ASIAN AMERICANS HIT BY WAVE OF HATE CRIME CALL FOR PROTECTION
▶ Plea for tougher laws after nationwide surge in attacks against coronavirus scapegoats
Yunhan Zhang will never forget the day he became the victim of a hate crime. He was behind the counter of his tea cafe off Dupont Circle in Washington when it happened.
“A man just walked in saying, ‘Chinese tea, Chinese people, Covid-19’,” Mr Zhang said.
He then pulled out a can of pepper spray and squirted it in Mr Zhang’s face.
Mr Zhang’s eyes burnt for hours after the November 10 incident, yet he considers himself lucky.
“I was happy it was only pepper spray because it could have been a lot worse,” he said.
Since the coronavirus pandemic swept the world, there has been an alarming increase in violence against Asian Americans. According to Stop Asian American and Pacific Islander Hate, a monitoring group formed last year, there have been more than 2,800 incidents around the US.
“We know this is taking place across the country. It’s in rural areas as well as urban areas,” said Manjusha Kulkarni, executive director of the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council and one of the founders of the group.
In the San Francisco Bay area, there have been shocking acts of violence against elderly Asians, many of them caught on camera.
The most horrific happened on January 28. Vicha Ratanapakdee, 84, was out for a morning walk when a man ran across the street and knocked him to the ground. Mr Ratanapakdee, a grandfather who had just received his Covid-19 vaccine, died from his injuries two days later.
San Francisco police have charged Antoine Watson, 19, with murder and elder abuse. He pleaded not guilty.
In New York City, a 71-yearold woman was punched in the face while waiting for a subway train. It was one of four potentially race-related attacks against Asian Americans in New York last week. Hundreds of New Yorkers attended an anti-violence rally in Manhattan on Saturday.
The Congressional AsianPacific American Caucus held a press conference in Washington on Friday.
“It breaks my heart that today’s press conference is even necessary. But the Asian-American community has reached a crisis point that cannot be ignored,” said Judy Chu, a representative from California.
At the briefing, which was attended by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Ms Chu called for laws to protect Asian Americans.
“We’re calling for a hearing on and the passage of the no-hate act, which would improve hate crime reporting and provide victims with more support to address these crimes,” she said. In some cases, police have been reluctant to classify incidents as hate crimes. Ms Kulkarni said there had been several cases where they chose not to pursue such charges.
She gave the example of the murder of three young Muslim Americans in their home in North Carolina, in 2015. Police refused to charge their killer with a hate crime.
Many blame the recent wave of violence on former president Donald Trump. While in office, Mr Trump repeatedly referred to the virus as the “Chinese virus”, “Wuhan virus” or “kung flu” – language that many say emboldened criminals.
“Sadly, he was active in fomenting hate against our community and put people in harm’s way. We know that from our data,” Ms Kulkarni said. Mr Zhang, 29, has lived in the US for 12 years. He says he noticed an increase in hate towards his community during the Trump administration and particularly at the beginning of the pandemic.
“Starting in late May, we had seen this type of escalation – verbal attacks, physical attacks, property damage,” he said. “So, for months, I’ve seen things escalate, but nothing as bad as November. That was definitely the worst.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if something else happens.”
Mr Zhang and his wife have worked hard to achieve their own slice of the American dream, to be small business owners. Yet that dream has been tarnished by the attacks.
Instead of celebrating their success in managing to keep their cafe open during the pandemic, they have been devising safety plans in case of another attack.
“We came up with one or two plans for emergency situations,” he said. “For example, what if somebody comes back, or he comes back with a gun? Where can we run, which door to lock, which number to call, what to do in that type of situation.”
While in office, Donald Trump referred to the coronavirus as the ‘Chinese virus’ or ‘kung flu’