Hate crimes against Asian-Americans can finally be tracked through one website launched just before Donald Trump’s inauguration.
The site, titled “Stand Against Hatred,” was created by human rights nonprofit Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJC) in an apparent effort to monitor cases of hate crimes against Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders.
Its homepage is a straightforward form where people anonymously report hate incidents across the United States. However, it clarifies that entries are not submitted to authorities:
“If you wish to seek assistance from law enforcement, please contact local law enforcement to report a crime or file a complaint.”
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John Yang, AAJC’s executive director, told NPR:
“We’ve always recognized that hate incidents have been an issue. We realized that we really needed a better tracking tool.”
Yang said the AAPI is seen as the “perpetual foreigner.” Such perception makes the group more vulnerable to hate crimes.
It was also observed that there had been a surge in anti-Asian hate crimes following Trump’s anti-Chinese rhetoric. Unfortunately, documented figures of such cases at the national level are meager.
Yang added, “We need to raise public awareness that hate incidents against AAPI are not one-off incidents. They happen in much greater numbers than we’d like to admit.”
Have you ever been victimized by hate crime?
