A FILIPINA diplomat at the Philippine Consulate General in New York has become the latest victim of anti-Asian hate following an unprovoked verbal assault on the New York City subway train last Friday, June 11.
In a statement posted on Facebook, Consul General Elmer Cato said: “Our colleague, a female consular officer, was verbally assaulted while aboard the B train on her way to the Consulate yesterday morning.”
“An individual on board the train accosted her as soon as she stepped on board by asking her: ‘Where’d you come from? Where’d you come from?’ The individual went on with his race-based tirade by saying: ‘We don’t need you here! We don’t need you here! F**k you! I hope you all die and everybody on this train!’” wrote Cato.
According to him, the Consulate is “deeply disturbed” by the incident and has reported it to the New York City Police Department.
The incident came a few days after a Filipino man from Queens was attacked after getting off the 6 train at the 103rd Street station on the Upper East Side, as previously reported by the Asian Journal.
Cato also noted that the anti-Asian hate crime involving the Filipina diplomat was the 14th incident involving a member of the Filipino community reported to the Consulate this year.
“We join the Asian-American and Pacific Islander Community in condemning these incidents and in expressing our serious concern for the safety of our kababayan and other Asian-Americans in New York City,” he said.
“We call on authorities of New York City to take additional measures to make our kababayan and other Asian-Americans feel safe when outside their homes by increasing police presence especially in the subways and addressing the mental health concerns that reportedly affect as many as 40 percent of homeless individuals in the city, a number of whom have also been involved in recent hate crimes against Asian Americans,” he added.
The Consul General urged the members of the Filipino-American community to stay vigilant outside of their homes, especially when taking the subway.
“Kababayan should immediately call 911 if they witness any hate crime or if they become victims themselves. They are also encouraged to report any incidents to the Consulate,” Cato said.
Stop AAPI Hate, a national coalition that tracks hate and discrimination, said it received a total of 6,603 hate incidents against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) from March 19, 2020 to March 31, 2021.
Of the 6,603 incidents reported, 4,193 hate incidents occurred in 2020 and 2,410 hate incidents occurred in 2021.
The report found that 37.8% of the reported incidents took place in public streets and parks, and 32.2% of the incidents happened in businesses.
Breaking down the reports by race or ethnic groups, Chinese individuals were seen to experience most of the hate incidents, with 43.7% of the reports coming from a member of their community. They are followed by Koreans (16.6%), Filipinos (8.8%), and Vietnamese (8.3%). (AJPress)
