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Anti-Asian hate crimes and violence more than double within LA community

Hate crime reports against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders more than doubled in LA from 2019 to 2020, according to the LAPD. The rise matched a similar trend statewide, according to the attorney general’s office. (Jason Zhu/Daily Bruin staff)

By Justin Jung

July 9, 2021 6:59 p.m.

This post was updated July 11 at 7:03 p.m.

Hate crimes reported against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in LA more than doubled between 2019 and 2020, according to an LAPD report from April.

The trend in LA matched a similar trend across California, with hate crimes involving an anti-Asian bias more than doubling over the same period, according to a June report by California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office.

The LAPD report also found that the number of hate incidents committed in LA against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders increased by nearly 30% between 2019 and 2020.

The LAPD classifies both hate crimes and incidents as acts directed at individuals because of a certain perceived identity, such as race or national origin. However, hate incidents do not include a criminal act, according to the LAPD.

Of the 15 hate crimes listed in the LAPD report, three investigations were closed and 12 are ongoing, according to the report. Nine hate incidents were also listed in the report.

In one hate incident Aug. 10, LAPD officers who initially responded to the report failed to complete an incident report, according to the LAPD report.

 

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The LAPD did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

According to the report, hate crimes and incidents targeted Asian American and Pacific Islander men and women at similar rates, with 13 and 10 reports respectively. For both men and women, individuals 30-39 years of age were targeted at the highest rate, with six and four reports respectively.

However, the 15 hate crime reports filed in the LAPD report are likely far less than the actual number of hate crimes committed over that period, said Karen Umemoto, an Asian American studies and urban planning professor, in an emailed statement. Many individuals may choose not to report for a variety of reasons, such as fear of retaliation or skepticism of the criminal justice system, Umemoto added.

“Our litigious judicial process isn’t designed to get to the roots of the problem, to the sources of aggression,” Umemoto said in the emailed statement. “Nor does it facilitate apology, forgiveness and restoration as a routine practice. In other words, our justice system is ill-equipped to address the problem of racial hatred and bias in a constructive and meaningful way.”

Other groups, such as community-based reporting organization Stop AAPI Hate, have recorded more hate incidents than the LAPD, added Umemoto, who is also the chair of the UCLA Asian American Studies Center.

Between March 20, 2020, and Oct. 28, the organization collected 245 reports of hate incidents in LA County, according to its most recent county report. More than three-fourths of the reports included verbal harassment, while physical assaults made up around 8%, the report found.

In response to rising reports of hate crimes and incidents against Asian Americans, Mayor Eric Garcetti said March 21 that his office will work with LAPD to ensure the availability of police officers to respond to incidents and increase patrol.

However, increasing policing doesn’t achieve accountability for hate crimes and incidents, said Lee Ann S. Wang, an Asian American studies and social welfare assistant professor.

“Having more policing respond to crime, it doesn’t actually lead towards that individual being accountable for the harm that they caused,” Wang said. “And it doesn’t actually lead towards any kind of making somebody feel whole for what they experienced or what their family and community experienced.”

Several of the hate crimes and incidents reported to the LAPD and Stop AAPI Hate also included verbal harassment relating Asian and Chinese people to COVID-19.

“Though Asian Americans are facing the brunt of pandemic-related fear and anger prompted by (former president Donald Trump’s) scapegoating of Chinese and China for COVID-19, there are other communities that also face this problem and we all need to stand together in solidarity and support,” Umemoto said.

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Justin Jung | News senior staff
Jung is a senior staff reporter and a photographer for the Bruin. He was a 2021-2022 assistant News editor for the campus politics and city and crime beats. Jung was also the 2020-2021 assistant Enterprise editor. Jung is a fourth-year global studies student.
Jung is a senior staff reporter and a photographer for the Bruin. He was a 2021-2022 assistant News editor for the campus politics and city and crime beats. Jung was also the 2020-2021 assistant Enterprise editor. Jung is a fourth-year global studies student.
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