NJ Bias Incidents Against Asians Up 82%, New Data Shows

NEW JERSEY — New Jersey has the third-largest Asian-American population in the U.S. But a rising chorus of local leaders say their communities are feeling “powerless” in the wake of the shootings that claimed eight lives in Georgia last week.

“The pain and frustration felt is real,” Rep. Andy Kim said, speaking alongside Senators Robert Menendez and Cory Booker during a roundtable discussion with Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community leaders on Tuesday.

“The AAPI community deserves to be heard in this moment,” Kim urged.

Authorities said a 21-year-old, lone shooter opened fire at three Atlanta-area spas on March 16, killing eight people, six of whom were Asian-American women. Police said the gunman admitted to the killings, and blamed the massage parlors for fueling his sex addiction. Read More: Metro Atlanta Massage Parlor Shootings (5 Things To Know)

Although most of the victims are of Asian descent, authorities say they’re still investigating the motive in the killings, and that the suspect claimed to investigators that the shooting wasn't racially motivated, CNN reported.

However, many New Jersey advocates have since expressed fear in the wake of the shootings, and have pointed to a reported rise in anti-Asian violence across the nation since the coronavirus pandemic began.

Other New Jersey residents have come out with stories about racism and bigotry they experienced long before last week’s shootings.

• See related article: Japanese-Born Newark Woman Speaks Out After Georgia Shootings
• See related article: Outrage In Essex County: 'We Stand With The Asian Community'

The Garden State has the third-largest Asian-American population in the nation, with 10 percent of the state’s population identifying as such, according to the most recent U.S. Census estimate.

According to preliminary state data released Tuesday, bias incidents targeting Asian or Pacific Islander people in New Jersey increased from 39 in 2019 to 71 in 2020, an 82 percent rise. It represents more than a four-fold increase from 2018, when 16 incidents were reported. (See totals for other groups below)

‘ALIENATED AND POWERLESS’

Community leaders who took part in Tuesday’s roundtable discussion called for renewed vigilance and prosecution of “hate crimes.”

“The news about the Atlanta shooting that killed eight people, including six Asian-American women, was really heartbreaking and horrifying,” said Andrew Park of the Korean American Civic Empowerment Organization.

“Whenever we hear anti-Asian hate crimes in the news, it’s personal,” Park said. “We get angry. And we get really sick and tired. We feel dehumanized, marginalized, alienated and powerless.”

Virginia Ng of the New Jersey Chapter of the Organization of Chinese Americans said that it’s “sad to see what is happening in our country.” But it’s also encouraging to see that communities of all backgrounds supporting other people of color, Ng said.

“We can no longer deny what is happening and ‘turn the other cheek’, or not report hate crimes,” Ng insisted.

“Being born and educated in this country, I am still asked, ‘Do you speak English?’ ... ‘Where are you from?’ … ‘You speak English so well’,” Ng said. “I answer, ‘So do you.’”

“My takeaway from the terrible Atlanta tragedy is that it’s not enough to sympathize with the victims – it’s not enough to express outrage and condemn such actions,” Jersey City Councilman Rolando Lavarro said.

“We need to take these crimes seriously by investigating and prosecuting them aggressively,” Lavarro added.

Suchitra Kamath of Inspiring South Asian American Women said the recent violence shows that even in 2021, there is a huge gap between “the communities we live in” and the “community we want it to be.”

Kiran Gill of the Sikh American Legal Defense and Educational Fund agreed.

“In the current environment, where xenophobia runs rampant, all attacks and assaults are immediately suspect in the eyes of the victim and their community,” Gill said. “That is the pernicious reality of acts of hate and discrimination; they terrorize the individual and their community. They can make one question their sense of belonging and identity.”

“As Sikh Americans, we know all too well the pain of hate and discrimination, but inspired by our chardi kala (optimism), we continue to move forward,” Gill said.

“Throughout this past year, I have repeatedly sounded the alarm over the growing threat of violence facing our Asian American community – in part fueled by our former president’s own words,” Sen. Menendez said, referring to Donald Trump’s controversial characterization of COVID-19 as the “Chinese virus.”

“What Donald Trump failed to realize, is that when you use bigoted and xenophobic terms to describe a global pandemic, you sow division in our communities,” Menendez said. “You awaken hatred in the hearts of the ignorant. And you put people in danger.”

Sen. Booker said nearly 3,800 hate incidents against the AAPI community have been reported across the U.S. in the last year alone, and the majority of those were perpetrated against women.

“These hate incidents are both a part of the rising threat of white supremacist violence and a unique manifestation of the hatred, discrimination and bias that Asian Americans have faced throughout our country’s history,” Booker said.

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BIAS INCIDENTS IN NEW JERSEY

Tuesday’s discussion came on the same day that state officials released preliminary data reporting 1,441 bias incidents in New Jersey in 2020 – the highest annual total ever, and a 45 percent increase from 2019.

There were “dramatic increases” in incidents targeting Black, Hispanic/Latino, Asian and LGBTQ+ people, officials said.

According to the preliminary data from the New Jersey Uniform Crime Reporting System, in addition to the incidents targeting AAPI populations:

• Black individuals were the most frequent targets of bias incidents, with 47 percent of all reported incidents in 2020 involving anti-Black bias for a total of 682. This represents an 84-percent increase over 2019, when 371 such incidents were reported.
• Anti-Hispanic bias incidents increased 113 percent from 48 in 2019 to 102 in 2020.
• Bias incidents targeting individuals on the basis of actual or perceived sexual orientation, or targeting transgender or gender non-conforming individuals increased 57 percent from 148 in 2019 to 232 in 2020.
• Bias incidents targeting Arab individuals rose 55 percent from 20 in 2019 to 31 in 2020.
• Anti-Islamic incidents increased 30 percent from 37 in 2019 to 48 in 2020.
• Reported anti-Jewish incidents declined 14 percent in 2020 compared to 2019, from 345 to 298.

Some of the rises may have been due to more incidents being reported, officials noted, adding that there have been “significant efforts” by New Jersey’s law enforcement community to standardize reporting practices and build trust with vulnerable populations over the past years.

New Jersey residents can report bias crimes by visiting http://nj.gov/oag/bias, or calling 800-277-BIAS. People can also visit the NJBIAS Online Reporting Portal here.

Rep. Kim participated in a separate roundtable discussion with Gov. Phil Murphy and Attorney General Gurbir Grewal on Tuesday, highlighting the preliminary data.

“The fight to stop Asian hate starts with lifting up Asian voices,” Kim emphasized. “Being heard is an important step towards healing and towards the solutions we need right now to put an end to these horrible acts.”

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