By: Mmathabo Mahlangu
Photo by Kelly Lacy from Pexels
Asian-American communities have been experiencing numerous racial slurs and violent attacks aimed at them since the beginning of covid-19 last year. Some predicted that the rise in Asian Attacks had also been influenced by the former President of the United States, Donald Trump who in a speech addressed the covid-19 as the “Chinese Virus” and “Kung Flu”.With that Trump supporters began targeting Asian-Americans by throwing racial slurs at them, coughing/spitting at them, vandalising Asian-American properties and assault. The FBI warned that covid-19 would cause numerous attacks which would be aimed at Asian-Americans, but no one thought it would actually come out from former President Trump’s mouth and his supporters.
Lately, over 800 covid-related hate crime cases had been reported from 34 county states from March to May of 2020, the numbers of these recorded hate crime cases had increased since then to over 2800 reports today.
In a reported case of a Chinese man who was stabbed near Manhattan’s Chinatown, the perpetrator was charged with attempted murder because investigators could not find enough evidence that the attack was in fact a hate crime. Asian-American communities did not find this horrifying incident as surprising, instead, they labelled it as another racial target of violence against Asians. This shows that many of the cases reported as a hate crime against Asians has been overlooked by law enforcement officers. Asian-American community leaders held a protest in the Manhattan district office demanding that they change the stabbing be persecution as a hate crime. The Asian-American community had had enough of the racial assaults they had been experiencing being overlooked by police authorities. Don Lee, a community activist spoke out during the protest saying, “Let’s call it what it is, these are not random attacks. We’re asking for recognition that these crimes are happening.”
In New York, Asian owned restaurants had to close earlier than usual to avoid being victims of racially targeted violence and harassment. An 89-year-old Chinese woman was assaulted by two people in Brooklyn. In Sacramento, California an Asian-American who owned a butchery found a dead cat lying in their parking lot, the shop owner saw it as a threat and reported the incident to the police. Police have investigated the matter and charged it as a hate crime. Many Asian-American homeowners reported that they had been experiencing racial slurs thrown at them, vandalism to properties such as people throwing rocks at their homes and being spat or coughed at by people.
United States President Joe Biden calls out against the violent crimes aimed at Asian-Americans. He says the attacks are “wrong, un-American and must stop” in a speech. The U.S President also put in place a new policy against Anti-Asian bias on the 30th of March 2021 to fight the battle of racism and xenophobia attacks. The White House stated, “Across our nation, an outpouring of grief and outrage continues at the horrific violence and xenophobia perpetrated against Asian American communities, especially Asian American women and girls,”.
Asian lives matter too, attacking Asian-Americans will not stop the virus from spreading. The media has not made Asian Hate Crimes public enough. Not a lot of people are aware of what the Asian community is facing, and many still don’t believe that the coronavirus still exists. #stopasianhatecrime
Bibliography
Cabral, Sam. “Covid ‘hate crimes’ against Asian Americans on rise.” BBC [Canada], 56218684 ed., 02 April 2021, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56218684.
Majeed, Zaini. “Joe Biden denounces anti-Asian hate crimes, says its ‘wrong, un-American must stop.’” Republicworld.com, 31 March 2021, “Across our nation, an outpouring of grief and outrage continues at the horrific violence and xenophobia perpetrated against Asian American communities, especially Asian American women and girls,”.
Nicole Hong and Jonah E. Bomwich. “Asian-Americans are being attacked. Why are hate crimes so rare?” NYTimes.com [New York], 18 March 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/18/nyregion/asian-hate-crimes.html. Accessed 06 April 2021.