Nearly 50 years later, Asian American and Pacific Islander month features revelry and racial justice
It has been almost 50 years since the U.S. government established that Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders and their accomplishments should be recognized annually across the nation.
Nearly 8 in 10 AAPI adults in the US think abortion should be legal, an AP-NORC poll finds
A new poll shows that Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders in the United States are highly supportive of legal abortion, even in situations where the pregnant person wants an abortion for any reason.
Buddhists use karmic healing against one US city's anti-Asian legacy and nationwide prejudice today
A group of Buddhist faith leaders and community members gathered in the city of Antioch, California, for the โfirst national Buddhist memorial service and pilgrimage in response to anti-Asian hate.โ.
1 in 3 US Asians and Pacific Islanders faced racial abuse this year, AP-NORC/AAPI Data poll shows
Despite ongoing efforts to combat anti-Asian racism that arose after the pandemic, a third of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders say they have experienced an act of abuse based on their race or ethnicity in the last year.
Virginia high school admissions case could be legal follow-up to affirmative action ruling
A federal appeals courtโs ruling last month about the admissions policy at an elite public high school in northern Virginia may provide a vehicle for the U.S. Supreme Court to flesh out the intended scope of its ruling banning affirmative action in college admissions.
AAPI liaisons with sheriffโs office bring comfort, support after racist tirade at Orlando restaurant
After a racist tirade against the owners of an Orlando Asian-American restaurant went viral a couple of weeks ago, the Central Florida community responded with a wave of support, including from a brand new squad at the Orange County Sheriff's Office created to give Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders a voice.
AANHPI Heritage Month: Celebrate Central Floridaโs Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander community
During Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Heritage Month, News 6 hopes to capture and highlight some of the contributions, achievements and stories of Central Floridaโs own growing and diverse AANHPI community.
For Asian American women, Olympics reveal a harsh duality
Across two pandemic Olympics set in Asian countries, Asian American woman fronting the Games have encountered a whiplashing duality โ prized on the global stage for their medal-winning talent, buffeted by the escalating crisis of racist abuse at home.
AP-NORC poll: Biden bolstered by strong marks on pandemic
Vaccine distribution has soared since Biden took office, with more than 96 million Americans having received at least one dose. Americans have responded favorably to the president's approach, with 73% approving of his handling of the pandemic. Sixty percent of Americans now say they approve of Bidenโs handling of the economy, compared with 55% a month ago. Americans are split over Biden's handling of the deficit, with 48% saying they approve and 50% saying they disapprove. So far, just 42% say they approve of how Biden is handling immigration, and a similar share, 44%, say they approve of how heโs handling border security.
Hate crime: Suspect arrested in attack on Asian American woman in New York City
This image taken from surveillance video provided by the New York City Police Department shows a person of interest in connection with an assault of an Asian American woman, Monday, March 29, 2021, in New York. (Courtesy of New York Police Department via AP)NEW YORK โ A parolee convicted of killing his mother nearly two decades ago was arrested on assault and hate crime charges in an attack on an Asian American woman in New York City, police said Wednesday. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio called the attack โabsolutely disgusting and outrageousโ and said it was โabsolutely unacceptableโ that witnesses didnโt help the woman. Two lobby workers, described by their union as doormen, were seen on video witnessing the attack but failing to help Kari. This year in New York City, there have been 33 hate crimes with an Asian victim as of Sunday, police said.
Justice Department to review how best to fight hate crimes
(Kevin Dietsch/Pool via AP)WASHINGTON โ Attorney General Merrick Garland on Tuesday ordered a review of how the Justice Department can best deploy its resources to combat hate crimes during a surge in incidents targeting Asian Americans. They should also focus on improving the FBIโs collection of data on hate crimes, which is โcritical to understanding the evolving nature and extent of hate crimes and hate incidents in all their forms,โ he wrote in the memo. A main criticism from lawmakers and civil rights groups has been that the U.S. government vastly undercounts hate crimes because the FBIโs reporting system is voluntary. In some states, just 5% of police departments reported any hate crimes last year. The review is aimed at determining how the Justice Department can better prioritize investigations and prosecutions, increase and track reporting of hate crimes and other incidents that could violate federal law and use civil remedies to address bias incidents that donโt amount to federal hate crimes.
Donations for Asian American groups surge after killings
Donations and contribution pledges to Asian American and Pacific Islander groups have spiked since the March 16 shooting in Atlanta that killed eight people, including six women of Asian descent. For all of 2020, the group's latest data shows that about $54 million was directed to Asian American groups or causes. Instead, it reflects sizable pledges and donations by philanthropists and other donors to organizations representing Asian Americans. The pledges coincide with numerous calls on social media and other channels to donate to groups representing Asian American communities. A bulk of the commitments to Asian American groups are for a GoFundMe page that is raising money for 14 organizations, including the Georgia chapter of the nonprofit National Asian Pacific American Womenโs Forum.
Video shows vicious attack of Asian American woman in NYC
On Friday, in the same neighborhood as Monday's attack, a 65-year-old Asian American woman was accosted by a man waving an unknown object and shouting anti-Asian insults. He is not suspected in Monday's attack. Andrew Cuomo called Monday's attack โhorrifying and repugnant" and he ordered a state police hate crimes task force to offer its assistance to the NYPD. The neighborhood where Monday's attack occurred, Hell's Kitchen, is predominantly white, with an Asian population of less than 20%, according to city demographic data. Shea called Monday's attack โdisgusting," telling TV station NY1: โI donโt know who attacks a 65-year-old woman and leaves her on the street like that."
Voting rights, hate crimes on Senate's 'big, bold' agenda
Democrats are vowing action on several of their top priorities in April, including strengthening hate crime laws to include Asian Americans and restoring voting rights protections to combat minority voter suppression. It would seek to restore elements of the Voting Rights Act that were struck down by the Supreme Court in 2013, a decision that Democrats say left minority voters vulnerable to disenfranchisement. Democrats see it as a forceful response to voting rights restrictions advancing in Republican-controlled statehouses across the country. Republicans are strongly opposed to the voting rights bill, arguing that it would tilt elections toward Democrats and take control of elections away from the states. While strengthening background checks is broadly popular among the American public, Senate Republicans have said they oppose the two House bills.
San Francisco school board's latest crisis: Racist tweets
FILE - In this June 1, 2020, file photo, San Francisco Mayor London Breed speaks outside City Hall in San Francisco. Breed joined a chorus of officials who have denounced the tweets by the vice president of San Francisco's school board, Alison Collins, as racist and anti-Asian. The posts resurfaced last week amid a surge of violence and harassment against Asian Americans in the San Francisco Bay Area and around the country. They are the latest embarrassment for San Franciscoโs school board, which has prided itself on putting racial equity at the top of its agenda. Under a plan recently negotiated with its labor unions, San Francisco plans to phase-in the reopening of elementary school classrooms in mid-April.
Senators back off vow to withhold support of Biden nominees
The only senators of Asian American heritage, they said they would withhold their support for his nominees until the diversity issue was addressed. AdDuckworth had said earlier that she raised the issue with top Biden advisers on Tuesday and afterward called the situation โnot acceptable." โIโve been talking to them for months and theyโre still not aggressive, so Iโm not going to be voting for any nominee from the White House other than diversity nominees,โ Duckworth told reporters. But Hirono later said in a statement of her own that she too welcomed the appointment of an AAPI White House liaison and was dropping her objections. Tai, who was confirmed last week, is the first Asian American and first woman of color to serve as U.S. trade representative.
Asian Americans seek greater political power after shootings
It's also spurring her and other Asian Americans to push for greater political influence in Washington and other power centers. President Joe Biden and his aides have been repeatedly pressed to include Asian Americans in his Cabinet. โI think symbolism and representation matters, but only up to a point,โ said Aarti Kohli, executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice. โThose things all contribute to lower rates of political participation among Asian Americans, but people โ mistakenly, I think โ assume that Asian Americans are somehow less interested in U.S. civic life.โAdThat's evolving. โAsian Americans didn't necessarily grow up with that vocabulary of advocacy and how to fight for ourselves," Meng said.
Asian women say shootings point to relentless, racist tropes
Pai and others have been busy working with community members as Asian Americans reel from Tuesdays Atlanta-area shootings by a gunman who killed eight people, six of whom were Asian women. They say theyโve often had to tolerate racist and misogynistic men who cling to a narrative that Asian women are exotic and submissive. She said this scenario echoes a long-running stereotype that Asian women are immoral and hypersexual. That helps us understand violence toward Asian women like we saw this week.โU.S. military deployments in Asia also played a role, according to Kim. The bodies and perceived submissiveness of Asian women were eroticized and hypersexualized, Kim said, and eventually these racist stereotypes were brought back to the United States.
Biden, Harris offer solace, denounce racism in Atlanta visit
President Joe Biden speaks after meeting with leaders from Georgia's Asian-American and Pacific Islander community, Friday, March 19, 2021, at Emory University in Atlanta, as Vice President Kamala Harris listens. We cannot be complicit.โโTheyโve been attacked, blamed, scapegoated and harassed; theyโve been verbally assaulted, physically assaulted, killed," Biden said of Asian Americans during the coronavirus pandemic. But Biden and Harris instead spent much of their visit consoling a community whose growing voting power helped secure their victory in Georgia and beyond. As the fastest-growing racial demographic in the U.S. electorate, Asian Americans are gaining political influence across the country. The Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, typically dominated by Democrats, has its largest roster ever, including Asian American and Pacific Islander members and others who represent significant numbers of Asian Americans.
California adopts first statewide ethnic studies curriculum
Educators and civil rights leaders in California called on the State Board of Education Thursday, March 18, 2021, to approve the nation's first statewide model ethnic studies curriculum for high school students. California Department of Education officials say this would be the first statewide ethnic studies model curriculum in the nation. Other states have taken different approaches to teaching ethnic studies. Oregon is developing ethnic studies standards for its social studies curriculum, while Connecticut high schools will be required to offer courses in Black and Latino studies by the fall of 2022. I can guarantee you that,โ said California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, a former lawmaker and academic who created an ethnic studies program at San Diego State University in the 1970s.
Atlanta police on shooting probe: 'Nothing is off the table'
(AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)ATLANTA โ Police said Thursday that โnothing is off the tableโ in the investigation of the deadly shootings at two Atlanta massage businesses, including whether the slayings were a hate crime. The pair postponed a political event in favor of meeting Friday with Asian American community leaders. โOur investigation is looking at everything, so nothing is off the table,โ Deputy Atlanta Police Chief Charles Hampton Jr. said at a news conference. Investigators believe Long had previously visited two of the Atlanta massage parlors where four of the women were killed, Hampton said. Longโs statements spurred outrage and widespread skepticism in the Asian American community, which has increasingly been targeted for violence during the coronavirus pandemic.
Asian Americans grieve, organize in wake of Atlanta attacks
Asian Americans were already worn down by a year of pandemic-fueled racist attacks when a white gunman was charged with killing eight people, most of them Asian women, at three Atlanta-area massage parlors on Tuesday. Hundreds of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders turned to social media to air their anger, sadness, fear and hopelessness. โI think the reason why people are feeling so hopeless is because Asian Americans have been ringing the bell on this issue for so long. Mahmood said Asian American business owners in the Atlanta area were already fearful because of incidents like graffiti and break-ins. Meanwhile, Asian Americans are thankfully getting support from many non-Asian allies, Mahmood said.
Public reaction to killings at Atlanta-area massage parlors
Shootings at two massage parlors in Atlanta and one in the suburbs have left multiple people dead, many of them women of Asian descent, authorities said Tuesday. The shootings happened under the trauma of increasing violence against Asian Americans nationwide, fueled by white supremacy and systemic racism.โ โ Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta. Ad___โThe surge in violence against Asian Americans over the last year is a growing crisis. We need action from our leaders and within our communities to stop the hate.โ โ Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. ... Our entire nation must come together to speak out to Stop Asian Hate."
EXPLAINER: Why Georgia attack spurs fears in Asian Americans
Asian American lawmakers have expressed heartbreak on social media and emphasized the need to support Asian American communities during this moment. AdMany lawmakers acknowledged a heightened sense of fear among Asian Americans as a result of the increasing number of hate incidents. โPlease stand up, condemn this violence, and help us #StopAsianHate.โHOW PREVALENT HAVE ASSAULTS AGAINST ASIAN AMERICANS BEEN? Recent attacks, including the killing of an 84-year-old San Francisco man in February, have raised concerns about worsening hostilities toward Asian Americans. This racist association between Asian Americans and illness and uncleanliness has also affected views of Asian food and contributes to the โperpetual foreignerโ trope that suggests Asian people are fundamentally outsiders.
Georgia shooting suspect may have โsexual addiction,โ was headed to Florida to commit similar crimes, police say
He claimed to have a โsex addiction,โ and authorities said he apparently lashed out at what he saw as sources of temptation. But those statements spurred outrage and widespread skepticism given the locations and that six of the eight victims were women of Asian descent. Baker drew criticism for saying Long had โa really bad day" and โthis is what he did." AdThe attacks began when five people were shot at Youngs Asian Massage Parlor near Woodstock, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of Atlanta, authorities said. โI mean, all my friends, we were flabbergasted.โThe American Psychiatric Association does not recognize sex addiction in its main reference guide for mental disorders.
The Latest: Biden urges Americans to 'stick with the rules'
President Joe Biden arrives to speak about the COVID-19 pandemic during a prime-time address from the East Room of the White House, Thursday, March 11, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)WASHINGTON โ The Latest on President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package (all times local):8:30 p.m.President Joe Biden is urging Americans to โstick with the rules" as he wraps up his address to the nation on the one-year anniversary of the beginning of coronavirus pandemic. __8:05 p.m.President Joe Biden is delivering a somber but optimistic message on the one-year anniversary of the coronavirus pandemic. Biden says, โWe all lost something, a collective suffering, a collective sacrifice.โAd__6:40 p.m.President Joe Biden is planning to announce during his prime-time address Thursday night that heโll deploy 4,000 additional U.S. troops to support coronavirus vaccination efforts. The officials say the president will also say that there is a good chance Americans will be able to safely gather in small groups by July 4.
Lawsuit challenges new admissions policy at elite Va. school
Pacific Legal Foundation attorney Erin Wilcox speaks at a news conference outside the federal courthouse, Wednesday, March 10, 2021, in Alexandria, Va., where her organization filed a lawsuit against Fairfax County's school board, alleging discrimination against Asian Americans over its revised admissions process for the elite Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. The Pacific Legal Foundation's lawsuit against the Fairfax County school board was prompted by the school system's decision to overhaul the admissions process at the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. The Fairfax County school board voted last year to revise the admissions process and eliminate a standardized test that had been a key part of the evaluation process. The lawsuit comes as the U.S. Supreme Court is weighing whether to hear a long-running legal case against Harvard University over whether its admissions polices discriminate against Asian Americans. AdWilcox said that the rules governing K-12 schools are different than those governing colleges, but she acknowledged that a Supreme Court ruling on the Harvard case could affect the TJ lawsuit.
As virus-era attacks on Asians rise, past victims look back
Asian Americans have been facing a dangerous climate since the coronavirus entered the U.S. a year ago. A rash of crimes victimizing elderly Asian Americans in the last two months has renewed outcry for more attention from politicians and the media. A recent wave of attacks on elderly Asian Americans โ including the death of an 84-year-old San Francisco man โ has fueled worries that hostilities have only worsened. AdA rash of crimes victimizing elderly Asian Americans in the past two months has renewed outcry for more attention from politicians and the media. AdโOur work to address anti-Asian racism is inextricably tied to fighting anti-Black racism,โ Choi said.
Racism targets Asian food, business during COVID-19 pandemic
Bigotry toward Asian Americans and Asian food has spread steadily alongside the coronavirus in the United States. In addition, Asian American small businesses have been among the hardest hit by the economic downturn during the pandemic. โThe way I mean food to be โdirtyโ is indulgent street food; food that comforts you as in, โgoing out for a dirty burger,โโ she wrote. โIt was a very flippant, ignorant, tone-deaf way of talking about Asian food,โ he said. Racist rhetoric referring to Asian food as dirty or disease-laden dates back to the 1850s, said Ellen Wu, a history professor at Indiana University.
Location, education propel Asian income growth in US
โAs the labor market tightened more in certain areas and in certain fields we would see more robust income growth for those groups," Ohio State economist Trevon Logan said in an email. โAlso, higher concentration in urban areas with larger job growth and increases in minimum wage can also play a role in income gains." While income growth has been comparatively flat in a vast majority of U.S. counties, it has been concentrated in a handful of communities, said William Spriggs, an economist at Howard University. Blacks are over-represented in public employment, which experienced anemic income growth,โ Logan said. Asian Americans make up almost 6% of the U.S. population.
Appeals court clears Harvard of racial bias in admissions
FILE - In this Aug. 13, 2019 file photo, students walk near the Widener Library at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. A federal appeals court on Thursday, Nov. 12, 2020 has upheld a district court decision clearing Harvard University of intentional discrimination against Asian American applicants. Both sides have been preparing for a possible review by the Supreme Court, and some legal scholars say the issue is ripe to be revisited. In multiple decisions spanning decades, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that colleges can consider race as a limited factor in order to promote campus diversity. In close calls between students, some underrepresented students may get a โtipโ in their favor, school officials have said, but studentsโ race is never counted against them.
Trump debate comment pushing Black Americans, others to vote
Black Americans and other people of color say President Donald Trumps refusal to outright condemn white nationalists during this weeks debate has strengthened their resolve to vote in November. Roberson, a 51-year-old Black woman who lives in Detroit, found the comments chilling โ but also felt a renewed resolve to vote. Eric Sheffield, a Black real estate developer in Atlanta whose parents hail from the Deep South, said Trumpโs comments reminded him of the Jim Crow era. Itโs just warmed over now.โIt's not just Black Americans who took notice โ and umbrage โ at the president's debate comments. While Trump's comments โ and his record on race โ may have unsettled many Americans, for some Black people they evoke a particularly dark history.
House condemns racism against Asian Americans amid pandemic
WASHINGTON โ The House voted Thursday to condemn racism against Asian Americans tied to the coronavirus outbreak, approving a Democratic resolution on a mostly party-line vote. Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., called Republican opposition to the resolution โdisgraceful.โโThe president is fueling racism and inspiring violent attacks on Asian Americans and Asian immigrants,โ Takano said. Republicans said Trump was turning his ire toward China's government and not Asian Americans. Trump in March insisted that Asian Americans were โamazing peopleโ and not at fault for spreading the virus. Anti-discrimination groups have reported hundreds of actions against Asian Americans, especially in the early days of the outbreak.
Judges scrutinize suit's claims in Harvard racial bias case
BOSTON โ A panel of appeals court judges on Wednesday repeatedly challenged the legal claims of a group that accuses Harvard University of intentional discrimination against Asian American students who apply to the Ivy League school. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston appeared skeptical of arguments made by Students for Fair Admissions, which says Harvard imposes a โracial penaltyโ on Asian Americans. When a lawyer for the group accused the school of racial stereotyping against Asian American applicants, a judge interrupted and questioned the basis of the claim. The group's lawsuit alleges that Harvard admissions officers use a subjective โpersonal ratingโ assigned to each student to discriminate against Asian Americans. But Judge Sandra L. Lynch challenged that allegation, saying that, presented with competing statistical models from both sides, the trial court judge sided with Harvard's.
Feds accuse Yale of discriminating against some applicants
WASHINGTON A Justice Department investigation has found Yale University is illegally discriminating against Asian American and white applicants, in violation of federal civil rights law, officials said Thursday. The two-year investigation concluded that Yale rejects scores of Asian American and white applicants each year based on their race, whom it otherwise would admit, the Justice Department said. Yales race discrimination imposes undue and unlawful penalties on racially-disfavored applicants, including in particular Asian American and White applicants, Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband, who heads the departments civil rights division, wrote in a letter to the colleges attorneys. Yale has previously denied that its admissions process discriminates against Asian Americans or any other ethnic group. In the Harvard case, the Justice Department had argued that the university went too far in its use of race, but the judge disagreed.
Trump faced issues with Asian Americans even before virus
Trumps words have angered many Asian Americans and drawn condemnation from Trumps Democratic rival Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama. Trump in March also insisted that Asian Americans were amazing people and not at fault for spreading the virus. Biden at a June 27 town hall for Asian American voters slammed Trumps dangerous theories as xenophobic. The number of Asian Americans aligning themselves with the Democratic party has increased over the past 20 years while support for the GOP has trended down. For Trump, AAPI Data found nearly all major Asian American ethnic groups held an unfavorable view of the president.
From guns to GoPros, Asian Americans seek to deter attacks
Hundreds of attacks on Asian people have been reported, with few signs of decline. Many Asian Americans say they want to safely confront racist bullying and harassment, and grassroots groups are sharing โ virtually, of course โ ways to defuse abuse. The agency doesn't track background checks by race, but several media outlets have reported Asian Americans making up a large portion of those in long lines at gun shops in the last two months. Asian Americans Advancing Justice is promoting just that with bystander training. In New York City, a Facebook group pairs people with Asian Americans afraid to venture out alone.