Los Angeles, California–Since its official launch on March 19, 2020, the STOP AAPI HATE reporting center has received 673 reports of coronavirus discrimination from Asian Americans across the country.
Emerging trends include:
- Almost 100 reports daily, with 5.5% from limited English speakers
- Women are three times more likely to report harassment than men
- Asian Americans of different ethnicities are being racially profiled; 61% of respondents are non-Chinese
- Verbal harassment/name calling is the most commonly reported type of discrimination, making up ⅔ of all reports
- With shelter-in-place policies, Asian Americans are more likely to face coronavirus discrimination in public and at businesses, especially grocery stores, pharmacies and big box retail stores
Asian Pacific Planning and Policy Council (A3PCON), Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA) and San Francisco Asian American Studies Department, the co-founders of the site, have issued the first weekly report, which can be found here.
We encourage individuals who have experienced hate as a result of COVID-19 to continue to report at www.a3pcon.org/stopaapihate. The incident report form is available in English, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese and Thai, with Khmer, Tagalog and a few South Asian languages coming soon. The lead organizations are working with public, private and other community based organizations to develop targeted education and media campaigns, to provide resources for impacted individuals and to advocate for policies and programs dedicated to curtailing racial profiling.
“The data from our reporting center–both the numbers and the self-reported narratives– clearly reveal that Asian Americans are being racially profiled as threatening, disease-carriers. Not only are Chinese Americans blamed and mistreated, but Asian Americans of other ethnic backgrounds are also being targeted,” stated Russell Jeung, Ph.D., chair and professor of Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University.
“These numbers do not detail the hate and vitriol that Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) are experiencing. And they don’t make evident the fear and anxiety that community members feel when they leave their homes to buy groceries, pick up prescriptions, or just leave their homes for a walk in their neighborhoods, said Manjusha Kulkarni, Executive Director of Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council (A3PCON).
Cynthia Choi, Co-Executive Director of Chinese for Affirmative Action, added, “Clearly the rise in hate incidents are heartbreaking and disturbing and point to a need to counter misinformation and bigotry. We need to make significant investments in public education efforts and to take stronger stances against all forms of hate.”
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