- If anyone tries to do anything, maybe they’ll think twice
Before sunset Monday, a few dozen Asian-Americans outfitted in neon vests and jackets combed the streets of this New York City neighborhood.
They weren’t police officers. They were students, retail workers and retirees equipped with little more than a cellphone in the event they came across someone being harassed or attacked. Their mission: to stop would-be attackers from hurting other Asians, whether it be by calling the police for help or stepping in themselves.
“It’s made me feel sick,” said volunteer Wan Chen, 37, of the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes around the country. “So this is the time we need to speak up and try our best to help. If anyone tries to do anything, maybe they’ll think twice.”
Volunteer groups such as this one have sprung up around the U.S., patrolling the streets of Asian communities from New York City to Oakland, Calif. They have multiple goals: to escort individuals worried about their safety where they need to go, check in on community members, and if needed, intervene if they see someone being harassed.
Cities around the country have seen upticks in hate crimes against Asians since the start of the pandemic. One analysis conducted by researchers at California State University, San Bernardino, found hate crimes targeting Asians in 16 of the largest U.S. cities increased 149% between 2019 and 2020. Over the same period, overall reports of hate crimes declined by 7%, the researchers found.
The fact that the novel coronavirus was first identified in China has led some people to irrationally blame Asian-Americans, New York Police Department officials have said. New York City recorded 28 coronavirus-related hate crimes committed against Asian people in the city in 2020, compared with three in 2019, according to the NYPD. Although the number of hate crimes has remained relatively small compared with other crimes, NYPD officials have said they believe only a fraction of hate crimes are reported to police.
In response, the NYPD formed its first-ever Asian Hate Crime Task Force last year. The department has also increased patrols in certain neighborhoods, including the Chinatown section of lower Manhattan, Queens’ Flushing and parts of Brooklyn, NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said in a televised interview Tuesday.
Police in San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago and other cities also increased their outreach after last week’s shootings at three Atlanta massage parlors, which killed eight people, including six women of Asian descent. While according to police the suspect said he targeted the businesses “for providing an outlet for his addiction to sex,” Atlanta Deputy Police Chief Charles Hampton Jr. said Thursday that investigators were still considering all options, including the possibility the incident was a hate crime.
