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Due to COVID-19 Asian racism has been at an all time high, especially for Asian elders as they are seen as an easy target. Beginning in February, 2020, there have been way more Asian hate crimes. Since the start of the pandemic reports “of anti-Asian harassment, discrimination and violence received by “the Commision” have seen a major increase. The article states that “if you have faced discrimination” or any form of violence or harassment fill out the online form NYC Commision on HUman Rights or by “calling 212-416-0197.”

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1z6LhZnNfjw40b4rnrVHNMZbiokG9-iJC307fO80FJUI/edit

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A Toolkit for Addressing Anti-Asian Bias, Discrimination, and Hate

During the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, New York City saw a sharp increase in harassment and violence against Asian people and communities, especially Asian elders. Discrimination and harassment on the basis of race, national origin, age, and disability (including having or being perceived to be exposed to COVID-19) is illegal under the New York City Human Rights Law. Since the start of COVID-19, we have seen a sharp increase in instances of hostility and harassment directed at Chinese and other Asian communities related to COVID-19 stigma and misinformation. The NYC Commission on Human Rights, the Mayor's Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes, the Mayor's Community Affairs Unit (CAU), and the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs are coordinating closely to educate the public about their rights and protections in light of COVID-19-related stigma and hate crimes.

There has been a significant, troubling increase in anti-Asian hate crimes and bias incidents since the start of the pandemic. Beginning in February of 2020, the Commission received a sevenfold increase in reports of anti-Asian harassment, discrimination, and violence. It is crucial to note that hate crimes and bias incidents have been found to be vastly under-reported so these numbers only reflect reported incidents.

If you have faced harassment or discrimination in housing, at work, or in any public place, contact the NYC Commission on Human Rights by filling out our online form or by calling 212-416-0197. If you are a victim of or witness a hate crime, call 911. There is language support if you need interpretation services.
See tweet from Mayor's Community Affairs Unit.
In this toolkit you can find the following

Campaigns

Additional Resources

Remarks from Mayor Eric Adams

Campaigns

I Still Believe in Our City

"I Still Believe in Our City" is a public awareness campaign by multidisciplinary artist Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya. The public awareness campaign was developed with the NYC Commission on Human Rights to combat anti-Asian discrimination, harassment, and bias as a result of COVID-19, and launched with the support of the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs. The art featured here is from an upcoming Art Display Case exhibition presented in partnership with the NYC Department of Transportation's Temporary Art Program.

The "I Still Believe in Our City" campaign has graphics available to address anti-Asian racism and harassment.

Suggested posting text

As #COVID19 hit NYC, Asian and Pacific Islanders faced an added threat: racism and hate.
You have a right to live free of discrimination. If you have seen anti-Asian harassment, speak up and report it to us by calling 212-416-0197.

Since the beginning of the #COVID-19 pandemic, NYC has seen a startling increase in harassment and discrimination against Asian communities.
Know this: Our city is unified in its fight against stigma and hate. Learn more at http://nyc.gov/stopcovidhate

Asian New Yorkers: You have the right to be free from harassment and discrimination under the New York City Human Rights Law. If you have been discriminated against or harassed, report it here: http://nyc.gov/reportdiscrimination

Foreign language graphics and posting text available in Traditional Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Tagalog, and Vietnamese.

Download printable posters
13" x 19" (with bleed) 13" x 19" (no bleed) 8-1/2" x 11" (with bleed) 8-1/2" x 11" (no bleed) Download posters in Korean, Traditional Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, and Japanese
We Are More

"We Are More" is an art series that celebrates the resilience and range of Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. The series seeks to break down tired worn out cliches and stereotypes of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and forge in its stead a brilliant, multidimensional identity that encompasses the resilience and range of the communities.

Featuring dynamic visuals, bold typography, and human stories, "We Are More" is on view in Times Square in partnership with Times Square Arts, with subsequent installations appearing in Boston and other cities around the United States.

Learn more and download all the images at morethan.art.

We Are One New York
Download the graphics
Suggested posting text

Coronavirus-related discrimination and harassment is not acceptable. You deserve to be treated with dignity and respect no matter what. If you have been discriminated against or harassed, report it here: http://nyc.gov/reportdiscrimination

There is a lot of anxiety and fear around COVID-19, but one thing is clear: people and places shouldn't be stigmatized for the spread of viruses. If you have been discriminated against or harassed because of COVID-19 fears, report it here: http://nyc.gov/reportdiscrimination

Fight Fear with Facts

Download the graphics
View translated posting text available

Suggested posting text

Discrimination for having a serious illness like #COVID19, or facing harassment because of the belief that you have been exposed to it, is illegal under the NYC Human Rights Law. Report discrimination and harassment to @NYCCHR at 212-416-0197 or online at http://nyc.gov/reportdiscrimination.

No matter who you are, your city will fight for you. Report bias, discrimination, or harassment to @NYCCHR at 212-416-0197 or report it online at http://nyc.gov/reportdiscrimination.

If you or someone you know has faced discrimination or harassment because of your race, religion, immigration status, or disability, contact the @NYCCHR at 212-416-0197 or report is online at http://nyc.gov/reportdiscrimination.

Graphic Available in 21 Languages

Are you or someone you know the victim of harassment? Call 311. If you are the victim of a crime or witness a crime, call 911. NYPD officers are not allowed to ask about your immigration status. Learn more at nyc.gov/stopcovidhate.

Arabic: Square
‫يجهل تقع أنت أو أي شخص تعرفه ضحية للمضايقة؟ اتصل بالرقم 311 .إذا كنت ضحية جريمة أو شاهدت وقوع جريمة، فاتصل بالرقم 911 .ال يسمح لضباط إدارة شرطة مدينة نيويورك بالسؤال عن حالة الهجرة الخاصة بك. تع رف على المزيد من خالل الموقع اإللكتروني nyc.gov/stopcovidhate

Farsi: Square
آیا شما قربانی آزار و اذیت هستید، یا از آشنایان کسی را می شناسید که باشد؟ با 311 تماس بگیرید. اگر قربانی جرم یا شاهد وقوع جرم هستید، با 911 تماس بگیرید. مأموران اداره پلیس نیویورک اجازه ندارند در مورد وضعیت مهاجرتی شما سؤال کنند .
nyc.gov/stopcovidhate

האם אתם או מישהו שאתם מכירים קרבנות של הטרדה? התקשרו אל 311 .אם אתם קרבנות פשע או צופים בפשע , התקשרו אל 911 .קציני משטרת ניו יורק אינם מורשים לשאול אתכם אודות סטטוס ההגירה שלכם. מידע נוסף בכתובת Hebrew: Square

nyc.gov/stopcovidhate

Japanese: Square
あなた、またはあなたの知っている人がハラスメントの被害に遭ってはいません か。311 にご連絡ください。犯罪の被害者、または目撃者の場合は、911 にご連 絡ください。ニューヨーク市警察の職員があなたの滞在資格を尋ねることはあり ません。詳細は nyc.gov/stopcovidhate

Korean: Square
본인이나 아는 사람이 괴롭힘을 받고 있습니까? 311 에 전화하세요. 범죄의 피해자이거나 목격자인 경우, 911 로 전화하세요. NYPD 경찰은 이민 신분에 대해 질문할 수 없습니다. nyc.gov/stopcovidhate 에서 자세히 알아보세요.

Portuguese: Square
Você ou alguém que você conhece é vítima de assédio? Ligue para 311. Se você for vítima de um crime ou testemunhar um crime, ligue para 911. A Polícia de Nova York não pode fazer perguntas sobre seu status de imigração. Saiba mais em nyc.gov/stopcovidhate

Russian: Square
Вы или ваши знакомые стали жертвой притеснения? Позвоните по номеру 311. Если вы стали жертвой или свидетелем преступления, позвоните по телефону 911. Сотрудники Департамента полиции Нью-Йорка (NYPD) не имеют права задавать вопросы о вашем иммиграционном статусе.

‫‫کیا آپ یا آپ کے جاننے والوں میں سے کوئی ہراساں کیے جانے کا شکار ہے؟ 311 پر کال کریں۔ اگر آپسے کوئی فرق کسی جرم کا شکار ہوئے ہیں یا کسی جرم کے گواہ ہیں، تو 911 پر کال کریں ۔ NYPD افسران کو آپ کیتر ک وطن کی حیثیت کے متعلق سوال پوچھنے کی اجازت نہیں ہے ۔ Urdu: Square

nyc.gov/stopcovidhate

Resources for Victims of Hate Crimes

Download the resource graphics series, available in multiple sizes.

Additional Resources

Bystander Intervention Trainings

Bystander intervention is built on the idea that we all play a role in creating safe public spaces for each other when we see our neighbors and community members facing bias, discrimination, or harassment. The NYC Commission on Human Rights and community partners regularly co-host bystander intervention trainings to provide New Yorkers with the tools and strategies to safely respond when they witness bias incidents and discrimination.

Hate and Bias Incidents Related to COVID-19 Fact Sheet

Fact Sheet on Hate and Bias Incidents Related to COVID 19 | Español (Spanish) | عربى (Arabic) | اردو (Urdu) | Kreyòl Ayisyen (Haitian Creole) | 한국어 (Korean) | বাংলা (Bengali) | русский (Russian) | Français (French) | Polskie (Polish) | יידיש (Yiddish) | Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese) | 日本語 (Japanese) | 简体中文 (Chinese -Simplified) | 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)

What is a Hate Crime Fact Sheet

What is a Hate Crime Fact Sheet | Español (Spanish) | عربى (Arabic) | اردو (Urdu) | Kreyòl Ayisyen (Haitian Creole) | 한국어 (Korean) | বাংলা (Bengali) | русский (Russian) | Français (French) | Polskie (Polish) | 简体中文 (Chinese -Simplified) | 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)

Guide for Victims of Hate Crimes

Download the guide to share about resources & services available to victims of hate crimes

Educational Resources

The New York City Department of Education and OPHC have developed for educators across the City a resource guide to materials to prevent anti-Asian and anti-COVID related discrimination that can be incorporated into lesson plans.
COVID-19-Related Anti-Bias Education Resource Guide
Community Resources

Asian American Federation (AAF)

"Stay Safe from Hate: How to Protect Yourself in Threatening Situations" booklet is available in five Asian languages (Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Tagalog, and Vietnamese) and includes verbal de-escalation strategies, bystander techniques, non-violent communication strategies, and physical defense techniques.
Download for free and check it out
Stop AAPI Hate

Do you have a hate incident to report? Help document the recent rise in hate crimes against Asian American elders by going to https://stopaapihate.org/.

Stop AAPI Hate is the nation's leading coalition documenting and addressing anti-Asian hate and discrimination amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Other

If you would like to connect with other community-based organizations in your area, please visit the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice's Victim Services Finder, which is currently available in English, Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, French, Haitian Creole, Korean, Russian, Spanish, and Urdu.

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During the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, New York City saw a sharp increase in harassment and violence against Asian people and communities, especially Asian elders. Discrimination and harassment on the basis of race, national origin, age, and disability (including having or being perceived to be exposed to COVID-19) is illegal under the New York City Human Rights Law.

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The mental health impact on AAPI has been rising every since the start of the pandemic. Hate crimes, harassment, discrimination, insults and jokes such as referring to any AAPI as a virus to violent attacks in schools and other public spaces have been happening all too much. Too help out AAPI communities with there mental health psychologists are looking beyond traditional therapy and operating outside academic and health care settings. They study the roots and the motives of the hate crimes and ways to help bystanders and targets fight back. Research has linked the anti-Asian discrimination to increase in anxiety and depressive symptoms and sleep problems among those who are being targeted. Ways to help AAPI's mental health has been expanding and different methods such as psychoeducational workshops and support groups.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1j0b396rkSZ83G06rIAvpYZb4qBcwmxc1CaexSLqSk_0/edit

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Even before the deadly Atlanta-area spa shootings in March, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) had faced nearly 4,000 hate incidents since the pandemic began, a 149% rise over the previous year ( Stop AAPI Hate National Report, 2021; Anti‐Asian Prejudice March 2020, Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism). Reported episodes range from verbal harassment, insults, and jokes-such as referring to COVID-19 as the "kung flu"-to violent attacks in schools, businesses, and other public spaces.

To meet the needs of AAPI communities, psychologists are looking beyond traditional therapy and operating outside academic and health care settings. They're studying racist incidents, including their roots and outcomes, and designing interventions to help targets and bystanders fight back. Psychologists are even engaged at the policy level, urging cultural sensitivity in Congress and promoting legislation to tackle hate crimes.

"For the Asian American communities that are experiencing this, it just feels like an all-out assault," said William Ming Liu, PhD, a counseling psychologist and chair of the Department of Counseling, Higher Education, and Special Education at the University of Maryland.

Early research has linked the uptick in anti-Asian discrimination to increases in anxiety, depressive symptoms, and sleep problems among those who are targeted. Getting help isn't always straightforward. AAPI individuals are less likely to access mental health services than any other racial group, partly because of the cultural bias against it but also due to a lack of culturally relevant approaches to treatment ( See more on the unmet need for mental health services in the April/May Monitor).

While psychologists are hopeful about the increased focus on the AAPI experience, they also say it won't be easy to reverse decades of relative invisibility in the fight for racial justice.

"It's almost as if the public just discovered that there's anti-Asian bias, discrimination, and hatred in this country," said Derald Wing Sue, PhD, a professor of psychology and education at Columbia University's Teachers College. "What's upsetting is that it took so much violence for people to take the discrimination seriously."

Anti-Asian xenophobia in the U.S.

Anti-Asian xenophobia and bias in the United States dates back to the 19th century, when the Page and Chinese Exclusion Acts shut out would-be immigrants, and peaked during World War II with the forced incarceration of Japanese Americans. To this day, AAPI individuals face harassment rooted in that racist history, including the "perpetual foreigner" stereotype, which tags them as outsiders who will never be truly American (Armenta, B. E., et al., Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, Vol. 19, No. 2, 2013).

"The notion that Asian Americans are foreigners and outsiders makes it easier for them to be seen as 'reasonable' targets where people can direct frustration, anger, fear, and aggression, including the spate of xenophobia and anti-Asian violence we have seen during this pandemic," said Hsiu-Lan Cheng, PhD, an associate professor of counseling psychology at the University of San Francisco.

Another stereotype that contributes to ongoing anti-Asian bias and hate is the "model minority" myth, the idea that Asian Americans are unilaterally successful and well adapted because they are quiet, submissive, and hard-working. In fact, the stereotype was manufactured during the civil rights movement to weaponize Asian Americans against Black Americans, and it masks the diversity of the AAPI experience, said Sherry Wang, PhD, an associate professor of counseling psychology at Santa Clara University.

"It can also create the perception that Asian Americans are not considered to be people of color and that we are immune to racism," Wang said. "Therefore, when people do speak up about it, our experiences are actually dismissed."

In the incidents documented by Stop AAPI Hate, women were targeted more than two thirds of the time, pointing to more complex gendered stereotypes that also contribute to the current violence, said Sue, including the shooting deaths of six Asian American women in Atlanta.

"Asian American women have an image in this society as being exotic, sexually attractive, and domestically oriented," said Sue. "It is very difficult to separate out an individual's sexual proclivities from the way society sexualizes Asian women."

Such stereotypes-and the discrimination and hate they fuel-cause physical and psychological distress. In a spring 2020 survey of 410 Asian Americans, 29% of participants reported an increase in discrimination. Those who faced discrimination were more likely to have problems with anxiety, depression, and sleep than those who did not. Lower levels of social support were also associated with worse physical and mental health (Lee, S. & Waters, S. F., Stigma and Health, Vol. 6, No. 1, 2021).

These problems are compounded by the fact that AAPI individuals are less likely than other racial groups to seek mental health treatment, including inpatient care, outpatient care, or prescription medications ( Racial/Ethnic Differences in Mental Health Service Use Among Adults, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2015).

"There's a tendency to either underreport or not report at all and just hold onto those events, never having a chance to process them," said Richelle Concepcion, PsyD, MPH, president of the Asian American Psychological Association (AAPA).

Current efforts to fight discrimination

Despite the barriers, psychologists are putting their expertise to work through creative research, interventions, and policy efforts.

Between May and October 2020, Wang collected data from more than 200 targets of anti-Asian harassment and hate through an open-ended survey on social media, where she asked questions about context, including who else was present, whether anyone intervened, and what sort of social support victims sought or received afterward.

"A lot of the data on anti-Asian racism tends to focus on perpetrator behavior, rather than the experience of the victim or even the witnesses," Wang said. "By using a trauma-informed approach, we are focusing on the participant's needs, which will hopefully reduce victim-blaming and contribute to more healing."

So far, respondents to Wang's survey have reported very low levels of bystander intervention-which is when a witness intercedes to thwart harassment-and social support, but Sue's research suggests an antidote to that. After decades of studying racial microaggressions, he and his colleagues have identified four major anti-bias strategies that targets, allies, and bystanders can deploy when racist incidents occur in everyday life: educate the perpetrator, make the "invisible" visible, disarm the microaggression, or seek outside support and help.

For example, a common "invisible" microaggression is to laud an Asian American's English proficiency-what appears to be a compliment is actually an insinuation that the target is not a true American. Sue replies: "Thank you, I hope so. I was born here," which calls attention to the statement's xenophobic subtext. In another instance, a target or bystander might "disarm" a racist joke by interrupting to say they do not want to hear the punchline. (American Psychologist, Vol. 74, No. 1, 2019).

"Microaggressions do not occur in isolation from others. If no one intervenes, it fosters a false consensus-that it's OK to make racist comments or jokes," Sue said. "It should not be the sole responsibility of targets to deal with these everyday slights."

Sue and his colleagues also found that targets who intervened felt an increased sense of empowerment, health, and well-being, while bystanders who intervened felt that they were staying true to their moral values.

In addition to intervention by bystanders-especially White allies, who can be particularly effective because they are part of a dominant social group-other people of color can help bring awareness to the AAPI experience, says Wendi Williams, PhD, president of APA's Div. 35 (Society for the Psychology of Women) and dean of the School of Education at Mills College in Oakland, California.

"BIPOC folks know what being targeted because of our race feels like, and we also know how empowering it is to have others join our fight," she said. "Realizing dignity, safety, and respect for all people is our shared struggle."

The campaign for allyship has reached the highest level of U. S. government, where Judy Chu, PhD, a psychologist and representative for California's 27th congressional district released a toolkit to encourage culturally sensitive rhetoric around COVID-19. For instance, the toolkit recommends that lawmakers make statements about specific actions taken by the Chinese government, rather than repeating the term "Chinese virus" or other xenophobic slurs. Chu is also backing the NO HATE Act to give local law enforcement more resources to stop hate crimes and has called for a national awareness day for anti-Asian hate.

"There is so much we can do, but healing the damage will take a societal change," she said. "We need to stop treating people of color as others and tear down the divisions between us that create isolation and mistrust."

Opportunities for impact

To further maximize their impact with AAPI communities, psychologists should focus on interventions that may carry less stigma than one-on-one therapy, such as psychoeducational workshops and support groups, said Cheng. They can also collaborate with community leaders-peer counselors and grassroots organizers, for instance-on mental health advocacy and anti-stigma campaigns. For example, AAPA is collaborating with Asian American immigrant organizations in Northern California to provide guidance on delivering trauma-informed care and culturally adapted services.

Future research efforts should continue to explore new approaches to mental health care that may be more culturally relevant to various AAPI groups. Cheng adds that more work is needed to understand the effects of increasing incidents of online racism, particularly on youth and young adults, who are highly vulnerable to the negative effects of racism on mental health and identity development (Journal of Interdisciplinary Perspectives and Scholarship, Vol. 3, No. 3, 2020).

"The pandemic has showcased inequities-like anti-Asian racism and the racialization of infectious disease-that have existed for a long time in our country," Wang said. "Now that we know that 'business as usual' is racist, what are we going to do about it?"

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The mental health impact of anti-Asian racism

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Even before the deadly Atlanta-area spa shootings in March, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) had faced nearly 4,000 hate incidents since the pandemic began, a 149% rise over the previous year ( Stop AAPI Hate National Report, 2021; Anti‐Asian Prejudice March 2020, Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism).

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On March 16th 2021 a mass shooter in Atlanta shot and killed 8 people 6 of them being Asian. It seemed that he targeted 3 asian owned businesses. A witness also reported hearing him say "I will kill all asians". Even if the shooting in Atlanta were motivated by race it shows the risk and fear Asian people are facing.

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One year after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of new Covid-19 infections is falling, but violent attacks and discrimination against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and people of Asian descent continue to rise. Since March 2020, advocacy groups have recorded nearly 3,800 anti-Asian hate incidents, disproportionately targeting women.

On March 16, a mass shooter in an Atlanta suburb targeted three Asian-owned business, killing eight people, including six Asian women. Police later arrested Robert Aaron Long, a 21-year-old white man, for the shooting. Long reportedly denied the killings were racially motivated, although Korean-language media are reporting a witness heard him say, "I will kill all Asians."

The attacks come as statistics show a 150 percent surge in anti-Asian hate crimes since the start of the pandemic. People of Asian descent are at greater risk of violence and racism than they were a year ago and many live in fear. Women and older people are especially at risk. Asian women experience 2.5 times more anti-Asian violence than their male counterparts while older people of Asian descent reported being physically assaulted 1.5 times more than the overall Asian American and Pacific Islander population.

Hours before the Atlanta shootings, a 77-year-old man was violently attacked in Oakland, California, and in San Francisco a 64-year-old man was stabbed in the face and a 60-year-old man was pushed over and left partially blind. A week prior, a 75-year-old Asian man died after being robbed and assaulted in Oakland while an 83-year-old Asian woman was knocked unconscious while collecting cans in New York.

On March 1, an 18-year-old Asian woman was violently struck and choked in New York City. On March 12, a 26-year-old Asian woman was called racial slurs and sexually assaulted while waiting for a commuter train in San Jose. In September 2020, an Asian woman with a mental health condition was attacked and raped by a group of boys and men in Milwaukee.

Whether or not the killings in Atlanta are shown to be racially motivated, they reveal the gravity of the risk and fear people of Asian descent are facing. In addition to ensuring full and fair investigations and accountability for these crimes, local and national leaders should clearly and forcefully denounce anti-Asian racism, misogyny, and white supremacy; develop plans with Asian American and Pacific Islander and immigrant communities to confront violence; and ensure appropriate resources are available for crisis intervention, long-term safety, and healing.

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Atlanta Shootings Strike Fear into Asian American Community

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One year after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of new Covid-19 infections is falling, but violent attacks and discrimination against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and people of Asian descent continue to rise. Since March 2020, advocacy groups have recorded nearly 3,800 anti-Asian hate incidents, disproportionately targeting women.

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A Stop AAPI Hate activist named Cynthia Choi who co-founded Stop AAPI Hate responds to the hate violence and discrimination towards Asian people. She tries to present to the world that "We are resilient and not easily deterred."

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The past 2 years have been a period anger, fear, and exhaustion for Asian Americans 16% of Asian American adults were victims of hate crimes in 2021, up from 12.5% in 2020 31% worry “all the time” or “often” about being victimized because of their race  and 36% have changed their routines over concerns about personal safety. Even when prompted, 45% are unaware of the Chinese Exclusion Act, and 67% never heard of the murder of Vincent Chin in 1982.

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The past 2 years have been a period of mourning, anger, fear, and exhaustion for Asian Americans: 16% of Asian American adults were victims of hate crimes in 2021, up from 12.5% in 2020; 31% worry "all the time" or "often" about being victimized because of their race; and 36% have changed their routines over concerns about personal safety. Despite the increase in anti-Asian hate crimes in the US, one-third of Americans remain unaware of the situation. The White House's invitation to BTS-the globally popular K-pop group-will go a long way toward raising awareness.

Refusing to stay silent after the mass murder in Atlanta, Georgia, last year that left eight dead, including six women of Asian descent, BTS issued a statement: "What is happening right now cannot be dissociated from our identity as Asians." Despite their inimitable success and stature, the seven performers have not been immune to anti-Asian racism; they know how it feels to have racial epithets hurled at them, be blamed for COVID-19, mocked for the way they look, and dismissed.

Dismissing Asians and Asian Americans comes easily when they are absent from one's imagination: 58% of Americans cannot name a single prominent Asian American; and only two states (Illinois and New Jersey) require Asian American history to be taught in their public schools. Not surprisingly, 42% of Americans cannot name a single policy or historical event related to Asian Americans. Even when prompted, 45% are unaware of the Chinese Exclusion Act, and 67% never heard of the murder of Vincent Chin in 1982.

Vincent Chin was a Chinese American engineer who was beaten to death with a baseball bat by two white autoworkers in Detroit, Michigan. Chin was blamed for the loss of auto jobs amid a rise in Japanese imports and a national recession. The two white men pled guilty to manslaughter, yet each was sentenced to only 3 years of probation and a fine of $3000.

The trope of Asian Americans as the foreign "other" is a product of decades of targeted exclusion. Asians are the only group who have been explicitly excluded from immigrating into the United States because of their race and national origin. Beginning with the Page Act of 1875 that banned women from any "Oriental country" on the presumption that they were prostitutes, laws of exclusion soon expanded to Chinese male laborers with the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. Chinese exclusion was not repealed until 1943, and America's long-standing policy of restricting immigrants from non-European countries was not abolished until 1965 when Congress passed the Immigration and Nationality Act.

Like two-thirds of Asian Americans today, I am an immigrant. I am also a child of immigrants; at the age of 3, I emigrated with my parents from South Korea because my father sought to pursue a PhD in religion and work with a professor at Temple University whose research he admired. My mother-who was trained as a nurse by American missionaries in Seoul-obtained a visa for our family, enabling us to immigrate after the 1965 change in US immigration law.

Soon after entering the PhD program, my father would feel the sting of racism because his spoken English did not match his reading fluency (nor his fluency in German, for that matter). Dismissed as a "foreign student," he had trouble finding professors willing to listen to his ideas and shepherd him into a dissertation project. The dismissal of Asian students is not unusual. In a 2012 study, researchers sent emails to more than 6500 professors in American universities across disciplines, posing as prospective graduate students with names signaling their race and gender. Professors were the least likely to respond to those with Chinese and Indian names. My father earned his PhD in spite of being dismissed, but it took years longer than it should have.

We may not know about their legacy of exclusion or even be able to name a prominent Asian American to be intimately familiar with the pernicious stereotypes of Asians-they are indelibly foreign, and therefore easily mocked and readily disregarded. This is the cost and consequence of failing to include the history of Asian America as an integral part of the history of America. Given their stardom, BTS could easily choose to turn a blind eye and dismiss anti-Asian violence and racism. They choose not to, and neither should anyone else.
Jennifer Lee is the Julian Clarence Levi Professor of Social Sciences in the Department of Sociology at Columbia University, New York, NY, USA. [email protected]

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The past 2 years have been a period of mourning, anger, fear, and exhaustion for Asian Americans: 16% of Asian American adults were victims of hate crimes in 2021, up from 12.5% in 2020; 31% worry "all the time" or "often" about being victimized because of their race; and 36% have changed their routines over concerns about personal safety.

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Brianna Cea, a 24-year-old voting rights organizer based in Brooklyn realized Anti-Asian hate movement is at a crossroads one year after the Atlanta shootings. Atlanta was a breaking point amid two years of growing anti-Asian violence that took the form of brutal attacks on older people, vandalization of businesses, and assaults on the street. Organizers are looking for ways to address the biases that are tied to such violence as well as structural change. The Stop Asian Hate movement has had significant achievements, including passage of a federal hate crimes law.

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Brianna Cea, a 24-year-old voting rights organizer based in Brooklyn, felt a painful sense of recognition after the Atlanta shootings last March.

These shootings - which occurred at three Atlanta-area spas - took the lives of eight people, including six Asian women. The victims included Daoyou Feng, 44, Hyun Jung Grant, 51, Suncha Kim, 69, Paul Andre Michels, 54, Soon Chung Park, 74, Xiaojie "Emily" Tan, 49, Yong Ae Yue, 63, and Delaina Ashley Yaun, 33.

"Seeing people who look like me being targeted and people not recognizing that they were clearly targeted because of what they looked like was hard," Cea, who identifies as Thai, Korean, and Chinese American, told Vox.

Initially, both police and the media appeared to accept claims that the shootings, carried out by a white man, were not racially motivated, even though the attacks focused on Asian-run businesses, and the rationale he gave was that it was a way to reduce sexual "temptation," a statement that speaks to the longstanding objectification of Asian women. The fact that people wouldn't acknowledge the racial aspect of the attacks only added to the trauma of the shootings, Cea emphasizes.

"To me it was compounding that feeling of constantly feeling invisible, reckoning with that in the media and in the workplace," says Cea, who serves as the president of the Asian American advocacy group OCA-New York and the executive director of GenVote. "In the face of this tragedy, you still go back to this narrative of erasure."

For Cea and a number of other Asian Americans, Atlanta was a breaking point amid two years of growing anti-Asian violence that took the form of brutal attacks on older people, vandalization of businesses, and assaults on the street. Fueled by xenophobic sentiment tied to the coronavirus's origins in Wuhan, China, and former President Donald Trump's use of racist terms like "China Virus," anti-Asian harassment soared in 2020 and 2021. According to Stop AAPI Hate, an organization tracking instances of violence and verbal abuse, there were more than 10,900 incidents reported between March 2020 and December 2021.

The devastation of the Atlanta shootings compelled many Asian Americans to speak out in a new way. In the weeks that followed, rallies erupted across more than 50 cities, and hundreds of thousands of people participated in trainings, petitions, and crowdfunding efforts to support victims and condemn anti-Asian violence. Cea was among those to host a vigil in New York City, which sought to memorialize the victims. The use of hashtags like #StopAsianHate and #StopAAPIHate took off on Twitter and Instagram as well.

What began as a tagline on social media ultimately evolved into a national movement, spurring a reckoning across different industries, prompting new policies at the federal and state levels and transforming broader awareness of anti-Asian racism.

Approaching the one-year anniversary of the Atlanta attacks, the Stop Asian Hate movement is at a crossroads.

While it's had significant achievements - including shepherding the passage of a federal hate crimes law, emboldening a new generation of Asian American activists and sparking a dialogue about anti-Asian discrimination - it also faces major questions of where to go next.

Organizers view the policies that have passed as insufficient - and worry that the focus on policing, which some have taken in response to anti-Asian violence, could harm communities of color. As more horrific attacks make headlines, many are still searching for new ways to address the biases that are tied to such violence as well.

"It can't just be about raising awareness and visibility," says Turner Willman, the social media director for the progressive advocacy group 18MillionRising. "It needs to be coupled with structural change."

The origins of the Stop Asian Hate movement

In the spring of 2020, Manjusha Kulkarni, head of the AAPI Equity Alliance; Cynthia Choi, the co-director of Chinese for Affirmative Action; and professor Russell Jeung, head of the Asian American Studies Department at San Francisco State started noticing a concerning trend. Increasingly, they were hearing from friends, colleagues, and news reports about a spike in anti-Asian incidents.

After Kulkarni held a press conference about an Asian American middle schooler in Los Angeles County who was badly beaten by a classmate, the three came together to launch Stop AAPI Hate, a website where people could submit incidents they've experienced.

"We needed firsthand data to prove what was happening in the lived experiences of Asian Americans," Jeung says.

Since its launch, Stop AAPI Hate has seen a steady influx of reports. And other sources have seen a similar uptick: A study by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at CSU San Bernardino found a 339 percent increase in hate crimes toward Asian Americans across several major cities between 2021 and 2020.

This year, the attacks have continued. In recent weeks, Christina Yuna Lee was murdered in New York City's Chinatown, and multiple Asian women were assaulted by the same person in New York City.

"That's a reason we started Stop AAPI Hate. We did not want this to be minimized, we wanted to have the numbers. We didn't want there to be denialism," Choi previously told Vox.

The movement, meanwhile, built slowly. Across the country, people - including the Stop AAPI Hate team - had been raising the alarm about growing anti-Asian sentiment for months, though it didn't get more attention until a series of videos capturing brutal attacks against elderly people went viral in February 2021.

These videos, including one calling attention to the killing of 84-year-old Thai American Vicha Ratanapakdee in San Francisco, were amplified by activists like Amanda Nguyen, a longtime activist against sexual violence, and celebrities including actors Daniel Dae Kim and Daniel Wu, who questioned why there wasn't more coverage and focus on these attacks.

As frustration about these incidents grew, the Atlanta shootings marked an inflection point, unleashing a wave of protests, demonstrations, and public outcry.

The Stop Asian Hate movement changed awareness of anti-Asian racism

One of the biggest achievements of the Stop Asian Hate movement is that it raised awareness about the pervasiveness of anti-Asian racism.

"There has been this narrative over the last many, many years that so many parts of our community don't face marginalization that we know we're impacted by," says Mohan Seshadri, the executive director of the Asian Pacific Islander Political Alliance of Pennsylvania. "We are seeing folks outside of our community waking up to the fact that anti-Asian violence and anti-Asian racism has been baked into our system and our government."

For decades, the discrimination that Asian Americans have faced - including everything from exclusionary immigration policy to outright erasure - has been rendered invisible. In large part, that's been due to the "model minority" myth. First popularized in the 1960s, it implies that all Asian people are successful and well-off, obscuring both the diversity within the group as well as the disparities that people experience.

But public perception of the problem of anti-Asian racism has changed rapidly.

According to a UCLA-led survey, between 2017 and 2021, the percentage of people who believed Asian Americans experienced significant discrimination more than doubled. The survey, analyzed for Vox by Baylor University's Jerry Park and Seattle Pacific University's Joshua Tom, found that 23 percent of people across demographic groups said they believed Asian Americans faced a lot of discrimination in 2021, compared to the 10 percent of people who said the same in a similar poll done after the 2016 election.

In May 2021, following media coverage of anti-Asian attacks, as well as a surge of Stop Asian Hate rallies and protests, 60 percent of people surveyed in an AP-NORC poll also said they believed discrimination against Asian Americans had increased in the last year.

These polls were conducted shortly after interest in the Stop Asian Hate movement took off. And though they don't prove the movement alone was responsible for changing public opinion, other data points speak to the reach of Stop Asian Hate. As NBC News has reported, Google searches for the term "Asian American" were up 5,000 percent in 2021, and searches for the term "Stop Asian Hate" and "Stop AAPI Hate" also increased. Per tracking by the social media analytics firm Zignal Labs, the #StopAsianHate and #StopAAPIHate hashtags were used on Twitter more than 8.4 million and 2.5 million times, respectively, in 2021.

It's also forced a new dialogue across industries. Congress, for the first time in three decades, held a hearing focused explicitly on discrimination toward Asian Americans. Former late-night host Jay Leno apologized for jokes he'd made about Asian people eating dogs, which followed years of ignored complaints. And new attention has been placed on how underrepresented Asian Americans have been in film, television, elected office, and leadership roles relative to their presence in the US population.

There have been policy wins, too

The movement has fueled some policy wins, though activists are divided on whether certain bills actually address the source of anti-Asian discrimination.

At the federal level, Congress approved the Covid-19 Hate Crimes Act last May, which designated an official at the Justice Department to focus on Covid-19-related hate crimes, provided more funding to law enforcement for hate crimes reporting, and bolstered training resources to help police address hate crimes.

At the time of the bill's passage, Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) said that the legislation offered "an important signal that Congress is taking anti-Asian racism and hatred seriously."

Some activists, like Stanley Mark, the senior staff attorney at the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, have also celebrated the law as an important first step. "There is funding there to promote more reporting and strengthen community-based organizations. I do think it's a beginning," Mark says.

Others, however, have been more critical, concerned that the legislation doesn't confront the root causes of bias against Asian Americans, like xenophobic political rhetoric, gaps in education, and a lack of resources across communities. Many worry that it won't deter future hate crimes and that it could lead to unintended problems, such as the overpolicing of Asian American communities and other communities of color.

"The real question is what do we do with that data [the bill collects]? Is it to reinforce a certain narrative that we need more policing?" Jason Wu, co-chair of GAPIMNY-Empowering Queer & Trans Asian Pacific Islanders, one of over 85 Asian American and Pacific Islander advocacy groups that opposed the bill, previously told Vox.

At the state level, several bills have gained more momentum in the last year. In Illinois and New Jersey, lawmakers passed bills requiring schools to teach Asian American history after groups including Asian Americans Advancing Justice Chicago pushed lawmakers to take up the legislation.

"We're reaching out to school districts all across the state to make sure that this happens and that it's taught well," says Grace Pai, the executive director of AAAJ-Chicago. "That requires an army of people paying attention."

In California, the state legislature also passed an API Equity Budget, which allocates $166.5 million in funding to community-based organizations, including those working to help hate crime victims and to collect demographic data about the Asian American and Pacific Islander community in the state.

Moving forward, organizers - including a coalition called Make Us Visible - are continuing to focus on legislation that will require the teaching of ethnic studies and Asian American history in schools, with states including Florida, Ohio, and Connecticut also weighing such curriculums. Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY) has also introduced federal legislation aimed at requiring the teaching of Asian American history in schools, while the White House has reestablished its initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders, which is dedicated to improving language access and data collection.

Asian American organizations have seen a surge in engagement

Another effect of the Stop Asian Hate movement has been a surge of engagement and participation in Asian American organizations in the past year.

Asian Americans Advancing Justice has seen more than 130,000 people participate in bystander trainings it's held via chapters across the country. And according to a rough estimate from Candid, an organization that tracks funding for nonprofits and foundations, $112.4 million was committed in grants to AAPI organizations in 2021, a 16 percent uptick from the $97.2 million committed in 2020.

"The world of philanthropy for many years had neglected Asian American communities," says University of California Davis Asian American studies professor Robyn Rodriguez, whose research focuses on Asian American activism. "There's been a new investment in Asian American communities that hasn't existed before."

A host of new organizations providing mutual aid and local resources have cropped up as well. In New York City, Soar Over Hate is among the new mutual aid organizations that have launched to help provide everything from public safety resources to health care screenings. In Los Angeles, a new group called Seniors Fight Back offers free self-defense classes to elders.

Nationally, a number of new coalitions have formed between Asian American groups, including the Asian American Leader's Table, which sought to help organizations around the country respond to anti-Asian violence in different regions.

"Where community exists now but didn't exist before, that's an immense accomplishment," says Tuấn ĐinhJanelle, the director of field at the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center.

The movement has also spawned a new generation of organizers. Grace Xia, 17, and Nathan Duong, 18, are among those who organized their first protests last year in, respectively, San Mateo, California, and Seattle, Washington. Xia says her protest centered the voices of AAPI women leaders and was attended by 300 people. Duong's rally focused on passing out safety supplies, including emergency whistles and face masks. Both have said they intend to keep up this activism moving forward.

The Stop AAPI Hate movement has strengthened Asian Americans' affinity with AAPI as a political identity as well. Polls have shown a growing number of AAPI adults are now identifying as members of the broader AAPI community.

There are a lot of paths forward for the movement

Sustaining the energy of the movement, and maintaining a cohesive coalition, are the next hurdles that organizers face.

"The challenge is that you have so many Asian and Pacific Islander organizations out there. To get them to collectively work together and share the same voice is very challenging," says Connie Chung Joe, the executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice Los Angeles.

Among the most common goals of what's still a decentralized movement: pushing more education about Asian American history, which activists see as key to changing perceptions and combating the erasure that AAPI people have faced.

But issues like policing are still a source of division. The Stop AAPI Hate organization found that 53 percent of Asian Americans and 58 percent of Pacific Islanders named education as an effective solution to address anti-AAPI sentiment, while 30 percent of Asian Americans and 21 percent of Pacific islanders favored more law enforcement.

"There are some who believe we need to double down on policing and there are some who are very skeptical and vehemently opposed to a solution that focuses on law enforcement because it undermines what we know about the role of policing in Black Lives Matter," says University of Maryland Asian American studies professor Janelle Wong.

There's also a push to broaden the focus of the movement beyond individual incidents of hate that have predominantly affected East Asian and Southeast Asian people to confront structural racism that different Asian American groups have faced. This includes the deportations of Southeast Asian people and the racial profiling of South Asian people as national security threats in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

"What kinds of incidents count is sometimes very narrow, and it ends up leaving people out," says Willman.

To step up the fight against systemic racism, some activists hope that the Stop AAPI Hate movement can develop its own detailed policy agenda, and point to the BREATHE Act - legislation drafted by the Movement for Black Lives and endorsed by progressive lawmakers such as Reps. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) - as a source of inspiration. Among other things, that act would shutter the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency as well as the Drug Enforcement Agency, while divesting federal funds from local law enforcement.

"The Movement for Black Lives has the BREATHE Act, a North Star piece of legislation. I think we need one as an Asian American movement, a North Star," says Sarath Suong, the national director of the Southeast Asian Freedom Network.

Many organizers also believe that working in solidarity with other communities of color is vital to combat a broader system of white supremacy and collectively build political power.

Doing so will require acknowledging biases within Asian American communities - and countering them. Some experts, like UC Davis's Rodriguez, fear media reports that have focused on anti-Asian incidents by Black attackers could activate anti-Blackness among some members of Asian communities.

For now, different groups are approaching next steps in unique ways. The Stop AAPI Hate organization is backing California legislation that would track data about street harassment near public transit, and study it as a public health issue. 18MillionRising is supporting the VISION Act, a California bill that addresses how incarcerated immigrants and refugees are often sent to ICE detention after their release from prison. And organizers in Connecticut have ramped up advocacy for a bill requiring Asian American history in the state's schools.

Certain activists also aim to harness the energy of this movement to mobilize more Asian American voters during the 2022 elections after the group saw sharp increases in turnout in 2020.

"Despite common assumption that Asian Americans don't care about politics, or that they are apolitical, what 2021 has shown us is that's not true," says Indiana University Asian American studies professor Ellen Wu.

Cea, the voting rights activist, and others ultimately hope the energy from Stop Asian Hate can fuel affirmative expressions of Asian Americans' strength and political power.

"It did provide a unified rallying cry for folks, but a year later, it's important that we change the narrative," she says. "If we continue this idea of stopping Asian hate, that perpetuates this idea that we are constant victims of hate. We need to have a more empowering narrative that we are speaking out and fighting back."

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The Stop Asian Hate movement is at a crossroads

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Brianna Cea, a 24-year-old voting rights organizer based in Brooklyn, felt a painful sense of recognition after the Atlanta shootings last March. These shootings - which occurred at three Atlanta-area spas - took the lives of eight people, including six Asian women.

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A year ago on March 16, 2021, a white male with a gun opened fire in three massage spas in Atlanta, Georgia, killing eight women, six being Asian. This tragedy followed an increase in anti-Asian racism during the pandemic. Anti-Asian discrimination in the US dates back to the Chinese Exclusion Act, as passed in 1882 to prevent Chinese laborers from immigrating to the country for a period of 10 years. The Stop AAPI Hate coalition was launched to advance equity, justice and power by dismantling racist.

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Key Takeaways

More than a year has passed since a gunman opened fire in three massage spas in Atlanta, Georgia, killing eight women, six of whom were Asian. This tragedy followed an increase in anti-Asian racism during the pandemic.

Anti-Asian discrimination in the US dates back to the Chinese Exclusion Act, as passed in 1882 to prevent Chinese laborers from immigrating to the country for a period of 10 years, but many lack awareness of this history.

The Atlanta shootings, along with an uptick in anti-Asian violence fueled by COVID-19 and xenophobic political rhetoric birthed the #StopAsianHate movement, but a great deal of work remains to be done to address the issue.

The Increase in Anti-Asian Racism

On March 19, 2020, the Stop AAPI Hate coalition was launched to advance equity, justice and power by dismantling racism and building a movement to address anti-Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) hate.

According to the Stop AAPI Hate Mental Health Report, Asian Americans who have experienced racism are more stressed by anti-Asian hate than the COVID-19 pandemic itself, with 1 in 5 of them reporting racial trauma.

A recently published study in Behavioral Medicine found that Asians experienced more internalized racism and perceived a change in everyday discrimination during the pandemic, as compared to Latinx participants.

Working in Solidarity Against Bigotry

Senior Vice President for the Center for Pan Asian Community Services, Inc. (CPACS), Victoria Huynh, says that she remembers submitting grants on March 16, 2021 when she heard the news of this local hate crime tragedy.

Huynh is Chinese herself and has worked for CPACS for 13 years. She says, "We were worried, angry and scared, for ourselves, and for our family. Everything was just kind of on hold because there was a lot of worry."

Huynh describes how they got on a call the next morning with community organizers and service providers to explore safety concerns. "Our staff were really upset. I had a few come into my office and just burst into tears because they saw their parents, their moms, and their grandmas in the faces in the names of the victims that were killed."

Huynh notes, "We were one of many organizations serving victims of the families right after the shooting, providing social services, so we got a number of calls from those who are directly involved. We have lawyers and community organizers working with families reaching out for assistance."

As an organization, CPACS provides a variety of services, which includes providing rental assistance to the families of victims that lost their primary source of income and covering funeral costs after the shootings, according to Huynh.

In terms of other tangible examples of how support was provided, Huynh explains, "We were connecting individuals with mental health providers because a lot of people calling in really needed someone to talk to."

Huynh highlights, "The hate and violence against the AAPI community didn't just start in Atlanta on March 16. At the height of COVID-19, there were stories from New York and California, so we wanted to listen to our community-based organizers, faith-based leaders, business leaders, etc."

Victoria Huynh

To better understand their needs, CPACS had begun community listening sessions with AAPI college students even before the Atlanta shootings but continued them following the tragedy through which, Huynh notes, they connected with about 250 members of the AAPI communities locally.

Although Huynh was born and raised in the US, she says that she had someone roll down their window and tell her to go back to her country, resulting in part from politicians calling COVID-19 "the China Flu."

To address worry in AAPI communities, CPACS has developed informational resources with strategies in a variety of languages for how AAPI victims of hate crimes, as well as bystanders and allies, can respond after such events.

Huynh highlights, "This Atlanta March 16 event really galvanized the community. It was not only the Atlanta community or Georgia community that was hurting. It was the nation, like AAPI communities and allies who felt the pain from from all that was happening."

Given the impact of this anti-Asian hate crime, Huynh notes that there is a need for sustained investments and resources for families and victims who have yet to come forward to report violence or discrimination.

Huynh says, "We built this public infrastructure to support us. We're not working just in terms of the AAPI community. We are working in solidarity with the African American communities, the Latinx communities, LGBTQ communities, and many other marginalized communities as well."

Cultural Shame May Be Internalized

Ariel Landrum, MA, LMFT, a licensed marriage and family therapist, certified art therapist, and the clinical director of Guidance Teletherapy, says, "According to the American Psychological Association, early research has linked the uptick in anti-Asian discrimination to increases in anxiety, depressive symptoms, and sleep problems among those targeted."

Landrum makes reference to The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, as she says, "Despite a long history of harm to the community, it took publicized violence for people to open their eyes to the plights experienced by the AAPI community. Getting help isn't always straightforward."

Unfortunately, Landrum notes that AAPI individuals are less likely to access therapy, partly because of the cultural bias against receiving mental health services, but also due to a lack of culturally relevant approaches.

Landrum explains, "The AAPI community does indeed experience direct violence, but there needs to be awareness that microaggressions and systemic barriers have also impacted the community, increasing mental unwellness."

One of the struggles experienced that increase feelings of disconnection, misunderstanding, and loneliness are that AAPI members are perpetually seen as outsiders, according to Landrum. "Being painted with the lens that we are forever foreign increases many experiences of microaggressions and causes internalized shame around our culture," she says.

Ariel Landrum, MA, LMFT

- Ariel Landrum, MA, LMFT

As an example, Landrum notes that this is most commonly experienced when non-AAPI members discuss their food. "It is often vilified, described as different, vile, too smelly, too slimy, exotic, and unusual," she says.

Landrum highlights, "AAPI members are not a monolith. As diaspora of our communities, our experiences are even unique in comparison to those who live on the lands our families migrated from."

The more that cultural practices and traditions are celebrated, Landrum notes that it can increase self-appreciation and validation of identity. "Developing support networks with others in our community is also necessary to feel connection and understanding," she says.

Landrum recommends donating to AAPI communities, supporting Asian-owned businesses and getting educated on the current climate of AAPI hate. "Be a present and vocal ally by consciously sharing and raising awareness. Openly take a stand against hate and racism in all forms," she says.

Public Policy Efforts Are Needed

Hopkins-trained psychiatrist and regional medical director for Mindpath Health, Leela R. Magavi, MD, says, "I have evaluated Asian American children and adolescents who have conveyed that they have experienced increased bullying at school."

Magavi notes that some children have shared that they were told to go back to their country, despite being from the US, or hearing that they ruined the country, while adults have shared experiences of discrimination at work.

Model minority stereotypes and stereotypes in general can lead to debilitating anxiety and perfectionism, according to Magavi. "It can exacerbate feelings of imposter syndrome," she says.

Magavi explains, "Imposter syndrome can affect minority groups disproportionately. Stereotypes can cause demoralization and worsen mood and anxiety symptoms. It can also lead to increased cortisol levels, which impact the body in many detrimental ways."

Online support groups, cultural forums and religious events allow individuals to assuage their fears and educate one another in a culturally sensitive manner, according to Magavi. "I attempt to educate all the Asian American families I evaluate in clinic and know in my community and encourage others to join public policy efforts," she says.

Leela R. Magavi, MD

Magavi notes, "There are many Asian American therapists and psychiatrists who are bilingual and trilingual. Individuals can find these clinicians by calling their insurance or using an online therapy directory."

In her practice, Magavi treats patients who may have been traumatized, and warrant antidepressants to treat comorbid anxiety and depressive symptoms. "I ask my patients to differentiate their various emotions; journaling can simplify this often-difficult activity," she says.

Positive affirmations and gratitude letters to oneself could bolster self-compassion, according to Magavi. "Visualizing success and imagining victories could alleviate anticipatory anxiety," she says.

Magavi explains, "Therapy may help undo negative patterns of thinking and behavior. Conversing with peers in support groups could also help many individuals normalize their experiences and process their feelings."

Medical schools and training programs can help by promoting cultural competency, according to Magavi. "Minority groups are often underrepresented in trials, so we need more studies to focus on these individuals," she says.

Magavi explains, "Local and national leaders can validate the disparate ways Asian-American people are responding to this trauma to hopefully regain their trust, so we can prevent further stigmatization and trauma."

What This Means For You

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What's Come Out of the #StopAsianHate Movement a Year After the Atlanta Shootings

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More than a year has passed since a gunman opened fire in three massage spas in Atlanta, Georgia, killing eight women, six of whom were Asian. This tragedy followed an increase in anti-Asian racism during the pandemic.

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Recent racially motivated violence against Asian Americans has added urgency to efforts to protect their health and safety after the COVID-19 pandemic. FBI documented 77 percent increase from 2019 to 2020 in hate crimes against Asian people living in the US. Nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of Asian Americans think racism is an extremely or very serious problem in US, while about half (53 percent) say Asian Americans face a great deal or quite a bit of discrimination in US today. Most Asian Americans (81 percent) think violence against the Asian American community is increasing, while 73 percent say violence poses more of a threat than it did before the pandemic.

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Department of Justice issued a new guidance document on May 20, 2022, the one-year anniversary of the enactment of the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act. This guidance provides an overview of the rise of hate crimes and hate incidents during the pandemic, including a surge of hate incidents against Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities. CRS began meeting with national and local AAPI organizations in early 2020, to address community concerns about the rise in anti-AAPI incidents and individuals safety.

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On May 20, 2022, the one-year anniversary of the enactment of the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, the Department of Justice issued a new guidance document with the Department of Health and Human Services, aimed at raising awareness of hate crimes during the COVID-19 pandemic. This guidance provides an overview of the rise of hate crimes and hate incidents during the pandemic, including a surge of hate crimes and hate incidents against Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities, and several steps that law enforcement, government officials, and others can take to raise awareness of increased hate crimes and incidents, and to use increased awareness as a tool for the prevention of and response to hate crimes.

A Proclamation on Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, 2022

Statement by President Biden Honoring the Victims of the Fatal Shootings in Atlanta

Readout of Justice Department, HHS Listening Session on the Bipartisan COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act with Organizations Representing Communities Impacted by Hate

Statement by the Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Leading a Coordinated Civil Rights Response to Coronavirus (COVID-19)

President Biden Announces Additional Actions to Respond to Anti-Asian Violence, Xenophobia and Bias
News on Anti-AAPI Bias Incidents and Hate Crimes
The Hate Crimes News page is updated regularly with press releases and statements from the Department of Justice. Below are press releases related to recent anti-Asian bias incidents and hate crimes.

Ohio Man Charged with Federal Hate Crime for Physically Assaulting Asian American Student Based on Race

Texas Man Sentenced on Hate Crime Charges for Attacking Asian Family

District Man Pleads Guilty to Bias-Related Attack of Asian Family in Northwest Washington

A Proclamation on Asian American, Native Hawaiian, And Pacific Islander Heritage Month, 2022

California Man Charged with Bias-Motivated Interference for Disrupting Demonstration Against Asian Hate

Statement by President Biden Honoring the Victims of the Fatal Shootings in Atlanta

Texas Man Pleads Guilty to Hate Crime Charges for Attacking Asian Family

Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke Delivers Remarks at the Inaugural Meeting of the President's Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders

Building Community Trust Is Key to Improving Hate Crime Reporting

News on Anti-AAPI Bias Incidents and Hate Crimes in 2021

Acting U.S. Attorney for Eastern District of Pennsylvania and Philadelphia Police Commissioner Discuss Collaborative Asian Community Safety Initiative

Texas Man Indicted for Sending Violent Threats to Prominent Maryland Doctor Who Had Been a Vocal Advocate of the COVID-19 Vaccine

Readout of Justice Department, HHS Listening Session on the Bipartisan COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act with Organizations Representing Communities Impacted by Hate

NYPD and FBI New York Fight Asian Hate with New Joint Public Awareness Campaign

District Woman Sentenced to Prison for Hate Crime Targeting Member of the Asian Community

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California Shares Resources for Reporting Anti-Asian Hate Incidents

Improving DOJ's Efforts to Combat Hate Crimes and Hate Incidents

Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta Speaks in Support of AAPI Day Against Bullying and Hate

Remarks by FBI San Francisco Special Agent in Charge Craig Fair on Combating Hate Crimes in Oakland Chinatown

U.S. Attorney's Office for Eastern District of Virginia Commemorates Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month

The Justice Department's Hate Crimes Enforcement and Prevention Initiative Announces Newly Translated Online Hate Crimes Resources

U.S. Attorney's Office, FBI and ADL to Host Discussion on Hate Crimes, Hate Incidents and Discrimination Against Asian Americans

U.S. Attorney's Office and FBI Urge Public to Report Hate Crimes

Southern Illinois U.S Attorney's Office and FBI Springfield Call on Public to Report Hate Crimes

Statement by the Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Leading a Coordinated Civil Rights Response to Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Joint Statement on Hate Crimes and Acts of Bias Against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders

Statement of Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig Regarding Bias-Motivated Violence and Other Civil Rights Violations

Acting U.S. Attorney Mark J. Lesko, FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge and Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent-in-Charge Urge the Public to Report Hate Crimes

Federal Law Enforcement Leaders Address Hate Crimes and Racism Targeting the AAPI Community

Acting U.S. Attorney Phil Talbert Offers a Statement of Support for the Asian American Pacific Islander Community Amidst Rising Anti-AAPI Hate Crimes and Incidents

U.S. Attorney's Office and FBI Condemn Acts of Violence and Discrimination Targeting Asian Americans

Top Federal Prosecutor in Los Angeles and Head of FBI Field Office Denounce Hate Crimes and Racism Targeting Asian Americans

Acting U.S. Attorney Raj Parekh and FBI Leaders Condemn Acts of Violence and Discrimination Against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders

Acting U.S. Attorney and FBI Special Agent in Charge Condemn Anti-Asian Bias and Discrimination

San Diego Law Enforcement Leaders Condemn Anti-Asian Hate Crimes

Statement of Acting U.S. Attorney Gonzalez on Anti-Asian Hate Crimes and Bias Acts

Acting United States Attorney for the District of Columbia Channing D. Phillips' Statement on Hate- and Bias-Related Crimes against Persons of Asian Descent

Statement of Acting U.S. Attorney Gorman on Anti-Asian Hate Crimes and Bias Acts

Readout of The Department of Justice's Efforts to Combat Hate Crimes Against Asian American and Pacific Island Communities

Acting Deputy Attorney General John Carlin Delivers Remarks on Domestic Terrorism

Statement by Pamela Karlan, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Rights Division

News on Anti-AAPI Bias Incidents and Hate Crimes in 2020

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Addressing Hate Crimes Against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders

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On May 20, 2022, the one-year anniversary of the enactment of the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, the Department of Justice issued a new guidance document with the Department of Health and Human Services, aimed at raising awareness of hate crimes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Philip Lim a top American fashion designer and a figurehead of the #StopAsianHate movement said that The COVID-19 pandemic saw a rise in attacks, both verbal and physical, against Asians and people of Asian descent. #StopAsianHate was born out of individuals like myself in the AAPI community saying No enough is enough. The coalition “Stop AAPI Hate” documents and addresses anti-Asian hate and discrimination. From March 19, 2020 to December 31, 2021, the coalition reported a total of 10,905 hate incidents against AAPI persons, with a majority of incidents having taken place in public streets and businesses.

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“If we stay silent, the violence continues”

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The COVID-19 pandemic has fuelled anti-Asian racism. The #StopAsianHate movement calls to show up, speak out and rebuild societies that celebrate and include everyone.