Anti-Asian violence continues in US
In latest incident, Chinese pastry chef brutally assaulted in New York, leaving him in coma
Ma Yaopan is a talented pastry chef who went to the United States from China with his wife a couple of years ago to work in a New York restaurant. Now he is fighting for his life — the latest victim of anti-Asian violence in the city.
Ma, 61, lies in a coma in Harlem Hospital after being repeatedly stomped on a street in East Harlem in Manhattan on the night of April 23.
His wife, Chen Baozhen, told their two children, who live in China, that their father may not survive, the New York Post reported on April 25.
Ma suffered a cerebral contusion and facial fractures and is in a medically induced coma.
“They are very concerned about their father,” Chen said in Cantonese through an interpreter. “I am very worried my husband will not make it.”
Chen, 57, said her husband lost his job as assistant chef and dishwasher at a Chinese restaurant in Lower Manhattan in September. New York’s restaurant industry has been decimated by the coronavirus pandemic, so he began collecting cans and bottles for recycling to get by.
“My husband made fancy desserts in China,” Chen said. “We came here (from Guangdong province) for the job opportunity two years ago. He lost his job because of COVID-19. So he did whatever he could to help support us and pay bills.”
Ma was not eligible for federal assistance because of his immigration status, Chen told New York Daily News.
“We weren’t qualified for (unemployment compensation), so only I’ve been working during the pandemic,” Chen said. “He was just trying to help out the family. He had no bad intentions. He wouldn’t cause trouble with other people in his neighborhood.
Ma was collecting bottles and cans and had a shopping cart full of them near Third Avenue and 125th Street when he was stomped from behind at least six times. The attack was captured on video.
“Once on the ground, the individual kicked the victim multiple times in the head before fleeing the location on foot to parts unknown,” the New York Police Department said in a statement to newsweek.com.
“My husband would call me daily to make sure I knew he got home safely. But that night he didn’t call me, so I was worried,” Chen told the Daily News. “I called him, and the police picked up . ... The police told me what happened.”
Police were called by a bus driver who saw Ma lying unconscious in the street.
The suspect in the attack is described as a man with a dark complexion. He was wearing a black jacket, black pants, white sneakers and a multicolored cap.
The assault on Ma was the second brutal attack on an Asian person within a month on a New York street. On March 29, a 65-year-old Filipina was kicked multiple times on a Midtown Manhattan street outside an apartment building as two doormen watched, but did not intervene.
A suspect, a convicted murderer, was later apprehended.
In Ma’s case, the NYPD’s Hate
Crimes Unit is investigating but has not yet determined if he was targeted because of his race.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Twitter: “This is outrageous. Make no mistake, we will find the perpetrator and they will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Ma’s wife is concerned about her own safety.
“I am scared,” said Chen, a home healthcare aide for the elderly. “I need to go back to work … I want the police to capture the person as soon as possible.”
“We are completely in shock, terrified and scared and frustrated,” Ma’s niece told ABC-TV in New York. “My uncle is a very quiet person, very hardworking. He’s not the person to cause trouble.”
People outside the family have set up several GoFundMe pages to help Ma and Chen.
As of late in the evening on April 25, one of the campaigns to raise money for the family had collected $20,150.
The organizer, Pam Yang, wrote: “I’m Pam, a Chinese-American NYC native, who just finished co-leading an AAPI (Asian American Pacific Islander) ride for justice when I saw this story. I’m heartbroken and ... (angry) and raising funds to support his medical bills, help his family make ends meet AND give them some financial relief while they deal with this horrific tragedy.”
The GoFundMe page relates that Ma and his wife moved to Harlem after their apartment in Manhattan’s Chinatown burned down.
Another Gofundme campaign organized by Howard Chan in Los Angeles had raised $1,920 as of April 25.
At least 62 anti-Asian incidents were reported to the NYPD between Jan 1 and April 18, compared with 12 in the same period last year.
The advocacy group Stop AAPI Hate has recorded 3,795 separate incidents, including verbal and physical abuse, between March 19, 2020, and Feb 28, 2021.
A recent Pew Research Center poll found that 81 percent of Asian Americans believe violence against them is increasing, while only 2 percent think it is declining.