WITH the current rise of anti-Asian hate and discrimination during the COVID-19 pandemic, over 30% of Asian adults say they have feared being threatened or physically attacked, according to a recent survey by nonpartisan think tank Pew Research Center.
The research firm on Wednesday, April 21, released the study highlighting the negative experiences of U.S. adults due to their race or ethnicity since the start of the outbreak in the country, with 32% of Asian adults sharing fears of their safety.
The survey was conducted among 5,109 adults from April 5 to 11 in English after the fatal shooting of six Asian women and two other people in Atlanta on March 16 and violence against Asian Americans that transpired that month. Of the respondents, 352 Asian adults participated.
“Overall, 45% of Asian adults say they have experienced at least one of five specific offensive incidents since the start of the coronavirus outbreak,” noted Pew Research.
The survey found that 27% of Asian adults have been subject to racial slurs or jokes, and another 27% experienced people acting uncomfortable around them since the COVID-19 outbreak.
It also found that 16% said someone has made a remark that they should go back to their home country, while 14% said they were blamed for the coronavirus outbreak.
A resounding 81% of Asian adults in the U.S. think violence against their community is increasing.
“Asian respondents who say violence against their group in the U.S. is increasing give many reasons for the rise,” Pew Research noted.
Twenty percent of Asian adults directly blamed former President Donald Trump and his rhetoric about China as the source of the pandemic for the surge in violence against their community.
Meanwhile, 16% blamed racism in the U.S. against Asian people.
Pew Research also noted that some respondents gave several reasons, with one 40-year-old Asian woman saying: “Four years of Trump has normalized racism and bullying. His continual example of blaming Asians for the coronavirus is allowing people to openly discriminate against Asian[s].”
Another respondent, a 29-year-old Asian woman, said the rise in violence against Asians is “a mix of coronavirus news and its origins in China coupled with talks regarding racial inequality. Asians are not accepted as people of color as they are seen as the model minority, but also are seen as foreign because they are not White.”
“Ignorant people placing a ‘blanket blame’ on Asians regarding the origin of COVID-19. Racism against Asians has always been present and is generally caused by other groups, both whites and Blacks,” a 45-year-old Asian man said.
Stop AAPI Hate, a national coalition that tracks anti-Asian American discrimination, logged 3,795 firsthand incidents of racism and discrimination in its reporting center between March 19, 2020, and Feb. 28, 2021.
Of that number, 503 incidents took place in the first two months of 2021 alone, the reporting center said. It also found that women are 2.3 times more likely to report the incidents versus men.
