California has pledged $ 1.4 million to help Asian Americans report hate incidents and track attacks after a series of cases, including the murder of an 84-year-old man, shook the country. nation in recent weeks.
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday signed the most important budget law on the AB85 pandemic budget, which includes $ 1.4 million for researchers at the Asian American Studies Center at the University of California at Los Angeles and the Stop AAPI website Hate.
California’s move to fund Asia-led community initiatives is markedly different from responses in other parts of the country, such as New York City’s commitment to strengthening policing.
The Stop AAPI Hate site was launched almost a year ago by a coalition of advocacy groups, as the COVID-19 pandemic and its alleged origins in Wuhan, China, led to a further rise in anti-Asian attacks and discrimination against United States.
The site tracks hate incidents and helps Asian Americans report them in a dozen languages. It has recorded nearly 3,000 hate incidents in 2020 alone, although lawmakers believe this is a small fraction of the total, as many victims in Asian American communities may not report them due to mistrust of them. the government and law enforcement.
“I think it’s only about a tenth, or even less, of the actual hate crimes that are happening, because most people don’t even know the website exists or don’t even know how to report it. properly of a hate crime, ”California. Assemblyman Phil Ting, who helped draft this part of the legislation, told ABC News.
“We have seen a positive increase in hate crimes against Asian Americans since the pandemic began,” Ting said. “I know people are upset and angry and looking for people to blame, and unfortunately some people blame the wrong people and blame the Asian Americans.”
“They have been attacked and killed. They have been spat on,” he added. “It’s been pretty awful.”
Ting said the emphasis on helping to inform and collect data could help drive more action to combat hate crimes.
“Unless you have data, it’s hard to say it’s a problem,” he said. “We all know that there are acts of individual racism. Unless you can prove it is more widespread than a corner incident or a store incident, it is very difficult to justify a broader response.”
Ting lamented the use of former President Donald Trump’s “China virus” or “Kung flu,” saying those words from the highest branch of government are directly related to the rise of anti-Asian racism.
“When you see an increase in hate speech and consider hate speech, there is always an increase in the accompanying hate crimes,” Ting said. “Because it’s okay to just say hateful things to Asian Americans who have nothing to do with this virus, and then it’s okay to assault Asian Americans.”
“The reason we take a firm stand on this is because hate crimes are not an attack on a person, but really an attack on a community,” he said. “They’re really meant to scare a community at large.”
Ting implored victims to report incidents on the Stop AAPI Hate website, which attempts to break down some of the language barriers and other factors that can lead people to not report hate crimes, even if several have occurred. times.
“They just try to ignore it and just say,‘ Hey, that’s just something I have to deal with, and I’ll keep going, ’even though it’s pretty traumatic,” Ting said of many in the AAPI community. “I think in most cases we just have people who would like to forget the whole situation that happened, move on and do nothing. And I think that’s why we’re urging our community to report.”
Richard Pan, president of the Asian Legislative Caucus of the Asian Pacific Islands, noted in a statement praising the new legislation that anti-Asian racism in the U.S. did not begin with the coronavirus pandemic.
Pan cited a long legacy of xenophobia in the United States, from the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 to the imprisonment of Japanese Americans during World War II.
“I am grateful that California funds data collection and research at UCLA to combat racism and hatred against the API community,” Pan added.
The AAPI Hate Coalition told ABC News that over the past year it has learned that it is “absolutely critical” to invest in documenting, tracking and analyzing attacks to draw attention to the crisis.
“Funding allocated to Stop AAPI Hate will support the coalition’s efforts to address the devastating impact of anti-Asian hatred, including monitoring and documenting incidents to proactively prevent future incidents from occurring,” he said. say the coalition in a statement.
“Funding will also allow the coalition to expand the resources it can provide directly to affected community members and families, as well as establish new partnerships with organizations, businesses and governments to develop long – term policies and community – based solutions in the community. hatred and violence, “the statement added.