By Aimilia-Meropi Konialidis, Y11
In 2019 Asian Americans accounted for 6.9% of murder victims, 8.0% of rape victims, 15.6% of robbery victims and 7.7% of aggravated assault victims. In the past year, overall hate crime rates have declined by 7%, while hate crimes against Asian Americans have increased by almost 150% in the United States. The majority of the attacks that were reported were verbal harassment, 21% were shunning, and 11% were physical assaults. Awareness of these hate crimes has been steadily increasing since the beginning of the pandemic, however, it was not until recently when eight people, six of whom were women of Asian descent, were shot and killed outside three spas in Atlanta, that protests against AAPI hate (Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders) began. Since the Atlanta mass shooting, protests and vigils have taken and continue to take place all over the United States as well as Canada.
President Joe Biden has said that “Anti-Asian violence and xenophobia is wrong, it’s un-American, and it must stop.” He had also released a memorandum in January Condemning and Combating Racism, Xenophobia and Intolerance Against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States which has since been adapted. This memorandum now aims to end anti-Asian bias and violence; increase funding for AAPI survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault as well as to establish a task force which will address xenophobia against Asian Americans fuelled by the pandemic. The memorandum also aims to make the Justice Department’s hate crime website more accessible by increasing the number of languages it is available in and training local law enforcement officials to report hate crimes. Federal projects are to be launched to celebrate the contributions of Asian Americans to the country. There will also be increased funding for the National Science Foundation to research discrimination and xenophobia.
Racism and xenophobia towards people of Asian descent, not only in the United States but globally, began far before COVID-19 arrived and will probably, unfortunately, continue to occur. My hope is that this enormous increase in Asian American hate crimes as well as the BLM movement will shed much needed light on the problem of systemic racism currently embedded in our political systems. Hopefully, people will begin to educate themselves on this racism and take action so that future generations will not have to fight this fight. For more information on how you can support the fight against AAPI hate visit https://stopaapihate.org
