More attacks vs. Asian Americans reported in US

A series of attacks against Asian Americans were being reported recently in different parts of the United States.

It was in January this year when an 84-year-old man from Thailand died after he was violently shoved to the ground in San Francisco. Based on the video footage obtained by the media, the victim was seen having a morning walk in the Anza Vista neighborhood on January 28 when a man ran towards him and abruptly pushed him to the ground. A 19-year-old man was reportedly arrested and charged with murder and elder abuse for what San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin earlier called “a horrific, senseless attack.”

A few days later, another attack against a 91-year-old man in Oakland’s Chinatown was reported. According to Oakland Police Department, the elderly man was walking along Harrison Street on January 31 when a man behind him, who was seen wearing a hoodie and face mask, pushed him to the ground.

It was not only the 91-year-old man who was attacked. The police said the same assailant also approached a 60-year-old man and 55-year-old woman, who were walking along the same area, and pushed them to the ground, making the woman lose her consciousness. The three victims were brought to a local hospital for their injuries. A 28-year-old man was reportedly arrested for these street attacks.

On February 3, a 61-year-old Filipino man was slashed in the face with a box cutter on the New York City subway. In a report by New York Daily News, the Filipino man noticed that his tote bag which he placed on the train floor was being kicked by another man. The victim decided to shift away from the man but the latter kicked his bag again and then took out a box cutter, slashing the victim’s face from cheek to cheek.

The victim got off the train and sought help from an MTA booth worker who contacted 911. The suspect was described as between 20 to 30 years old who was last seen wearing a black jacket, red hoodie, blue jeans, and red bandana.

ABC 10 News reported on February 15 that an elderly Filipino woman was attacked by a man on a San Diego trolley last Monday, allegedly punching her for no reason. The report said the 35-year-old suspect is currently in custody as confirmed by the police.

These were just among the many reported attacks against Asian Americans recently.

Stop AAPI Hate, a coalition documenting and addressing anti-Asian hate and discrimination amid the pandemic, previously reported that it received over 2,808 firsthand accounts of anti-Asian hate from 47 states and the District of Columbia, with 126 of those accounts involving Asian Americans over 60 years old. The group collected reports from March 2020 through December 2020.

In its February 9 news release, Stop AAPI Hate noted that 70.9 percent of those incidents were cases of verbal harassment, 21.4 percent were shunning or avoidance, 8.7 percent were physical assaults, and 6.4 percent were incidents of being coughed or spit on.

The coalition’s co-founders said in a statement that these incidents should serve as a reminder that “urgent action must be taken to protect our AAPI community from hate, discrimination and violence.”

“It is up to all of us — businesses, the government, and community partners — to come together and immediately support victims and families affected by these incidents, and work together to create long-lasting solutions that empower our communities with resources, support and education,” they added.

U.S. President Joe Biden last month directed federal agencies “to combat resurgence of xenophobia, particularly against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, that we’ve seen skyrocket during this pandemic.”

He also asked the Department of Justice “to strengthen its partnership with the Asian American and Pacific Islander community to prevent those hate crimes” and the Department of Health and Human Sevices “to put out best practices for combatting xenophobia” in their COVID-19 response.