search
Sections List
American Journal News

Asian Americans are organizing to protect elders in wake of racist attacks

‘It’s personal. It could have been our aunt or our mom or our grandma,’ one organizer said of the recent vicious attacks targeting older Asian Americans.

By Associated Press - April 04, 2021
Share
Volunteer Teresa Ting

Fed up with the incessant attacks on Asian Americans, Stan Lee recently started voluntarily patrolling San Francisco’s Chinatown. So when the 53-year-old fire lieutenant saw a video of a New York City woman getting brutally beaten, he didn’t have to guess how his fellow volunteers — other Asian American firefighters — were taking it.

“I’m pretty sure they’re all steamed, like I am,” said Lee, who is Chinese American. “It’s personal. It could have been our aunt or our mom or our grandma.”

The vicious assault of a 65-year-old woman while walking to church in the daytime this week near New York City’s Times Square has heightened already palpable levels of outrage over anti-Asian attacks that escalated with the pandemic.

New York police say the assailant yelled racial slurs at the Filipina American woman and told her, “You don’t belong here!” The video quickly drew millions of views along with widespread condemnation, not just for its heinous nature but the seemingly indifferent bystanders. The assailant was arrested and charged Wednesday with hate crimes.

Asian American groups from coast to coast, already doing more than digital activism — patrolling, escorting, chaperoning — are trying not to let this latest hate crime discourage those efforts.

“I think that gives us more motive to take care of our own,” Lee said. “We see everyone in our community as our own. It doesn’t have to be just Asians.”

In New York City, Teresa Ting, a 29-year-old Chinese American, started what has become the Main Street Patrol following an attack on another older Asian American woman in the Flushing neighborhood of Queens in February.

“It literally could have been my mother had it been the wrong place, wrong time,” Ting said of that attack.

She wanted to do something more than posting messages on social media and was happily surprised when people showed up to volunteer. The group has since organized volunteers to go out in parts of Flushing, a heavily Asian neighborhood, on weekend afternoons.

Volunteers travel in groups of three, and have an app they use to communicate with each other. Ting, who wants to expand to offer a chaperone service, said she wanted people to know how to get involved and tactics they could use.

“I think it’s very necessary, especially in the Asian community right now, just because a lot of the elders have a language barrier. They can’t speak or understand English,” she said. “That’s why I feel a lot of hate crimes have been unreported.”

Bystander training has also been on the rise and the need was only reinforced by the video of this week’s attack. Emily May, co-founder of Hollaback!, which offers training on how to respond when witnessing harassment, said it was disturbing that the video showed several witnesses to the attack who didn’t seem to render aid to the woman.

Two have been identified as lobby workers, and the attack took place on the street right outside of their building. Neither intervened or called 911, the police said. One of them was even seen closing the building door during the assault.

May said there were things they could have done, even if they were worried about harm coming to themselves, like shouting or otherwise creating a distraction.

“I still think there are ways that they could have intervened without compromising their own safety,” she said.

Marita Etcubanez, senior director of strategic initiatives for Asian Americans Advancing Justice AAJC, said the organization partnered with Hollaback! last year to offer free online bystander training that focused on Asian Americans.

“It’s clear that the training was responding to a need and a lot of concerns within the community because we had over 1,000 people register for the first two trainings,” she said.

Interest has cycled up and down since, but demand has increased as anti-Asian attacks have gotten more coverage.

The New York assault came just two weeks after a white gunman opened fire inside three Asian-owned massage businesses in metro Atlanta. Eight people, including six women of Asian descent, died. The shooter has not been charged with any hate crimes, and authorities received intense backlash when they cited the suspect blaming a “sex addiction.” Critics say the victims’ race is inextricably tied to the motive.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland on Tuesday ordered a review of how the Justice Department can best deploy its resources to combat hate crimes during a surge in incidents targeting Asian Americans.

Garland issued a department-wide memo announcing the 30-day review, citing the “recent rise in hate crimes and hate incidents, particularly the disturbing trend in reports of violence against members of the Asian American and Pacific Islander community since the start of the pandemic.”

Asian American activists say former President Donald Trump is partly to blame because of his rhetoric around COVID-19, which he frequently referred to as the “Chinese virus.” They say he gave license for people to show racism that was already rooted in decades of anti-Asian sentiment in the U.S.

According to a report from Stop AAPI Hate, more than 3,800 anti-Asian incidents were reported to the organization between March 2020 through February. The group, which tracks incidents of discrimination, hate, and xenophobia against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the U.S., said that number is “only a fraction of the number of hate incidents that actually occur.”

According to the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, hate crimes targeting Asians ballooned by 150% last year, while hate crimes overall during the pandemic went down 7%.

Cynthia Choi, co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate, lauded the volunteer efforts that have sprung up in San Francisco and elsewhere, but emphasized the need for training.

“I really appreciate the interest in protecting our elders,” Choi said. “My concern is without proper training … we’ll have a situation where there are interventions that aren’t helpful, that might escalate the situation.”

Lee, the San Francisco firefighter, said he was willing to keep volunteering for however long it feels necessary, adding that he often bumps into volunteers from other citizen patrols, a sign of how much attention the issue is getting. Asian American seniors he’s met still want to maintain their routines.

“If they are scared they’re not showing it, because they still have to go about their daily lives,” he said.


AJ News
Subscribe to our newsletter.
Read More
AJ News
Latest
House Republicans roll out new plan to decimate Medicaid

House Republicans roll out new plan to decimate Medicaid

By Jesse Valentine - April 24, 2025
Trump White House plans to garnish wages of student loan borrowers

Trump White House plans to garnish wages of student loan borrowers

By Jesse Valentine - April 22, 2025
Megadonor embroiled in ethics scandal gave thousands to Winsome Earle-Sears

Megadonor embroiled in ethics scandal gave thousands to Winsome Earle-Sears

By Jesse Valentine - April 21, 2025
“I Was Terrified To Get Pregnant Again After Having to Flee Tennessee for a Life-Saving Abortion”

“I Was Terrified To Get Pregnant Again After Having to Flee Tennessee for a Life-Saving Abortion”

By Bonnie Fuller - April 21, 2025
Goldman Sachs: Trump’s tariffs will lead to job losses

Goldman Sachs: Trump’s tariffs will lead to job losses

By Jesse Valentine - April 17, 2025
Democrats take stand for wrongly deported Maryland man

Democrats take stand for wrongly deported Maryland man

By Jesse Valentine - April 16, 2025
North Carolina law would make it illegal for Democratic AG to sue Trump

North Carolina law would make it illegal for Democratic AG to sue Trump

By Jesse Valentine - April 11, 2025
Older Americans suffer under Republican slash and burn policies

Older Americans suffer under Republican slash and burn policies

By Jesse Valentine - April 09, 2025
Scott Brown got Trump’s tariff plans for New Zealand very wrong

Scott Brown got Trump’s tariff plans for New Zealand very wrong

By Jesse Valentine - April 08, 2025
Trump admin canceled Social Security contracts to punish Maine governor

Trump admin canceled Social Security contracts to punish Maine governor

By Jesse Valentine - April 03, 2025
Senate Republicans vote to eliminate cap on overdraft fees

Senate Republicans vote to eliminate cap on overdraft fees

By Jesse Valentine - April 03, 2025
Forced to carry a dying baby, this Texas mother of four says she didn’t think it could happen to her

Forced to carry a dying baby, this Texas mother of four says she didn’t think it could happen to her

By Bonnie Fuller - March 28, 2025
Despite pleas from women and doctors, Texas may implement even more abortion restrictions

Despite pleas from women and doctors, Texas may implement even more abortion restrictions

By Bonnie Fuller - March 28, 2025
Trump’s antiwar claims don’t hold up in leaked group chat

Trump’s antiwar claims don’t hold up in leaked group chat

By Jesse Valentine - March 28, 2025
Frontline Republican governors cheer on Department of Ed closure

Frontline Republican governors cheer on Department of Ed closure

By Jesse Valentine - March 26, 2025
GOP-led legislatures ramp up abortion restrictions

GOP-led legislatures ramp up abortion restrictions

By Jesse Valentine - March 18, 2025
HHS slashes vaccine research, amplifies misinformation

HHS slashes vaccine research, amplifies misinformation

By Jesse Valentine - March 11, 2025
Senate Republicans scrap consumer protections for payment apps

Senate Republicans scrap consumer protections for payment apps

By Jesse Valentine - March 10, 2025
Rep. Don Bacon admits he voted for Medicaid cuts

Rep. Don Bacon admits he voted for Medicaid cuts

By - February 28, 2025
Trump admin cracks down on affordable weight-loss treatments

Trump admin cracks down on affordable weight-loss treatments

By Jesse Valentine - February 27, 2025
Republican lawmakers are lying about Medicaid fraud

Republican lawmakers are lying about Medicaid fraud

By Jesse Valentine - February 26, 2025
Trump’s education pick: schools may lose funds for teaching Black history

Trump’s education pick: schools may lose funds for teaching Black history

By Jesse Valentine - February 13, 2025