoriety. What started as verbal abuse towards the community has ballooned to an all-out massacre that occurred on March 17th. The suspect, Robert Aaron Long, killed eight people at three different spa locations across the state of Georgia.
This incident was the tip of the iceberg for a year’s worth of physical and verbal abuse towards the Asian community in America. President Biden issued a statement in solidarity to those affected by the uptick in hate crimes, “vicious hate crimes against Asian Americans who have been attacked, harassed, blamed and scapegoated at this very moment so many of them are on the frontlines of this pandemic trying to save lives and still, they are forced to live in fear for their lives just walking down streets in America. It’s wrong, it’s unamerican and it must stop.” The cry out for help by the Asian and Pacific Islander community has been validated by the highest office in the land. Racism towards Asian Americans is no new phenomenon but the spread of Covid-19 has exacerbated the issue.
Noel Quintana is one example of how simply being of Asian descent may make you vulnerable in the current climate of America. “I shouted for help but nobody helped me, I saw the blood from my face on my hands.” Noel was slashed in the face while waiting for the train that takes him to work. While the police were never able to prove that it was a hate crime it is just one of many recent examples of violence on Asian Americans that were unprovoked. The rise in tensions caused by Covid-19 in America has once again placed the issue of race on the frontlines. The Asian community has stood against these hate crimes and other communities have shown their solidarity in a commendable fashion.
