3/27/2021
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posted 2/27/21
We contiinue to see a rise in harassment and violence against Asian elders. Discrimination and harassment on the basis of race, national origin, age, and disability (including having or being perceived to be exposed to COVID-19) is illegal under the New York City Human Rights Law. Since the start of COVID-19, we have seen a sharp increase in instances of hostility and harassment directed at Chinese and other Asian communities related to COVID-19 stigma and misinformation. The NYC Commission on Human Rights, the Mayor's Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes, the Mayor’s Community Affairs Unit (CAU), and the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs are coordinating closely to educate the public about their rights and protections in light of COVID-19-related stigma and hate crimes.
There has been a significant, troubling increase in anti-Asian hate crimes and bias incidents. In 2019 there was one reported incident; in 2020, thirty. Sixteen of the thirty were violent crimes. Between February and December of 2019, 30 bias incidents of anti-Asian discrimination and harassment were reported to the NYC Commission on Human Rights. During the same 11-month period in 2020, that number increased to 205. It is crucial to note that hate crimes and bias incidents have been found to be vastly under-reported so these numbers only reflect reported incidents.
See the Mayor’s tweet on this here well as First Lady McCray’s tweet here.
HATE/BIAS FACT SHEET: https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/cchr/downloads/pdf/COVID-Interagency-Hate-Bias-One-Pager-FINAL-English.pdf
