By Sunita Sohrabji. Ethnic Media Services.
A new report from the California Department of Justice notes that hate crimes against Asians have dropped dramatically since last year. But civil rights advocates say the data does not accurately reflect the threats the community continues to face.
Hate crimes against Asian Americans dropped 43 percent in 2022 in California, according to a new report from the state Department of Justice. But AAPI community leaders believe the data represents an undercount.
In 2022, the Justice Department counted 140 hate crimes against Asian Americans, compared with 247 in 2021. The drop comes amid an overall 20 percent increase in hate crimes in California, from 1,763 in 2021 to 2,120 in 2022.
As in previous years in California, the most affected ethnicity is African-Americans who suffered 652 attacks in 2022, an increase of 27 percent over the previous year. Hate crimes against the LGBTQ+ community are also on the rise, with an increase of almost 39 percent. While attacks against transgender people increased 56 percent in the progressive golden state.
bullying and rejection
Data from the Stop AAPI Hate web portal indicates that more than 11,000 acts of hate against Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders have been reported to the site since March 2020, including discrimination, intimidation, harassment, rejection or aggression. Many of these acts of discrimination may be civil rights violations, but still go unreported.
A new report from the organization finds that more than half of AAPIs have experienced some form of discrimination.
Manju Kulkarni, who co-founded Stop AAPI Hate in 2020 with fellow civil rights activists Cynthia Choi and Russell Jeung, told Ethnic Media Services that he has not seen a decrease in the number of hate incidents reported to the portal in 2022. "The numbers reported to us have remained fairly stable," he said.
Elections 2024
The community continues to live in fear, Kulkarni said. "We have significant concerns about the 2024 election in the current political landscape, and we believe that hate crime and incidents will continue to be a problem."
Many AAPIs do not report hate attacks, Kulkarni said, adding that they fear law enforcement or protect their immigration status. Seeing a report of a hate crime in the media sometimes alerts them to reconsider their own brush with hate and whether it may have been a crime, too, he said.
Kulkarni also said that most of the reports on the portal consist of hate incidents that do not involve a criminal element. “Most law enforcement agencies do not have to collect hate incident data, report it, or make referrals to other agencies. It creates a gap for community members who don't know where to turn," he stressed.
spy balloons
Hate crimes and incidents against the AAPI community have risen dramatically since 2020, due in part to politicians on both sides of the aisle vilifying China as "public enemy number 1." The perception that China was responsible for the Covid-19 pandemic, a damaged trade relationship, and allegations that Chinese "spy balloons" were flying over the US in East Asia.
Discrimination against Chinese Americans has taken many forms beyond hate crimes and hate incidents. Several states have attempted to re-enact the 1913 Foreign Land Law, which prohibited Chinese citizens from purchasing land. In Florida, legislation went into effect on July 1 that prohibits Chinese citizens from buying homes or farmland near military installations or loosely defined "critical infrastructure." A similar bill died in the Texas State Legislature this spring, but other states are considering their own bans.
A bill being considered by the Louisiana state Legislature does not allow Chinese citizens to rent apartments or houses.
API Stock Budget
In 2021, Governor Gavin Newsom introduced the $165 million API Equity Budget, allocating funds to community-based AAPI organizations and media outlets with the goal of stopping anti-Asian hate crimes and incidents , and also to change stereotypical narratives about the community. The governor allocated an additional $40 million to the fund in this year's budget.
“We are starting to see the impact of the grant,” Kulkarni told EMS, adding that direct intervention programs are in full swing. Programs like the CA vs Hate Hotline, where a victim can report a crime and receive free support services, LA vs. Hate, which provides similar services, as well as the Los Angeles Department of Civil and Human Rights and Equity, provide the necessary resources and opportunities for accountability and redress, he said.
Additionally, a survey conducted by Stop AAPI Hate in collaboration with the University of Chicago's National Center for Opinion Research found that the AAPI community trusts community organizations more. “Funding is essential for intervention and prevention,” he explained.
NORC survey results will be released in August.
You can consult the original note by clicking here.
This publication was supported in whole or part by funding provided by the State of California, ayou administeredred by the California State Library.
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