Hate Crimes Upsurge Since COVID-19 Pandemic, Prompt Asian-Americans Threat Due to Racism

Protests Erupt Across U.S. After Charges In Death Of Breonna Taylor Are Announced

(Photo : Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
NEW YORK CITY - SEPTEMBER 24: People listen to a speaker at a Black Lives Matters (BLM) protest in a park in Brooklyn on September 24, 2020 in New York City. Across the country, protesters have taken to the streets to voice their anger at the Kentucky grand jury's decision to only charge one of the three Louisville Metro Police Department officers involved in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency medical technician, during a flawed narcotics raid earlier in March. Brett Hankison, who was fired in June, was charged with three counts of wanton endangerment for shooting into neighboring apartments. Bond was set at $15,000 for Hankison.

A heartless attack of a man in San Francisco on an 84-year-old Vicha Ratanapakdee which was captured on a surveillance video on January 28 sparked outrage regarding 'hate crime' not only in the United States but also around the world. The victim died a few days after the incident.

Hate Crimes Upsurge Since COVID-19 Pandemic

The man involved who was identified by the police as allegedly Antoine Watson, 19, can be seen in the video shoving Ratanapakdee to the pavement. This caused the 84-year-old man to fall hard and days later onto his death.

Moreover, in Oakland's Chinatown on January 31, a 91-year-old Asian American man was also shoved to the ground while he was walking within the vicinity of the Asian Resource Center. The attack on the elderly caught the attention of actors Daniel Wu and Daniel Dae Kim, as they, later on, made an announcement on their social media accounts that they will be offering a reward of $25,000 for any information which will lead to the suspect of another hate crime.

The announcement was preceded by the arrest of the 28-year-old, Yahya Muslim, who was charged with battery, assault, and elder abuse. According to People, Watson, who was the alleged suspect of the initial incident has pleaded not guilty to the filed charges against him, while for Muslim, it is still not clear whether he entered a plea or retained an attorney.

The two incidents were just the latest in the string of incidents, a troubling spate of attacks, and discrimination against Asian Americans since the coronavirus pandemic affected the United States in 2020. Some experts have mentioned that people partly blamed it on former president Donald Trump who referred to COVID-19 as 'Kung Flu' and 'China Virus,' which for them fueled the racism, the USA Today reported.

Asian-Americans Threat Due to Racism

In the past year, the New York Police Department has reported that there had been a 1,900 percent increase in anti-Asian hate crimes in the city of New York alone, New York magazine reported. They have also mentioned that based on the August 2020 report of the United Nations, they have stated that from the month of March to May of 2020, which is only a span of eight weeks, there were more than 1,800 reported racist incidents against Asian Americans in the U.S.

On the report of the Stop AAPI Hate Youth Campaign, based on their report released last September, out of 1,000 Asian-Americans young adults that they have participated in their survey, they have found out that 8 out of 10 respondents expressed anger regarding the ongoing hate crime or the anti-Asian hate in the United States. While on the analysis of the parent organization of the youth campaign, Stop AAPI Hate, they have found that one in ten tweets that concern Asian Americans in the months before the November 2020 presidential election contained disparaging or racist language.

Amanda Nguyen, a civil rights activist shared that these are hate crimes happening in the society. She also added that it is a direct result of former leaders, former elected officials who have stoked this kind of violence.