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Anti-Asian Prejudice & Hate Crime

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Anti-Asian Prejudice & Hate Crime Report to the Nation: Anti-Asian Prejudice & Hate Crime New 2020‐21 First Quarter Comparison Data Report to the Nation: Anti‐Asian Prejudice & Hate Crime Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism Anti‐Asian Hate Crime Reported to Police in Large U.S. Cities: 2021 & 2020 Anti‐Asian Hate Crimes Increases 164% First Quarter 2021 Over Same Period 2020 Anti-AAPI Hate Crime Data for Select U.S. Cities (First Quarter 2020 and 2021) Hate Crimes Hate Crimes US City % of Population - 2020 First 2021 First % Change Population AAPI Quarter Quarter New York, NY 14.5% 13 42 223% 8,336,817 Los Angeles, CA 11.6% 5 9 80% 3,979,537 Phoenix, AZ 4.2% 1 1 Unchanged 1,680,988 Philadelphia, PA 7.5% 1 0 - 1,584,064 San Antonio, TX 3% 0 5 - 1,508,083 San Diego, CA 17.2% 0 1 - 1,423,852 San Francisco, 35% 5 12 140% CA 881,549 Seattle, WA 17% 4 4 Unchanged 753,655 Washington, D.C. 4% 0 6 - 705,749 Boston, MA 9.7% 5 8 60% 694,295 Louisville, KY 2.7% 0 1 - 615,924 Miami, FL 1.1% 0 0 Unchanged 478,251 Tampa, FL 4.3% 1 0 - 404,636 Cleveland, OH 2.4% 1 0 - 380,989 St. Paul, MN 18.7% 0 1 - 310,368 Harris County, 6.9% 0 5 - TX 4,779,880 Totals: NA 36 95 164% Source: Curated Database by CSHE, 2021, Drawn from data by policing agencies Summary: Historic Anti-Asian Hate Crime Spike Continues into 2021 Anti-Asian hate crime reported to police in 16 of America’s largest cities and counties, rose 164%, from 36 to 95, in the first quarter of 2021 in comparison to the first quarter of 2020, according to an analysis of official preliminary data by the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism (CSHE) at California State University, San Bernardino. These 2021 data from jurisdictions that accounted for over 20% of all FBI reported hate crimes in 2019, cover about 9% of the nation’s population. In North America, larger cities with a higher percentage of Asian residents, hate crime units, victim outreach, and a lengthy history of data collection were those most likely show higher numerical and percentage increases. This year’s first quarter increase follows an historic surge in Anti-Asian hate crime that started last year. In 2020, Anti-Asian hate crime increased 146% across 26 of America’s largest jurisdictions that comprise over 10% of the nation’s population, according to a newly updated analysis of official preliminary police data by CSHE. Last year’s first spike occurred in March and April amidst a rise in COVID cases, a World Health Organization pandemic declaration and an increase in political and online stigmatizing of Asians. Other times over the last decade where anti-Asian hate crime reported to the police spiked, albeit, at lower levels and of less duration was in February 2014 following a damning report on North Korea’s human rights violations (32) and in July 2018 during a tariff dispute between the United States and China during the last administration. While FBI national hate crime data for 2020 will not be available until mid-November 2021, the nation’s highest reporting cities have been a reliable indicator of overall trends over the last decade. New York, Boston, and Los Angeles alone accounted for 12% of all hate crimes enumerated nationally by the FBI in 2019; and those cities combined matched national trends in nine of the last ten years. The FBI defines a hate crime for police reporting purposes as a criminal act “motivated in whole, or in part, by the offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender or gender identity.” Victimization Surveys The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), which conducts victimization surveys complimentary to FBI data, found that until 2015 most hate crime victims did not report victimizations. While BJS most recent data indicates a slight majority of victims now report, it is likely that there is massive underreporting of hate crime in Asian-American communities. Research by BJS and others found communities with language and cultural barriers, attenuated relations with law enforcement, along with those who fear retaliation, have far higher levels of underreporting. A multi-lingual online victimization portal run by the consortium STOP AAPI Hate found 3,292 criminal and non- criminal incidents last year and an additional 503 incidents in 2021. Of the 3,795 total from March of 2020 through this year, at least 21.1% constituted actual criminal offenses: Traditional assaults at 11.1 of total; spitting and coughing (also an assault) 7.2%; and vandalisms 2.8%. The STOP AAPI hate sample may have enumerated even more crimes for those “verbal harassments” in their dataset that rise to a criminal threat, referred to as “intimidation” by the FBI. If only the traditional assaults in the STOP AAPI sample alone were fully reported to American police last year, those crimes, at 365 cases would eclipse the previous record for FBI reported hate crimes set in the mid-1990s. New York City police reported a probable record in the first quarter of 2021. The United States & Canada In Canada, which uses a more expansive definition of hate crime than the U.S., CSHE found anti-Asian hate crimes in four of that nation’s largest cities rose even more precipitously, registering a 532% increase in 2020. The largest increase (717% from 2019 to 2020) was in Vancouver, British Columbia, the nation’s third largest city. Overall hate crime totals for the multi-city Canadian sample found a 74% increase in hate crimes overall from 2019 to 2020. The U.S. city and county data further indicated that this rise occurred amidst a more stable overall hate crime landscape for 2020. Despite increases in some other types of offenses, hate crime’s statistical stability was likely influenced by a lack of interaction at frequent gathering locations, where the FBI has found most hate crimes occur, like in public transit, commercial businesses, schools, events, and houses of worship. Moreover, there was no mass casualty hate attacks last year as was the case in 2019 and prior years. In 26 major U.S. cities and counties, including the 10 largest, hate crimes overall increased by a modest 2 percent. This is the first study of police data for 2020 and 2021 across the U.S. Other charts from different datasets relating to the Asian-American community from the forthcoming final report are also presented herein. The COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act and its amendments from the Jabara-Heyer NO HATE Act, passed the U.S. Senate (94-1) on April 22, 2021. They call for the creation of a position within the Department of Justice to expedite reviews of COVID-19 hate crimes. Also, incentives from the Federal government for better collection of hate crime data by policing agencies is included in this legislation. The U.S. House of Representative is currently taking the Senate bill under consideration. Anti-AAPI Hate Crime Data for Select U.S. Cities/U.S. Counties and Major Cities in Canada (2020-2019) % Change for Change US City Total Hate Crimes Total Hate Crimes % of Population - 2019 2020 Total Hate Crimes Anti-Asian Hate Population 2019 2020 AAPI Anti-Asian Anti-Asian 2019-2020 Crimes New York City, NY 428 265 -38% 14.5% 833% 3 28 8,336,817 Los Angeles, CA 326 355 9% 11.6% 114% 7 15 3,979,537 Chicago, IL 100 81 -19% 6.9% Unchanged 2 2 2,693,959 Houston, TX 25 47 88% 6.5% - 0 3 2,316,797 Phoenix, AZ 156 204 31% 4.2% 50% 2 3 1,680,988 Philadelphia, PA 35 17 -51% 7.5% 200% 2 6 1,584,064 San Antonio, TX 9 38 322% 2.8% Unchanged 0 0 1,508,083 San Diego, CA 30 25 -17% 17.2% - 0 1 1,423,852 Dallas, TX 31 62 100% 3.4% - 0 6 1,343,565 San Jose, CA 34 89 162% 38.0% 150% 4 10 1,021,786 Columbus, OH 93 110 18% 5.8% Unchanged 1 1 902,073 San Francisco, CA 64 52 -19% 35.0% 50% 6 9 881,549 Seattle, WA 114 139 22% 16.9% 56% 9 14 753,655 Denver, CO 88 71 -19% 3.7% - 0 3 727,211 Washington, DC 203 132 -35% 4% -83% 6 1 705,749 Boston, MA 170 146 -14% 9.7% 133% 6 14 694,295 Portland, OR 35 49 40% 8.4% -67% 3 1 653,467 Louisville, KY 9 48 433% 2.7% Unchanged 0 0 617,630 Sacramento, CA 11 57 418% 20.1% 700% 1 8 513,620 Long Beach, CA 23 18 -22% 12.3% Unchanged 0 0 462,645 Cleveland, OH 116* NA - 2.4% 200% 2 6 380,989 Saint Paul, MN 11 38 245% 19.4% 100% 1 2 308,096 Cincinatti, OH 41 45 10% 2.3% - 0 1 303,954 Bloomington, IN 2 7 250% 10.0% - 0 1 86,630 % Change for Percent of Change US County Total Hate Crimes Total Hate Crimes % of Population - 2019 2020 Total Hate Crimes Anti-Asian Hate Population 2019 2020 AAPI Anti-Asian Anti-Asian 2019-2020 Crimes Harris County, TX 19 10 -47% 7.0% Unchanged 0 0 4,713,325 Miami-Dade County, 10 5 -50% 1.5% Unchanged 0 0 FL 2,716,940 US City/County 2067 2110 2% N/A 146% 55 135 TOTALS % Change for Percent of Change Canada City, Total Hate Crimes Total Hate Crimes % of Asian 2019 2020 Total Hate Crimes Anti-Asian Hate Population 2019 2020 Canadians Anti-Asian Anti-Asian 2019-2020 Crimes Toronto 139 210 51% 32.5% 280% 5 19 2,731,571 Vancouver 142 280 97% 44.0% 717% 12 98 631,486 Montreal 3 22 633% 20.3% 167% 3 8 1,704,694 Ottawa 116 182 57% 21.6% 600% 2 14 934,243 Canada City 400 694 74% N/A 532% 22 139 TOTALS Note: Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Population makes up 6.5% of the U.S.
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