It's Time to Stand Up against Asian Brutality and Anti-Asian Attacks

Anti-Asian acts has been around since 1850 and as the world developed, racial equality has increased and improved. However, it racism will always be around, and it is up to us to be the change we want to see in the world and prevent it as much as possible. Since COVID-19, the number of anti-Asian hate crimes and incidents has risen rapidly. These attacks include shunning, slurs, and physical assaults. Last year, there were around 2,800 attacks reported against Asians over the span of five months. Research from the reporting forum Stop AAPI Hate revealed on March 16, 2021, that almost 3,800 incidents were reported in the course of (roughly) a year during COVID-19. 68% of these incidents were on women while men made up 29%. If you search up statistics, the outcomes are heartbreaking, but that is probably only less than half of what actually happens. Hate crime data is, for the most part, unreliable and incredibly underreported. Share and sign to spread awareness.

Asian Discrimination Incidents:

• New York: Noel Quintana, a 61-year-old Filipino-American man, was slashed from ear to ear across his face with a box cutter
• New York: A 52-year-old Asian woman in Queens was shoved violently to the ground and required stitches in her head
• Ottawa: Justin Tang was entering downtown mall Friday when man told him wearing mask made him want to 'kill Asians'
• San Francisco: An Asian elderly woman was attacked by a man and fought back; both were taken to the hospital for treatment
• Atlanta: 8 killed by a 21-year-old white man, 6 of whom were Asian women 

These are only a few of thousands of reported attacks. Think of how many more there are that are not brought to light, how many Asians are keeping quiet about their stories. It's time to step up and speak up.

“The U.S. population is about 10 times that of Canada, [but] we have a higher ratio of attacks,” Amy Go of the Chinese Canadian National Council for Social Justice told CTV News.

“We were blamed for bringing SARS to Canada, just like we are blamed for bringing COVID to Canada,” Go said. “We are definitely seen as foreigners, that’s why we are told to go back to China.”

There is no use playing the blame game. Using Asian people, specifically the Chinese, as a scapegoat is not the solution. With the coronavirus, we just need to collaborate, follow all necessary precautions, and work together to overcome the situation. Another thing to mention: NOT ALL ASIANS HAVE CORONAVIRUS!!

Since COVID-19,

• Vancouver anti-Asain hate crimes went up 717 per cent in 2020.
• Ottawa’s hate crimes went up 57 per cent, with the Ottawa Police Service saying some of the groups most victimized were “East and South-East Asian”
• Montreal reported a spike of 30 specifically anti-Asian hate crimes and racist acts last year

Again, these are just statistics and the actual numbers are so much worse.

Now, let's talk about the people who are speaking up about this issue - some of whom bring up the Black Lives Matter movement. We are not trying to create an 'oppression Olympics,' we just want to bring light on the fact that there is more and more violence against Asians. The BLM movement was built on oppression by white supremacy and police brutality. The PAL movement is also built on oppression, but majority of these attacks are from African Americans. Again, this is not a competition, and no one is trying to make it a competition, it's just time to speak up against anti-Asian brutality, just like how it was with BLM and how people argued All Lives Matter instead. 

How can you help? 

• Repost posts on Asian brutality to spread awareness. It doesn't matter if you have 20 followers or 20,000 followers, you have a platform. Use it.
• Create your own posts to spread awareness
• SIGN THIS PETITION - bring spotlight on this topic so the News can cover more stories on Asian brutality and so leaders and influences who can do something about this can take action
• Donate to and report your stories to organizations that help stand up against racial discrimination! For example, https://stopaapihate.org/
• There is so much more you can do, so just take action. Let your voice be heard.