Seeming increase in Asian hate crimes across the US

After receiving messages from Filipinos expressing concern about their relatives and the situation in the United States on the seeming increase in violent hate crimes against Filipino Americans, we were compelled to grant an interview with Joel Reyes Zobel and Weng Salvacion over dzBB.

Over the past three months, there have been seven cases of violence against members of the Filipino community in New York, many of them in the Manhattan area in New York City, with authorities investigating if these are assault and robbery cases or hate crimes. One of the most vicious attacks was against a 67-year-old Filipina who was punched in the head and face more than 125 times, kicked and stomped on and spat at as she was entering her apartment building, with evidence indicating that the perpetrator – who has since been arrested and charged with attempted murder – uttered a racial slur as the victim passed by.

According to the New York City Police Department, there has been a 361 percent increase in anti-Asian hate crimes in 2021, jumping from 29 cases in 2020 to 85 last year. In January, a woman of Asian descent was pushed into the path of an oncoming subway train in Times Square – a horrific, unprovoked attack. Members of the Asian American community are now living in fear and anxiety, prompting a lawmaker to call on New York Governor Kathy Hochul to declare a state of emergency.

From March 2020 to December 2021, there have been close to 11,000 cases of violence against Asian Americans, but the number could be higher because not all incidents get reported to the police, or are not classified as hate crimes. A preliminary report from the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University in San Bernardino showed that hate crimes in major cities across the US that include New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Denver, Dallas and several others increased by 46 percent last year. More significantly, hate crimes against Asian Americans increased by 339 percent in 2021, the preliminary report indicated.

While we are not certain if all the incidents of violence can indeed be classified as hate crimes, there is a high possibility that they may indeed be hate crimes because the attacks against Filipinos and other people of Asian descent became more prevalent since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Millions of Americans became jobless, many lost their homes and they were angry at, and frustrated by, the restrictions imposed on travel and mobility due to the pandemic. Not surprisingly, this frustration and anger has spilled over to Asians, whom they blame for spreading COVID-19 in the United States.

According to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting economic fallout has caused significant hardship, with unemployment remaining high throughout 2020. While improved employment and substantial relief measures helped reduce the high levels of hardship, there was still considerable unmet need towards the end of 2021, with 20 million households reporting that they had little to eat while 10 million households were behind on rent.

Last Sunday, a 73-year-old Filipino who was crossing a street in Midtown Manhattan was violently pushed to the ground and kicked several times, with the perpetrator attempting to get the victim’s wallet. The attacker – who has since been arrested and charged with attempted robbery, attempted grand larceny and assault – was a homeless man.

In 2017, there were an estimated 550,000-plus homeless people in the US, but the COVID-19 pandemic has become an added complication to the problem as it may have caused more Americans to become homeless and desperate so they resort to stealing, snatching and other crimes, also becoming increasingly violent in the process.

Liberal cities such as New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland in Oregon and Seattle in Washington have long allowed the homeless to build makeshift tents and shelters on sidewalks, roadways, storefronts and public spaces. However, authorities are now starting to crack down on homeless encampments and clearing up tents along certain roadways – an initiative that has also become a political issue due to the complexity of the situation because there are mental health and other issues attached with homelessness.

As I shared with Joel and Weng during my interview with dzBB, many hate crimes are committed by people with mental health issues, who just shove victims randomly or beat them up without any apparent provocation. A number of these attacks have occurred in subways, so we have been advising our kababayans in the US to always have a companion with them if possible.

Our New York Consul General Elmer Cato, known to be creative and imaginative in solving problems, initiated the conduct of webinars on self-defense and situational awareness to heighten vigilance among members of the Filipino community and educate them on ways to protect themselves outside their homes.

When violent assaults against Filipino-Americans began to increase in March last year, we immediately sent diplomatic notes to the State Department together with our ASEAN colleagues who experienced similar problems. The White House weighed in, too, with the federal government deploying undercover agents especially in subways. The local police are doing their best in doing more but it is also difficult to categorize an attack as a hate crime when there is no clear evidence that a perpetrator was motivated by racial hatred.

For our part, we have instructed our consulates to continue helping our kababayans in every way possible – constantly reminding them of always being conscious and mindful of their surroundings.

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