By Eunice Kim, United States
Image: BBC
Asian-American hate crimes have been infecting the United States along with the Coronavirus. It is believed that due to the Chinese origins of the virus and deeply rooted Asian racism in the U.S that this problem is so relevant. According to CNN, the amount of Asian-American hate crimes have been 4,500 cases this year alone. Many Asian-American’s have come out about their own personal experiences. For example on the subway of New York City one citizen was punched in the face multiple times just for offering masks to two people who were not wearing ones in a mask-required space (Ranka). Another example would be one elderly Filipina women who was told "Mind your own business, c***k. You get out of this state, Chinese. Go home to your dirty country," while she was handing out masks for free also on the New York City subway (Ranka). The number of instances like these have been increasing very rapidly and will surely leave a major scar on America’s shameful behavior towards immigrants.
I’ve personally experienced this phenomenon as well. During the spring of 2021 I was verbally harassed, unprompted, by being called an “ugly Chinese” by a person I’ve never seen before, while walking home. This is behavior that I had never experienced before while living in New York City for my whole life, which is saying something for such a vast and crime-ridden place. Even in general the amount of racial hate-crimes has been increasing in the U.S recently. According to CNBC “Overall in the United States, hate crimes rose by 6%, according to the FBI.” (Mangan) Additionally, “There were 7,759 criminal incidents reported and 10,532 related offenses that were considered hate crimes last year, the FBI said.” (Mangan) Hate crimes (specifically ones against Asians now) do not form from of simple current events. They are deeply rooted in a long violent, biased history of mistreatment that go on for hundreds of years. Asian’s have been immigrating to the U.S ever since the 16th century and they are still being treated as people who “don’t belong” within a country that is made up of immigrants. A helpful resource that can further educate one on the current impacts of Asian racism within America can be found at https://stopaapihate.org/, the website of “Stop AAPI Hate”, a renowned non-profit organization that combats injustices against Asian-American Pacific Islanders. One can also learn more about how to combat Asian Hate through multiple ways (not all including spending money), find safety resources, as well as report a hate crime on the website.
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