Hate crimes against Asian descents around the U.S. are under the spotlight since the Atlanta shooting.
According to Statista, anti-Asian hate crimes increased 150% from 2019 to 2020.
Stop Asian American Pacific Islander Hate released their annual report last week saying that roughly 3,800 hate incidents were reported from March 19th, 2020 to February 28th, 2021.
Verbal harassment made up 68.1%, shunning made up 20.5% and physical assault made up 11.1%.
The Asian community in Utah is going through a similar experience.
Yunha Hwang... A Korean political science major at BYU said that discrimination against Asians has always existed in Provo and the U.S.
She wasn't surprised when the Atlanta shooting happened because of the numerous anti-Asian hate crimes that have been occurring since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
Hwang said, “Especially ever since the corona virus outbreak, there has been hostility towards Asians and overall discrimination.”
Hwang also said that the shooting is just another layer of the discrimination the world has been witnessing against Asians.
Stop Your Silence, an Instagram group that shares stories about racism among BYU students, has posted about 350 instances of minorities facing discrimination and micro aggression since February 2020.
One of the posts says, 'I got a call from an unknown number. When I answered, someone asked for me, called me lots of racial slurs and said I should go back to China for bringing Coronavirus to Utah.'
Hyeonbin Gill, a Korean engineering student at BYU says that the discrimination he faced as an Asian makes it hard for him to build relationships with non-Asians. “I didn't really know how to speak English. A lot of people made fun of me. ... People called me Chinese when I was Korean. I think those kinds of negative experiences put a barrier with other people. I'm more skeptical having relationships with other people other than Asians.”
Anti-Asian hate crime is on the rise again.
While the Covid-19 pandemic generated more violent hate crimes against Asians, Asians have always faced racial slurs and micro aggression.
Visit stopaapihate.org if you want to learn more about Asian hate crimes and see how you can support the Asian community in your neighborhood.