There has been an astounding amount of anti-Asian hate crimes that occurred in 2020 and have continued into the new year. There is a legacy of anti-Asian violence, and it has been evidently shown through these recent incidents that have influenced many people to address the topic and stand against the hate. The majority of the victims are elderly Asian Americans who have been targeted in everyday scenarios. Stop AAPI Hate, a nonprofit social organization that was founded in 2020 to combat xenophobia, hate, and discrimination against Asian American Pacific Islanders (AAPI), had delivered a national report covering at least 3,800 incidents that had been reported from March 19, 2020 to February 28, 2021. This number of anti-Asian hate crimes is only a fragment of the cases that have scoured the United States. Here are some of the more prominent crimes that happened in our country.

January 27, 2021: On the 27th of January, 39-year-old Peter Eschright was charged with hate crimes in Portland, Oregon. “[He] allegedly kicked the victim on both shins as he walked by,” according to Yahoo News. Yahoo News also stated that Eschright verbally attacked the Asian woman and spewed out racial slurs. 

January 28, 2021: On the 28th of January, there was an incident where an 84-year-old Thai man, Vicha Ratanapakdee, was assaulted on the streets in San Francisco by a 19-year-old, Antoine Watson. Watson was issued a citation earlier that day when he was interviewed by San Francisco police officers for traffic infractions and affirmed his claim of innocence in charges of elder abuse and murder. However, there was surveillance footage that enabled the San Francisco police to promptly identify Watson as the perpetrator. CBSN Bay Area, San Francisco’s local news page stated, “[The] surveillance video showed Ratanapakdee walking in the driveway of a home when the suspect barrels him into the victim violently, knocking him to the ground before the suspect casually walks away in the same direction he came from.” They were able to get Watson into custody, as well as Malaysia Goo, a 20-year-old who was caught assisting Watson in the act. 

January 31, 2021: On the 31st of January 2021, a 91-year-old man was aggressively pushed to the ground by someone passing by in Oakland, California as he was walking on the streets. The actors, Daniel Wu and Daniel Dae Kim, have shown their stand against these senseless incidents and are actively contributing to the cause through their Twitter accounts, @danielwuyanzu and @danieldaekim. The fellow actors tweeted on February 4th, “The skyrocketing number of hate crimes against Asian Americans continues to grow, despite our repeated pleas for help. The crimes ignored and even excused. Remember Vincent Chin.” They included the #EnoughisEnough tag and mentioned that they are collaboratively working together to offer a $25,000 reward for anyone who brings forth information that will aid them in identifying the criminal. 

The video which captured the incident can be found here: Shocking video shows 91-year-old man senselessly pushed to ground in Oakland’s Chinatown

February 3, 2021: According to a newspaper based in New York, New York Daily News, a 61-year-old Filipino American Man, Noel Quintana, was heading to work when he, unknowingly at first, was slashed across the face with a box-cutter by the assailant. Quintana expressed how he felt during this encounter through an interview with Daily News. He said, “I was so afraid of dying.” During this violent engagement, no bystanders offered help. He added, “I asked for someone to help me, but nobody came.”

February 3, 2021: On February 3rd in San Jose, California, according to Yahoo News, a 64-year-old grandmother had withdrawn $1,000 in cash from the bank in preparation for Lunar New Year when she was robbed of the $1,000 dollars when a car halted in front of her car and opened her door to thieve the purse from her. 

February 24, 2021: On February 23rd, an Asian teenage boy and his family were startled by a home invasion by two masked intruders who were carrying a machete. This frightening incident occurred in Bonnyrigg Heights, Australia. Seven News, a website that provides local Australian news, details the specifics of the case regarding the motive behind the attack and the aftermath. 

March 12, 2021: On March 12th, Christine Yan and Isabelle Zhang were in Lakewood, California walking in a crosswalk when they were struck by a car. Isabelle had passed away at the scene, and Christine was rushed to the hospital to receive treatment for her injuries but passed away later that day. According to AsianFeed, a publication that spreads cultural news about millennials and Gen-Z Asians, they reported that the victim’s aunt believes the motivating force behind this incident was due to a hate crime. It states, “She said that Lakewood traffic is not that congested relative to other parts of Downtown Los Angeles and believes that the driver may have intentionally aimed to hit the two women, especially given the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes across the nation.”

March 16, 2021: On March 16th, a 21-year-old man was suspected of orchestrating fatal shootings at three Asian spas in Georgia, Atlanta. 8 people had passed away that day, 6 of whom were identified to have been of Asian descent. According to The New York Times, the suspect had declared that the shootings were not driven by racial bias but apprised the police that he had a “sexual addiction” and was “carr[ying] out the shootings at the massage parlors to eliminate his ‘temptation.’ ” Following that, he spoke that he had attended these parlors frequently and “launched the attacks as a form of vengeance.” The victims of the shootings were later identified by the authorities. Those include: Xiaojie Tan (49-years-old), Soon Chung Park (74-years-old), Hyun Jung Grant (63-years-old), Yong Ae Yue (63-years-old), Suncha Kim (69-years-old). Daoyou Feng (44-years-old), Delaina Ashley Yaun (33-years-old), and Paul Andre Michels (54-years-old). One of the survivors, Elcias R. Hernandez-Ortiz (30-years-old), was left severely wounded as well.

March 17, 2021: On March 17th, Xiao Zhen Xie (75-year-old) and Ngoc Pham (83-year-old) were attacked in downtown San Francisco. Ngoc Pham was getting groceries at the time when he was assaulted by 39-year-old Steven Jenkins before Jenkins attacked Xie. The Washington Post states “she instinctively responded by hitting the man repeatedly with a wooden stick.” Xie was fending off the attacker after he had unreasonably attacked the two elders. Pham had suffered numerous injuries and Xie was left, as her daughter Dong-Mei Li stated, “Very traumatized, very scared and [her] eye is still bleeding.” 

April 1, 2021: On April 1st, in Oakland, California, an Asian couple’s home was raided as their 7-year-old daughter, Amy, had witnessed her parents tethered. The process to restore their home is incremental as the immigrant family’s life savings were stolen, according to ABC7. 

April 10, 2021: On April 10th, a woman had left racist comments under a Facebook post displaying a picture of a 2-year-old girl. The user, Victoria Tudorovic was caught commenting, “Asians!!!!!! So ugly and disgusting,” followed by two barfing emojis. According to AsianFeed, the girl’s mother, Sandra Fortuno, had told AsianFeed, “We’re completely shocked and disgusted by this whole situation” and told them that she believed Tudorovic was one of her former co-workers. 

April 11, 2021: On April 11th, Jenna (she/they), an 18-year-old Asian woman, had been attacked physically and verbally at the Tustin Legacy Skatepark in Tustin, California. AsianFeed stated, “The attack left Jenna with a concussion, right ankle fracture, a chip fracture in their left scapula, as well as numerous bruises and pepper spray burns.”

These tragic incidents have been happening since 2020 and have emerged into 2021 as the anti-Asian hate crimes are increasing. With these 9 cases being only a fraction of the 3,800 reported, and with the rising exposure of these incidents, many organizations like Stop AAPI Hate are uniting with individuals to fuse together and strive against racism. Voices of the AAPI community are conversing and coming together to demand a safer community and protect Asian lives and everyone who has been affected by anti-Asian violence.  

Resources to explore & donate to

One-page site with access to many resources: Anti-Asian Violence Resources

STOP AAPI HATE

AAPI Progressive Action

AAPI Women Lead

They Can’t Burn Us All

Asian Mental Health Collective 

National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance

National Asian American Pacific Islander Mental Health Association

National Organization of Asians and Pacific Islanders Ending Sexual Violence