Crimes against Asians alarming

New York – High-profile crimes against Asians in the United States are continuing at a frightening rate despite efforts by politicians and prosecutors to address the situation.

The most recent case involved the fatal stabbing of a 35-year-old Korean American woman in New York on February 13.

While Asian organisations decry the crimes and plead for help, there are obstacles to criminal justice, such as lenient bail laws and lax punishment of repeat offenders, who are often out on the streets posing a threat to innocent people. Some offenders are homeless and/or mentally ill.

While such individuals can be a threat to anyone regardless of race, Asians have borne a disproportionate brunt of the attacks, especially in the past two years, with violent offenders using the Covid-19 pandemic to justify their assaults. Women and the elderly have frequently been victimised, as they are perceived to be more vulnerable.

According to the New York Police Department (NYPD), hate crimes against Asians jumped from 30 in 2020 to 133 last year, a 343 per cent rise. Complaints of bias crimes against Asians accounted for 25 per cent of all hate crime reports in the city last year.

New York Mayor Eric Adams, a former NYPD captain, has pleaded with lawmakers to allow judges more discretion at bail hearings, but during a recent trip to Albany, the state capital, his plea met with resistance.

New York state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said Adams was told behind closed doors there was no way the legislature would adopt the Democratic mayor’s proposal to let judges lock up defendants deemed dangerous to the public (before deciding whether to release suspects before trial), the New York Post reported.

Asian groups have cited the rhetoric of former president Donald Trump during the pandemic, blaming China for the virus. He and other US politicians have used terms such as “kung flu”, “China virus” and “Wuhan virus”.

In addition to the pandemic, issues played up in Western media such as trade disputes and the situations in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region have fuelled anti-China and anti-Asian sentiment. Tariffs imposed by Trump have continued under the administration of President Joe Biden.

Justin Yu, president of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, said at a vigil on Feb 7 in memory of Christina Yuna Lee, a talented graphic designer fatally stabbed more than 40 times early this month: “We all chose New York as our home. We have our family here. We raise our children here. We have our grandchildren here. Are we making a mistake?”

Lee was stabbed by a man who followed her into her apartment building and up six flights of stairs in Manhattan’s Chinatown early on Feb 6.

Assamad Nash, 25, a homeless man charged with murdering Lee, was not ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation despite his connection to three other criminal cases, Newsweek reported. Nash, also charged with attempted sexual assault, is being held without bail.

Yu said: “We New Yorkers, especially AAPI (Asian American and Pacific Islander) New Yorkers, are paying the price. We are being killed, being attacked, being pushed down the subway, rocks are being thrown at us on the sidewalk. We deserve better treatment in New York City.

“Today, we are moaning, we are crying, we are trembling in fear, we are terrified. Do something, New York City. Wake up, New York City. Please do something. We are begging.”

Don Lee, chairman of Homecrest Community Services in Chinatown, Manhattan, said: “I don’t think people know us — I think Asians are invisible to them. I think the lack of understanding of who we are, the lack of understanding of our history, the lack of understanding that we are humans too, I think that’s what adds to it.”

Ben Wei, the founder of Asians Fighting Injustice, helped organize a vigil last month for another victim, Michelle Go.

The 40-year-old, a Chinese American from California who held an MBA and worked in mergers and acquisitions for consulting company Deloitte, was killed when she was shoved into the path of an oncoming train at a Times Square subway station on Jan 15 by a homeless man claiming he was God. Wei said: “New York City has failed Chinatown. New York City has failed AAPIs and Asians. We do not feel safe. New York City has also failed our allies, communities and minorities of color.”

Meanwhile, Kaiming Chen, whose father was attacked two years ago, pulled out a photograph showing a man on a ventilator lying unconscious in a hospital bed.

“This is my father. Two years ago, he was knocked unconscious by a homeless individual. On that day, my father was sitting outside 124 East Broadway in Chinatown when a homeless individual was walking by. For no reason, he decided to punch my dad. My father’s eye was injured—his eyeball almost fell out,” Chen said.

“I’m opposed to the 91 East Broadway shelter,” Chen said of another shelter for the homeless proposed for the neighborhood. “We have a very simple request — to live in a peaceful, safe environment.”

According to Jackie Wong, a member of Concerned Citizens of East Broadway, there are five shelters in Manhattan’s Chinatown, and three more will be built in the area.

All eight shelters will be within a 1.6-kilometer radius, he said, adding: “We are a very condensed neighbourhood. Don’t forget that.” Such shelters in New York are located mainly in Harlem, Midtown West, Chinatown-Lower East Side, Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn, and central Bronx, according to Wong. “Many other neighbourhoods have zero or very few shelters,” he said. “They are putting all the shelters in low-income neighbourhoods. They are taking advantage of people who are more vulnerable and letting people who have more money take advantage of the situation,” Wong said. “They are not bearing any of these burdens. They put all the burden on the community of low-income people.”

In another case, Yao Pan Ma, 61, a Chinese immigrant who was randomly assaulted in April last year, died on New Year’s Eve after eight months in a coma.

Jarrod Powell, 50, has been indicted on a charge of second-degree murder as a hate crime in the case. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in statement on February 10, “The devastating death of Yao Pan Ma, a beloved father of two, occurred amidst a surge of anti-Asian attacks targeting our families, friends, neighbors and New York values.” When he was struck, Ma was collecting cans to recycle and use for his rent money. Powell told police he had been attacked by two “Korean or Japanese” men the day before.

In March last year, a 65-year-old woman from the Philippines was stomped on by a man as she made her way to church near Times Square. Her attacker told her, “You don’t belong here.” The victim was hospitalized with a fractured pelvis.

Brandon Elliot, 38, was charged with felony assault as a hate crime in the attack. He was released from prison in 2019 and was on lifetime parole after being convicted of fatally stabbing his mother in 2002.

Random violence is not limited to New York. In San Francisco, where officials have promised to hold perpetrators accountable, activists in Chinatown said they were disappointed that the District Attorney’s office had dropped most cases involving anti-Asian hate incidents.

San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin has come under fire from some Asian American victims.

An Asian American man beaten with a bat two years ago in the city recently filed a lawsuit against Boudin, saying his office had systemically refused to uphold the rights of Asian American victims of racial violence. The victim said the DA’s office never informed him of a lenient plea deal cut with his attackers or of the lack of a hate crime charge until after the fact.

In Los Angeles, two high-profile attacks were carried out on the same day last month.

A homeless man attacked Sandra Shells, 70, a nurse at LA County-USC Medical Center, as she waited for a bus to go to work early on Jan 13.Shells, whose skull was fractured, later died in the hospital.

In the other incident, a homeless man fatally stabbed Brianna Kupfer, 24, a UCLA graduate student, as she worked alone at a furniture store. Some 8,000 people live in the Skid Row neighborhood in the downtown area, perhaps the largest homeless encampment in the US, The Independent reported.

Courtesy: China Daily