After Viral Torrance Video and President Trump\u2019s \u201cKung Flu\u201d Comments, Stop AAPI Hate Increases Calls on California to Take Clear Action<\/p>\n
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July 1, 2020 \u2014 Asian Americans in California have self-reported 832 incidents of discrimination and harassment in the last three months, including 81 incidents of assault and 64 potential civil rights violations, according to Stop AAPI Hate, the leading aggregator of incidents against Asian Americans during the pandemic. Stop AAPI Hate released the findings today in a press briefing where they were joined by CA Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi and Chair of Asian Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus David Chiu to make specific and urgent policy demands of the CA state legislature.<\/p>\n
Discrimination and harassment of Asian Americans in California has drawn national attention recently after a series of videos in Torrance, California featured a woman using graphic racist language against Asian Americans. The videos have received millions of views, and reflect just a handful of the incidents reported to Stop AAPI Hate in California. Anti-Asian American harassment has also been further stoked by President Trump\u2019s repeated use of the term \u201cKung Flu\u201d in recent rallies, and as recently as last night, comments on Twitter scapegoating China for the United States\u2019 devastating failure to control the coronavirus.<\/p>\n
\u201cRacist demagoguery matched with anti-immigrant policies have always been used to deny Asian Americans full social and political rights,\u201d said Cynthia Choi, Co-Executive Director of Chinese for Affirmative Action. \u201cIn California, we have to do more than condemn racist rhetoric \u2014 we must take bold action today to address attacks whether they happen in grocery stores, in the workplace or in the schoolyard.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stop AAPI Hate has been advocating since April for the state to establish a Racial Bias Strike Team to further investigate the widespread and growing problem of COVID-19-related hate against the Asian American community in California and determine the most effective policies to address this problem. Nonetheless, California\u2019s state budget, voted on last Friday, excluded specific funding for initiatives advocated for by the Asian American community in California. Governor Newsom has left the millions of Asian Americans in California in the dark about what accountability and action they can expect.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have presented Governor Newsom with clear and effective tactics to combat discrimination and harassment of Asian Americans,\u201d said Manjusha Kulkarni, Executive Director of Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council. \u201cAsian Americans need to see concrete actions and we\u2019re here to work with the state to ensure that we can live free from racial discrimination and enjoy equal rights and access.\u201d<\/p>\n
The new report shows that incidents of racism and discrimination are not isolated to any particular area but are a statewide problem \u2014 Asian Americans have reported incidents in 34 counties so far. Incidents are reportedly taking place in California in retail stores, in the workplace and online.<\/p>\n
\u201cA man kicked my dog and told me to shut my dog up and then spat at me, saying \u2018Take your disease that’s ruining our country and go home,\u2019\u201d reported an Asian American in Santa Clara.<\/p>\n
In San Francisco, an Asian American reported, \u201cSomeone threw a glass bottle at my friend while she was putting her baby in the car and yelled, \u2018Go home, chink.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
In Los Angeles, an Asian American reported, \u201cOur Zoom feed was hacked by white supremacists who verbally attacked our members and viewers with racial slurs and anti-immigrant remarks. They also hacked into our Zoom chat typing the Nazi salute (Seig Heil) and pro-Trump messages.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last night, the Stop AAPI Hate coalition sent Governor Newsom a further letter recommending the establishment of a Racial Bias Strike Team comprised of key state agencies and departments that have jurisdiction over public education, implementing state and federal civil rights laws, overseeing workplace and employment discrimination, providing mental health services to vulnerable communities, and offering support to local Asian American-serving community-based organizations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe viral video of racism in Torrance is one example of hundreds. It\u2019s the tip of the iceberg of anti-Asian American hate and discrimination,\u201d said Russell Jeung, Ph.D., Chair and Professor of Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University. \u201cWithout government accountability, we risk COVID-related racism against Asian Americans becoming deeply entrenched, ultimately impacting the lives of millions of people in California and around the country.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After Viral Torrance Video and President...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ca-local"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26484"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26484\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26485,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26484\/revisions\/26485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}