Hate crimes against the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community continue to rise in the US.
According to Stop AAPI Hate, a non-profit organization, a total of 10,905 hate incidents against AAPI residents were reported from March 19, 2020 to Dec. 31, 2021.
Of the AAPI hate crimes recorded by the organization, 4,632 of those incidents happened in 2020 after the COVID-19 pandemic began, while 6,273 occurred in 2021, an increase of more than 35%.
There is a substantial increase in the volume of hate-related crimes against the AAPI community from 2020 to 2021, especially when compared to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) statistics from the year before the pandemic.
According to the FBI, the number of anti-Asian hate crimes rose from 158 in 2019 to 279 in 2020, an increase of more than 76%, but a significantly smaller amount of hate crimes in total.
“It is no secret that former President (Donald) Trump often blamed the pandemic on the ‘Chinese virus,’” said Rogene Gee Calvert, an AAPI advocate with OCA Greater Houston, a non-profit organization.
“By targeting and blaming a particular group, it focuses attention and responsibility on them, whether or not it is warranted,” Calvert told Anadolu Agency.
“Anti-Asian hate is not new but with this blame by the former president, the pandemic unleashed whatever hatred and animosity that might have been under the surface, to emerge and be normalized to blame ‘Chinese.’”
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