Despite some reports that anti-Asian hate crimes are declining in New York, Asian Americans in the city still fear for their safety and remain hypervigilant in public settings, according to a new study.
The study — whose results were released Thursday by The Asian American Foundation, or TAAF — surveyed 1,000 New York City-based Asian Americans ages 16 and above between Nov. 30 and Dec. 19. The findings show that safety is a major concern among Asian Americans there.
According to the survey, 1 in 5 Asian Americans were physically assaulted in the past 12 months, and 1 in 2 reported experiencing insults, harassments, threats, or a physical attack during that period because of their race or ethnicity. More than half of those surveyed also reported feeling unsafe on public transportation, with 83% of Asian American women calling public safety a major concern in the city.
Between 2020 and 2021, anti-Asian hate crimes surged across the country amidracist rhetoric linked to the COVID-19 pandemic, with New York City experiencing the largest increase in reports of these incidents, according to a study performed at the time.
Since then, data from the New York Police Department has shown a decrease in such crimes in the city, with 83 incidents targeting Asians in 2022 and 51 incidents in 2023.
But despite this reported decline, TAAF head Norman Chen said that anti-Asian hate crimes have not dissipated, and that fear is still heightened for Asian Americans in the city.
TAAF’s survey found that 62% of respondents witnessed an Asian American community member being insulted, harassed, threatened or physically attacked due to their race or ethnicity in the past 12 months. Additionally, 75% of respondents changed their daily routines or behaviors to avoid hate crimes, such as by not speaking in their native tongue.
“The anti-Asian hate rhetoric and violence that targeted the AAPI community in 2020 has not stopped,” Chen said in a statement, using an acronym for Asian…
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