Reported Hate Crimes In LA County Rise To Highest Level In 12 Years

By Ritchel Mendiola, Asian Journal |

Earlier this year, the prominent policy and research non-profit AAPI Data found that while a quarter of Asian Americans said they’ve experienced at least one anti-Asian hate incident, only about 30% say they were “very comfortable” reporting hate crimes to law enforcement.

Attitudes toward law enforcement, in general, have wavered, especially over the last decade following patterns of aggression and violence on unarmed people, especially people of color, by police officers that are routinely captured on video.

But understanding the ways in which different communities experience racism and bigotry shouldn’t be viewed as an “oppression Olympics” but more so as different manifestations of the same problem.

Karthick Ramakrishnan, founder of AAPI Data, said earlier this year that “[t]he kinds of stereotypes and the kinds of discrimination that black people face [are] different, and in some cases more severe. When you’re talking about housing discrimination, as well as dis[1]crimination by police, it’s much higher for black people than it is for Asians.

He added, “But I think when it comes to these hate incidents, it seems that there’s a greater similarity in the frequency of hate incidents, even though the exact nature of those hate incidents might vary.”

READ MORE HERE