Infographic: Hate Crimes Against AAPI Continue to Rise

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the FBI warned that it expected a surge in hate crimes against people of Asian descent. While it is difficult to quantify the exact number of hate incidents because they often go unreported, advocacy group Stop AAPI Hate received more than 3,795 firsthand accounts of anti-Asian hate incidents in the United States between 19 March 2020 and 28 February 2021.

Despite Lockdowns, Hate Persisted

The Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University found that anti-Asian hate crimes spiked 149 percent across 16 of America’s largest cities between 2019 and 2020, while reported hate crimes overall declined 7 percent during lockdowns and COVID-19 restrictions.

Motivation Categories

There were 7,103 single-bias hate crime incidents reported in the United States in 2019, according to the FBI. Among those incidents, the motivations cited were primarily race or ethnicity. While anti-Asian hate crimes declined in the late 1990s, they have been on the rise in recent years.

Hate Incidents Against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI)

According to Stop AAPI Hate, most reported incidents involved verbal harassment. More than 35 percent of discrimination incidents occurred at businesses, and race was cited as the primary reason for discrimination.

Climbing Concerns

More than half of 1,500 Asian Americans who responded to an AAPI Data 2020 Asian American Voter Survey said they are worried about experiencing hate crimes, harassment, or discrimination because of anti-Asian rhetoric about COVID-19.