"Recent Anti-Asian Hate Crimes" by Abby Chung
Current Hostility Towards Asian-Americans
On January 31st, 2021 in Oakland, California, a 91-year-old Vietnamese man was violently shoved to the ground by a passerby at 12:31 p.m. in broad daylight. A simple Instagram post made by Korean-American actor Daniel Dae Kim reached thousands of people with the hope of finding the attacker and his associates. In the caption of the post, he states, “@thatdanielwu & I are offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of this man and his two other accomplices, who attacked the 91 year old man above, as well as two other seniors, in downtown Oakland.” Just as Kim had hoped, his post brought much needed attention to other Asian hate crimes taking place.
The State of Anti-Asian Hate Crime from the Start of COVID-19 in 2020 to Present Day
The COVID-19 pandemic has enhanced the severity of racism towards Asians , regardless of their specific ethnicity. According to an article by TIME, “Racist aggressors don’t distinguish between different ethnic subgroups—anyone who is Asian or perceived to be Asian at all can be a victim” (Kambhampaty, A.P., 2020, 'I Will Not Stand Silent.' 10 Asian Americans Reflect on Racism During the Pandemic and the Need for Equality). Aggressors are wrongly blaming the virus on a specific group of people but are also, at a broader spectrum, ignorantly connecting it with an entire race. As a result, countless Asian Americans across the U.S. have been attacked. People have recognized that Asian citizens of the U.S. are being targeted but hate crimes continued to spread.
Many Asian-American hate crimes took place simultaneously. A 61-year-old man named Noel Quintana was violently slashed across the face one evening on his way to work in the busy state of New York. Shortly after, two more middle-aged Asian citizens were attacked. These “subway crimes have prompted the NYPD to add more than 600 officers to the transit system…” (Urbanski, D., 2021, Asian man, 61, slashed across face on NYC subway train. Victim was riding to first of two jobs and asked suspect to stop kicking his backpack.). About a month ago, an elderly Asian lady was attacked while standing in line at a bakery. Not only did the attacker, Patrick Mateo, forcefully throw a box at her, but he also shoved her to the ground, causing her to eventually pass out.
Attacks did not only occur in public. House attacks were also common, causing neighbors to fight back by protecting their Asian-American neighbors. More information regarding Asian hate-crimes can be found on NextShark, an online source for Asian-American news.
Currently, racism towards Asian Americans, not just acts of physical violence, are popping up everywhere. Nicole Burkett, a high school teacher in Sacramento, California, was seen doing the “slant-eyes” gesture to mock the eyes of an Asian person. In Renton, Washington, an Asian man was called racial slurs by a woman throwing snowballs at his car.
The Fight Back
All of these events have led to protests and many celebrities raising awareness on this issue. This triggered the start of a large rally that took place in New York. At another protest held in California, 13-year-old Ashlyn So spoke against the anti-Asian hate crimes in order to help her community by spreading awareness as opposed to anger. Esther Young Lim, a Korean-American woman from Los Angeles, California created the “How to Report a Hate Crime” booklet for people to prepare for potential anti-Asian hate crimes. Copies are available in many languages such as Korean, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Thai, and Vietnamese. These booklets are catered towards major areas that experience the most crime, which happen to be the Los Angeles/Orange County area, New York, and San Francisco/Oakland area. Booklets can be found at www.hatecrimebook.com.
While this is not the first incidence of anti-Asianess, hate crimes towards the Asian-American community in the U.S. have skyrocketed like never seen before. Many Asian Americans are being negatively affected by racism disguised by a prejudiced excuse of having or having caused the coronavirus. What is even worse is that sometimes there is no excuse at all. During the pandemic now, it is important to remember that we, as a society, should work together to prevent racist, unethical, and violent crimes as experienced by thousands of Asian Americans. The Asian-American & Pacific Islanders community is facing extreme suppression and is being terribly targeted. How much longer will Asian individuals have to fear that he/she/they might be the next victim in an attack full of hate?
Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/CL91-JOHgD0/?igshid=10ak79fjh47ur 
Sources:https://nextshark.com/grant-union-high-school-sacramento-teacher-slant-eyes/https://nextshark.com/flushing-queens-suspect-released-nyc-attack/https://www.theblaze.com/news/ready-asian-man-61-slashed-across-face-on-nyc-subway-train-victim-was-riding-to-first-of-two-jobs-and-asked-suspect-to-stop-kicking-his-backpackhttps://abc7ny.com/subway-slashing-l-train-man-slashed-on-1st-avenue-station/10312535/https://time.com/5858649/racism-coronavirus/https://nextshark.com/renton-snowball-karen-washington/