A new study released Wednesday found that 49% of Asian Americans in the United States were victims of hateful acts last year, but many of these incidents went unnoticed due to reduced national monitoring and a lack of reporting to law enforcement.
A series of mass hate crimes early in the COVID-19 pandemic sparked national outrage as anti-Asian attacks, but a new investigation published exclusively by USA TODAY on Wednesday finds that Asian American communities face more widespread and invisible forms of hate in places from parking lots and public transportation to workplaces and universities.
The report, by Stop AAPI Hate and the University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Center, is set to be released at a press conference with members of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus on Wednesday afternoon in Washington, D.C., and surveyed 1,005 Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander adults across the U.S. The report found that while nearly half of respondents faced discrimination in 2023, they also combated it at unprecedented levels.
Rep. Judy Chu, chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, told USA Today that the report will help fill a “gaps” in the data and inform lawmakers and the public about future trends in anti-Asian discrimination. Chu noted a spike in anti-Asian hate incidents when COVID-19 first spread, saying former President Donald Trump “put a target on our backs” with his inflammatory rhetoric.
But even after the wave of attacks early in the pandemic subsided, Chew said the community continues to face shocking levels of discrimination.
“Since then, the crimes and hate incidents have become less prominent, but they still exist,” Chu explained. “They still happen, which is why it’s important for Stop Asian American Hate to release this report.”
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“It didn’t start or end with COVID.”
Stephanie Chan, director of data and research for Stop Asian American Hate, told USA Today that the rhetoric surrounding COVID-19 has put a spotlight on a history of racism against the Asian community. Chan said hate speech against Asians has shifted from pandemic-related accusations to more general xenophobic and anti-immigrant rhetoric.
“This doesn’t start or end with COVID-19, we just need to address the real root causes of anti-Asian and anti-Pacific Islander racism in the United States,” Chan said.
The survey also showed that racism was the top issue for the Asian American community, with 85% saying they were concerned about the racial climate in the United States.
Manjusha Kulkarni, co-founder of Stop Asian American Hate, said racism against Asian Americans may be shifting from personal attacks early in the pandemic to an increase in systemic discrimination, with a new survey finding that 51% of victims experienced hate in business, workplace, housing, health care, education or government settings.
“Hate is a bigger issue than just hate crimes,” Kulkarni said.
The House passed a bill this month that would revive the China Initiative, a Trump-era surveillance program designed to prosecute people deemed spies for China. The Justice Department repealed the measure in 2022, saying it promoted anti-Asian bias and hindered U.S. efforts to attract top scientists for critical business and academic research.
Chu called the bill a “new McCarthyism” and said Chinese-American scholars have lost their jobs over unfounded claims that they are Chinese spies.
In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law last year that bars anyone with ties to the Chinese government, political parties or business entities, as well as anyone “resident” in China who is not a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident, from buying real estate in Florida. The U.S. Department of Justice said in court filings last summer that the law violates the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. The ban remains in effect.
But assaults against individuals in the Asian American community remain widespread, with 26% of respondents reporting physical assaults. This month, an Indiana woman pleaded guilty to a federal hate crime for repeatedly stabbing a Chinese American teenager on a city bus last year while yelling derogatory remarks.
Stop Asian American Hate also highlighted the rise in hatred against South Asians since the Gaza war began. In October, prosecutors said a minor altercation in Queens, New York, escalated into a nasty hate crime when a driver called an Indian Sikh man a “turban guy” and hit him in the head, knocking him down.
“We are not going to take this lying down.”
The new survey aims to paint a complete picture of racism against Asian and Pacific Islanders. For example, the survey asked respondents about criminal acts such as physical assault, property damage and violent verbal threats. But it also explored non-criminal aggression, such as racist slurs that are protected by free speech rights and institutional discrimination.
“Stop Asian American Hate” was launched amid a series of high-profile hate incidents at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. Three groups — Chinese Affirmative Action Movement, San Francisco State University’s Department of Asian American Studies, and the AAPI Equality Alliance — launched the coalition as a hate incident reporting center for Asian Americans. It received 735 reports of hateful acts against Asian/Pacific Islanders in 2023, but a new study says that number is just the “tip of the iceberg.”
The report found that many hate incidents are not officially recorded: almost half of respondents said they had not told anyone about the incident, and even fewer – 16% – had reported it to the police.
The report found that Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders may not report crimes to authorities due to a lack of trust in law enforcement responses, a lack of information and fear of retaliation. Chang also noted that some members of the community face language barriers when communicating with police.
The FBI released its 2023 crime report this week, which showed the overall number of hate crimes was up slightly from the previous year. The data is compiled from incidents reported to law enforcement agencies across the U.S. Some of the discrimination captured in the Stop AAPI Hate survey is not illegal, such as nonviolent verbal attacks or refusal of service at businesses, and is unlikely to be captured in law enforcement data.
Stop AAPI Hate plans to conduct an annual survey to get a full picture of discrimination against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
Chang said the group is also seeing an unprecedented wave of action to combat hate, with nearly three in four Asian Americans taking part in anti-racism efforts, including educating others, attending protests, engaging with lawmakers and donating to racial justice organizations.
“It’s encouraging to see that we’re not sitting back on this issue and that Asian Americans and Asian American communities are actually taking action at a level that we’ve never seen before,” Chan concluded.
