HEALING THE HATE

A group of Asian Americans is fighting hate crimes by going beyond documenting violence and ensuring that the community's contributions get proper, visible representation

- MANDIRA NAYAR

Stand-up comic Ritu Chandra cannot forget the ferocity of the attack, even after a year. Chandra and a friend were walking her dog at Columbia Park in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey-as she had done for the past 14 years-when an older white woman charged at them, shouting obscenities. "She just screamed at us," said Chandra, recollecting the incident that happened on July 17, 2021. She had the presence of mind to whip her phone out and record the attack. The now viral video shows the woman shouting, "You f**king c***k bi**h" and trying to grab something out of her pocket. It shows a glimpse of the increasing vitriol directed at Asian Americans across the US.

Data compiled by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism (CSHE) at the University of California, San Bernardino, shows a 339 per cent increase in anti-Asian crime last year compared with the year before. Cities like New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles have seen a sharp spike. "It is definitely real and rising," said Kani Ilangovan, founder of Make Us Visible, a group fighting for the stories of Asian Americans to be included in the school curriculum. "In New Jersey, hate crimes against Asian Americans have skyrocketed by over 80 per cent during the pandemic. According to Stop AAPI Hate (a non-profit organisation which tracks hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders), one in three AAPI parents report that their child experienced a hate incident at school in the past year," said Ilangovan. The most visible hate crime happened on March 16, 2021, when a gunman shot and killed eight people in Atlanta. Six of the victims were Asian women.