Poll: More Americans believe anti-Asian discrimination rising
WASHINGTON — A majority of Americans across racial and ethnic groups believe discrimination has worsened in the past year against Asian Americans, who became the target of attacks after being unfairly blamed for the coronavirus pandemic.
A poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds 60% of Americans say discrimination against Asian Americans has swelled compared with a year ago, including 71% of Asian Americans, 66% of Black Americans, 59% of white Americans and 55% of Hispanic Americans.
Nearly half of Americans believe Asian Americans encounter “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of discrimination in the U.S. today. The poll also finds about 6 in 10 Americans say racism in the U.S. in general is a “very” or “extremely” serious problem. And a majority of Asian Americans say they feel unsafe in public because of their race.
Susan Lee, of Sacramento, said friends initiated conversations with her about racism as random attacks on Asians became more frequent, but the 72-year-old Chinese American noted a key difference between friends who were Asian and non-Asian.
“My non-Asian friends are probably more astonished that this is occurring,” Ms. Lee said. “I think Chinese or ‘Asians’ have always been looked at as a positive asset. I think they are puzzled by that situation.”
Barbara Canchola, 76, of El Paso, Texas, said she would have answered “not at all” if she had been asked pre- pandemic if Asian Americans face racism. Ms. Canchola, who identifies as Hispanic, said she associated anti-Asian discrimination as something way in the past like Japanese American internment camps during World War II.
“I really wouldn’t think they are facing any kind of discrimination because I happen to think they’re very well educated — most of them — and they don’t face that much scrutiny,” Ms. Canchola said. “However, ever since the pandemic began and it was labeled a ‘China thing,’ that’s where it all began.”
She attributes her new outlook to all the television coverage “where the people are being assaulted on the street out of the blue.”
Renee Tajima-Pena, an Asian American Studies professor at the University of California, Los Angeles and co-producer of the PBS docuseries “Asian Americans,” isn’t surprised some people have never thought of Asian Americans as victims. The dominant narrative has always been they are successful, don’t speak up and, therefore, encounter little racism.
“The model minority myth is such a drug for Americans,” Ms. Tajima-Pena said.
Between March 2020 and this past March, more than 6,600 anti-Asian hate incidents have been documented by Stop AAPI Hate, a national reporting center. The encounters range from verbal harassment to attacks that ended fatally, including the March 16 Atlanta-area shootings that killed six Asian women.
The Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, found that Asian-targeted hate crimes in the largest U.S. cities rose 145% in 2020 compared with 2019, even though hate crimes overall declined 6%. In the first quarter of this year, anti-Asian crimes reported to police in 16 major cities and counties jumped 164% from the same time period last year.
“That’s why people understand now the violence Asian Americans face,” Ms. Tajima-Pena said. “People couldn’t avoid it in the press or the national conversation. People are gathering data and talking about it.”
Fifty- seven percent of Asian-Americans say they feel unsafe in public “often” or “sometimes” because of their race, similar to the share of Black Americans and higher than the share of Hispanic or white Americans.