Stop AAPI Hate report shows pervasive hate crimes against AA/PIs

Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AA/PIs), including South Asians, face staggering levels of racism, a new Stop AAPI Hate report revealed portending grave political implications for the fastest-growing electorate in the US ahead of the November election.

Stop AAPI Hate leadership, joined by members of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC), detailed the pervasive levels of hate faced by the community in 2023, at a press conference in Washington, DC, Wednesday.

The coalition dedicated to ending racism and discrimination against AA/PI people convened the press conference to discuss Stop AAPI Hate’s new annual data report, From Pain to Power: Asian American and Pacific Islander Activation in the Face of Hate.

Stop AAPI Hate co-founders Cynthia Choi and Manjusha Kulkarni spoke to the report’s key finding concerning unprecedented levels of civic engagement among AA/PIs newly motivated to combat racism and discrimination.

READ: Half of AAPIs experienced race-based hate in 2023: Survey (May 1, 2024)

On top of the latest data, CAPAC members and Stop AAPI Hate leadership also spoke to broader threats facing AA/PI communities requiring urgent policy responses, including: Project 2025; intense anti-Asian political scapegoating rooted in xenophobia and Sinophobia, including both racist rhetoric and discriminatory land ban legislation; and waves of anti-South Asian hate in the midst of racist and Islamophobic political rhetoric.

CAPAC members spoke extensively about the ways this data reflects disturbing experiences heard from their own districts and constituencies — but also how these incidents motivate AA/PIs toward various forms of civic and political engagement.

“Our new report sends a strong message to the nation that we have not been passive victims as we’ve experienced waves of racism over the past few years. When we experience hate, we become more motivated to take action against it,” said Choi, Co-Founder of Stop AAPI Hate and Co-Executive Director of Chinese for Affirmative Action.

“Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are primed to make a difference — and our growing political power makes us a constituency that elected officials and candidates alike must listen to.”

“Stop AAPI Hate’s latest research shows that Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders across the political spectrum are motivated to fight for justice and equality for our communities,” said Kulkarni, Co-Founder of Stop AAPI Hate and Executive Director of AAPI Equity Alliance.

“AAPI communities will not stop demanding resources, attention and action from those in positions of power. We are already mobilized, and we are fired up about exercising our growing political power.”

The Pain to Power report is based on Stop AAPI Hate’s inaugural nationally-representative survey conducted in collaboration with NORC at the University of Chicago.

“Even four years after the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, there are still millions in our communities who reported experiencing hate last year due to their race or ethnicity, as illustrated vividly in Stop AAPI Hate’s new report,” said US Congresswoman Judy Chu (D-Pasadena).

“The culmination of years of escalating xenophobia and anti-Asian rhetoric have fueled the anti-immigrant policies and disinformation now seen in Trump’s Project 2025,” she said. “We must ensure that everybody in this country, regardless of background or country of origin, can look forward to a life assured of equality and justice for all–and that means understanding the multifaceted forms of hate and pursuing policies that fight that hate and help people heal.”

Chu pointed to the implicit ways hate and discrimination poses a threat to AA/PIs in the form of anti-immigrant political rhetoric, disinformation and discriminatory legislation, including land bans, the “China Initiative” and Project 2025.

“We’ve seen an alarming rise in targeted hate towards the AANHPI community in recent years. AANHPIs are the fastest-growing group in the country and it’s imperative that elected officials take the community’s concerns and safety seriously. I applaud Stop AAPI Hate for compiling this important report that explores the real-world impact that AANHPI hate has on the community,” said US Congressman Ted Lieu (D-Los Angeles).

Lieu emphasized the report’s findings that AA/PIs today are politically and civically motivated to take action against racism at unprecedented levels.

The full report, found on the Stop AAPI Hate website, also includes findings based on political identification; additional impacts of hate beyond health; the most common forms of anti-AA/PI hate; where acts of hate take place; breakdowns by regional/ethnic subgroups, age, gender and income; and more.

The report also includes recent first-hand accounts of anti-AA/PI hate acts submitted to Stop AAPI Hate’s reporting center.