When will they act?

The Philippine Consulate General in New York recently issued an urgent warning for members of the Filipino Community to be vigilant and to take the necessary precautions while in public places after an 18-year-old Filipino tourist from Cebu was beaten up near the Philippine Center in Manhattan. According to the Consulate, “this is the 41st incident since last year that involves a Filipino who was either a victim of a hate crime or a criminal act.”

The Consulate expressed concern over the latest incidents that followed similar assaults against other members of the Asian-american Community. “The recent spate of attacks against Filipinos and other Asian-americans—whether triggered by racial bias or mental illness—is a serious concern that must be immediately addressed,” said Consul General Elmer G. Cato.

The Covid-19 pandemic saw a rise in attacks, both verbal and physical, against Asian Americans, thanks to former president Donald Trump who planted the seed of hatred when he called Covid-19 the “Chinese virus.” But there was also the birth of actions against this intolerance. Stop Asian Hate appeared in 2021 to denounce the violence targeting Asian-american Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities in the US during the pandemic. This denunciation has resonated in many other countries, where the rise of violence against Asians and people of Asian descent was also observed.

Philip Lim is a top American fashion designer and a champion of the #Stopasianhate movement. Lim said: “Stopasianhate was born out of individuals like myself in the AAPI community saying “enough is enough. I couldn’t remain silent because as we stay silent, the violence continues.”

Stop AAPI Hate is a national coalition addressing anti-asian racism across the US. The coalition was founded by the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council, Chinese for Affirmative Action, and San Francisco State University’s Asian American Studies Department.

From March 19, 2020 to December 31, 2021, a total of 10,905 hate incidents against Asian American and Pacific Islander persons were reported to Stop AAPI Hate. Of the hate incidents, 4,632 occurred in 2020 (42.5 percent) and 6,273 occurred in 2021 (57.5 percent).

According to Stop AAPI Hate data, verbal harassment (63.0 percent) continues to make up the biggest share of total incidents reported. Physical assault (16.2 percent) comprises the second largest category of total reported incidents, followed by the deliberate avoidance of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (16.1 percent). Civil rights violations—like workplace discrimination, refusal of service, being barred from transportation, and housing-related discrimination—account for 11.5 percent of total incidents. Online harassment makes up 8.6 percent of total incidents.

Chinese Americans continue to report the most hate incidents (42.8 percent) of all ethnic groups, followed by Korean (16.1 percent), Filipinos (8.9 percent), Japanese (8.2 percent), and Vietnamese Americans (8 percent). Hate incidents reported by women make up 61.8 percent of all reports.

Almost half (48.7 percent) of all hate incidents took place in public spaces—in public streets (31.2 percent), public transit (8.4 percent), and public parks (8 percent).

From a Filipino-american resident in Florida: “I used to be a bagger at a grocery store and an elderly woman did not want me to bag her groceries because I am Filipino. She asked the cashier if my coworker and me were Filipino and then said she wanted someone else to bag her groceries because “Filipinos are more likely to have Covid.”

A new Pew Research Center survey mirrored the effects of hate crimes and violence against Asian Americans during the pandemic: The survey showed that 32 percent of Asian adults say they have feared someone might threaten or physically attack them—a greater share than other racial or ethnic groups. The vast majority of Asian adults (81 percent) also say violence against them is increasing, far surpassing the share of all US adults (56 percent) who say the same.

Their fears and apprehensions are real. It is dangerous to be an Asian American in the US in the time of the pandemic. In March, for example, a white gunman killed eight Asian-american women at three Atlanta-area massage parlors in an attack that sent terror through the Asian-american community.

President Joe Biden’s reaction: “Too many Asian Americans have been walking up and down the streets and worrying, waking up each morning the past year feeling their safety and the safety of their loved ones are at stake. They’ve been attacked, blamed, scapegoated, and harassed. They’ve been verbally assaulted, physically assaulted, killed… The conversation we had today with the AAPI leaders, and that we’re hearing all across the country, is that hate and violence often hide in plain sight. And it’s often met with silence. That’s been true throughout our history, but that has to change—because our silence is complicity. We cannot be complicit. We have to speak out. We have to act.”