Hate crimes against Asian-Americans saw a massive spike last year in the United States, new research has revealed.
The Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, which compiled the hate crime data, found that the anti-Asian sentiment rose by 339 per cent in 2021 compared to 2020, the NBC reported.
The report also found that Black Americans remained the most targeted group across most cities.
New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles topped the list of cities surpassing the 2020’s record in hate crimes.
And about a dozen of the largest US cities witnessed an overall 11 per cent increase in suspected hate crimes reported to police, the study noted.
According to the data, New York City had a drastic rise in hate crime incidents. From 30 in 2020, the anti-Asian hate crimes soared to 133 in 2021, a 343 per cent increase.
San Francisco also reported a massive spike, from nine to 60 crimes, a 567 per cent increase. And Los Angeles had a similarly sizable hike of 173 per cent.
Experts say that the increase in hate crimes against Asian-Americans is directly linked to Covid pandemic-fuelled racism.
Apart from Asian-Americans, other minority communities faced rising hate against them.
According to the report, in New York, the Jewish community reported the most hate crimes last year, with researchers, in part, linking increases to the three-week Gaza War in May.
In Chicago, gay men were the most targeted.
In terms of location, Los Angeles “recorded the most hate crimes of any US city this century” in 2021 alone, with New York coming in just behind it, the report stated.
The report also included data on hate incidents, which include nonviolent forms of discrimination such as harassment and shunning.
Between March 2020 and September 2021, around 10,370 hate incidents were reported by the Stop AAPI Hate non-profit organisation.
(With inputs from agencies)
