Roots of Racism Examining the Conditions for Anti-Asian Hate During COVID-19
Hate towards people in the Asian American community spiked amid the COVID-19 pandemic. We tried to visualize this sudden rise in hate — and understand the forces that may have given rise to it.
A Growing Problem
Lives disrupted by hate
In recent years, anti-Asian hate incidents (AAHI) have impacted a shocking number of Asian Americans. Nearly 3 in 10 of the Asian American respondents to a recent survey indicated that they had been the victim of one in the past twelve months. AAHIs can take many forms — from discrimination, to verbal harassment and intimidation, to physical assaults. And they haven’t gone away.
Keep scrolling to uncover more about the uptick of AAHIs in the U.S.
Stabbing at Sam's Club store
3/14/2020 — Midland, TX
A man stabs a Burmese man and his two children, ages six and two, with a knife at a store. The perpetrator indicates that he stabbed the family because he thought the family was Chinese, and was infecting people with coronavirus.
Source: Daily Beast
A disgusting hate message
4/18/2021 — Santa Cruz, CA
An unknown individual leaves a cup full of urine on a Japanese-American woman’s car; the cup has anti-Chinese messages scribbled across it.
Source: Hopclear
Racist scrawl on car
3/10/2020 — Fresno, CA
An Asian man’s car is defaced with racist graffiti reading “F_CK ASIONS… and CORONYVIRUS!”
Source: NextShark
Physical and verbal assault in subway
3/30/2021 — New York, NY
A man calls an Asian woman an “Asian slut” along with other insults before spitting on her and throwing her phone onto the tracks after slapping it out of her hand. The Asian woman’s children are present during the incident.
Mapping increasing hate across the U.S.
In 2020 and 2021, there were 1,087 anti-Asian hate crimes reported to the FBI through its Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program. These hate crimes were happening in counties all over the country.
What are considered AAHIs?
AAHIs (Anti-Asian Hate Incidents) include discrimination, harassment, threats, physical assault, shunning, and exclusion based on race, ethnicity, and/or national origin.
Cumulative Total of Anti-Asian Hate Incidents by County, since January 2020
1 incident reported
15 incidents reported