San Francisco followed with 12 reported incidents compared to five from the same period last year for a 140% increase and Los Angeles reported an 80% increase with nine hate crimes, compared to five during the same period last year.
“This year’s first quarter increase follows a historic surge in Anti-Asian hate crime that started last year,” researchers wrote. “Last year’s first spike occurred in March and April amidst a rise in COVID cases, a World Health Organization pandemic declaration, and an increase in political and online stigmatizing of Asians.”
The Center’s researchers counted 122 incidents of anti-Asian hate crimes in the same 16 cities for all of 2020, itself a 150% increase over 2019, meaning that the surge in early 2021 is building off an already high base.
The New York Police Department’s (NYPD) Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating after two Asian women were attacked in Manhattan on Sunday, with one being hit in the head with a hammer.
The Asian women, ages 31 and 29, were seen walking on a sidewalk when an individual approached them and demanded they remove their face masks.
The individual, who was seen wearing all black, then attacked the women and struck the 31-year-old in the head with a hammer causing a laceration,” according to a statement from the task force on Twitter.
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The task force also shared video of the violent incident on Twitter, during which several bystanders can be seen nearby.
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