Cynthia Choi of Stop AAPI Hate and Chinese For Affirmative Action joins us to talk about scapegoating, the data collected on these verbal and physical attacks, and the pressing need for community-led, intersectional public safety initiatives.

In a troubling report released last month, Stop AAPI Hate said 126 of the incidents involved Asian Americans over the age of 60. “These violent assaults have a devastating impact on our community as they are part of an alarming rise in anti-Asian American hate during the COVID-19 pandemic,” co-founders of STOP AAPI Hate said in a February 9 statement.

“Something is changing in this generation of Asian Americans," said Lin. "We are tired of being told that we don’t experience racism, we are tired of being told to keep our heads down and not make trouble,” Lin, who plays for the NBA G League’s Santa Cruz Warriors, wrote in an Instagram post Thursday. “We are tired of being invisible, of being mistaken for our colleague or told our struggles aren’t as real.”

California is one of the most linguistically diverse regions in the world nearly a year into the pandemic, that distinction continues to complicate attempts by state officials to disseminate critical information to all Californians. So far, the state provides materials in 18 languages and 10 indigenous dialects spoken in Latin America.

Leaders in the Asian community want the tech industry in particular to be more vocal and take sustained action, owing to the outsized power and influence it wields, its large Asian employee and customer base and its dominance of the San Francisco Bay Area, home to a large Asian population.

“Whenever there has been a public health crisis or an economic downturn, Asians and other communities have been the scapegoat,” explained CAA'sCynthia Choi, “and it really speaks to the status that we have as being forever foreigners, perpetual foreigners and perpetual potential threats.”

The U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021,, if passed, would offer a pathway to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants. “The good thing about this bill is that it is inclusive and it addresses the concerns of all immigrants,” said panelist Amy Lee, “whether they’re DACA recipients trying to apply for jobs, or immigrants trying to petition their siblings or parents in other countries to come to the United States.”

Amid a spike in racist attacks during the pandemic, storytellers have a responsibility to spotlight claims and support local leaders who can make a difference at the community level, the 'Daily Show' correspondent writes.