(NewsNation Now) — A recent report from the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism says anti-Asian hate crimes increased by more than 300 percent in 2021.
“It’s a difficult time right now,” Amanda Nguyen, the CEO/Founder of Rise, said Sunday on “NewsNation Prime.” “And we are still trying to figure out motives. We’re trying to figure out how things can be solved.”
Just within the last month, two violent incidents in New York City have brought the issue to the fore.
This month. 35-year-old Christina Lee was found stabbed to death in her bathtub. A man was captured on surveillance video following her inside her apartment late at night. He was arrested soon after.
Last month, 40-year-old Michelle Go was waiting to catch the subway in Times Square when she was pushed from behind directly into an oncoming train.
“Something we know to be true and has been true all along is that we have been consistently facing these crimes as APPI (Asian-American and Pacific Islanders) community and as APPI women, and that we are healing from this pain,” Nguyen said.
At this point, there is no evidence that the two women in New York were targeted because they were Asian, but there is no question that crimes against the AAPI community have increased.
“Just to put things into context, Stop AAPI Hate had 78% of Asian-American women experiencing hate the past two years and a statistic from APPI Women Lead show that 60% of APPI women are survivors of sexual or domestic violence,” Nguyen said.
Nguyen believes stereotypes are part of the reason.
“Unfortunately, the model minority myth, yellow fever, or even the perpetual foreigner stereotype, all of these things have existed long before the pandemic,” Nguyen said.
To combat the issue, she wants more people to become educated on AAPI history.
“Teaching people that we are not foreigners, but we are your brothers and sisters, your community members … I think should be prioritized by policymakers,” Nguyen said. “You absolutely can make a difference. You can support AAPI businesses, you can diversify your social media feed. There are so many things you can do — small steps that can start the healing.”