Anti-Asian hate coalition reports 11,467 cases in two-year period

People in Philadelphia attend a vigil in solidarity with the Asian American community March 17. (CNS/Reuters/Rachel Wisniewski)

CHICAGO – The Stop Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Hate Reporting Center received 11,467 hate cases between  March 19, 2020 and March 31, 2022—90% of which are “hate incidents” and not “hate crimes.” Filipinos ranked third among Asian victims, with 9% of the reported cases. Chinese led with 43% followed by Koreans with 16%.

Japanese and Vietnamese tied for 4^th place with 8%–a reflection of the actual number of respective immigrant racial groups in the U.S.  However, only 2 % of the reported cases are from the large East Indian immigrant group.

The Stop AAPI Hate report made a distinction between a “hate crime” and a “hate incident.” A hate crime is when someone is arrested and a bias against the victim was observed. Alternatively, a hate incident is defined as when someone uses racial slurs, which is not considered a crime.

Stop AAPI Hate is a joint project of Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA), Asian Pacific Policy & Planning Council (A3PCON) and San Francisco State University created to address the rise in bigotry against AAPIs due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The type of incidents reported included verbal harassment, physical assault (26.2%), avoidance or shunning (16.5%), being spat at, denial of service (5%) and online harassment.  The most reported incident was verbal harassment (63.7%).

One example of a hate incident reported to Stop AAPI was from an individual in Los Angeles, California, who sought a quote at a car rental and was refused service. The individual was told “we don’t want your COVID on our cars.”

Unity March

Almost half of the incidents took place in public, which included public streets, public transits and public parks, the AAPI report said.

To raise awareness of the pervasive number of incidents, about 50 Asian American coalitions came in solidarity and led a “Unity March” on June 25 at the National Mall in Washington, DC., to call to action to stop Asian hate and to empower Asian Americans.

The March also commemorated the 40th year death anniversary of Chinese American Vincent Chin, whose death was one of the first racially motivated hate crimes against an AAPI reported in the U.S.

Stop AAPI Hate reported that women are 2.3 times more likely than men to report hate incidents and that youths (aged  0-17) report 12.6% of incidents compared to 6.2%  of seniors (60 and older) who report these incidents.

Incidents in Midwest

Last September, The Asian American Foundation (TAAF) launched the Anti-Asian Hate Center in Chicago to track the number of hate incidents in the Midwest.

The Chinese American Service League in Chicago (CASL) coordinates the center under the management of Filipino American community leader Abbey Eusebio.

Comprehensive services

“We are still dealing with chronic underreporting of anti-Asian hate crimes in the Midwest. The Anti-Hate Action Center is working to spread word to the community about the center’s services and hopefully, empower individuals to feel safe and comfortable reporting not just hate crimes but hate incidents,” Eusebio said.

The Anti-Hate Action Center provides comprehensive services to victims of Asian hate such as mental health support and legal consultations. To contact the center, call 312-725-5224 or visit their web site at www.caslservice.org/anti-hate/.