I shouted for help, but nobody helped me.
So I put my hands on my face,
I saw the blood oozing.
Asian and Pacific Islander Americans are facing a surge of attacks in the U.S.
The rise in violence has sparked fear within the AAPI community.
We went to New York City,
where police data shows there's been
a 1,900% increase in hate crimes against Asians.
You f*cking Asian piece of sh*t.
Racism against Asian Americans isn't new —
so what is causing the rise of attacks?
Do we know if all of these attacks are racially motivated?
We do not know that.
But look, they are unprovoked.
Rallies have been held across the country to highlight the urgency of the issue.
Justice for Asians!
This is a story of how Asian Americans
are finding solidarity in one another despite a wave of attacks.
We will be invisible no more.
-No more!
We will speak up.
-Speak up!
And we say that we are American too.
You’re looking at the face of a Filipino American man,
who was slashed while standing on a train to work.
That was Wednesday, Feb. 3,
and about 8 o’clock.
I was at the L train.
I stood there quietly.
A man came and stood beside me.
He started kicking my bag.
He came towards me.
I thought he's going to punch me,
but when I didn't feel anything,
I saw his hand with a boxer cutter.
I shouted for help, but nobody helped me.
Noel is still unsure what motivated the attack.
The police have not called it a hate crime.
I don’t know if it is because of the pandemic?
I really don't know.
Maybe because I'm Asian?
I have no idea.
I'm so sorry.
Well ... I am good.
But ...
But, it's not just like me.
If it's just me, it's OK.
But I also live with other people ...
Noel considers himself lucky.
He’s mourning for the victims who have not survived,
like this 84-year-old Thai man who died
two days after an attack on his regular morning walk.
Since the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020,
more than 2,800 self-reported accounts
of violent and nonviolent anti-Asian hate
were recorded by a rights group.
It’s widely believed the spike in racist attacks is due to Donald Trump’s rhetoric on coronavirus.
Kung Flu.
But the reality is more complicated than that.
It's difficult to pinpoint one root cause for the surge in attacks,
but some say a combination of the rhetoric blaming Asians,
particularly during the pandemic,
along with the ease of recording
and sharing these attacks has contributed
to making the issue more visible.
We spoke to Rep. Judy Chu,
who says racism against Asians in the U.S. goes far beyond Trump’s presidency.
Of course, we have a very long history in this country,
going all the way back to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.
It was the first legislation to bar immigration
of an ethnic group.
Yet, Asian Americans have played
an indispensable role in building the country.
The Chinese Americans were responsible
for the transcontinental railroad from
the West Coast to Utah.
But now, we see that Asian Americans
of all backgrounds are essential workers.
They are the ones that are on the front lines of the COVID-19 response.
To combat the recent crimes, New York City created an Asian Hate Crime Task Force.
But many say more policing is not the answer.
This is how a younger generation of Asian Americans
are responding to their elderly, who are in fear.
Dozens of Asian restaurants and volunteers
come together every Wednesday to gather thousands of food packages.
It actually started because we,
my girlfriend and I, were experiencing racism firsthand,
people saying very nasty profane language,
telling us to go back to where we're from.
At the same time, we were hearing about food insecurity
and our elderly also being violently attacked the same time last year.
Despite the stereotype that Asian Americans are flourishing economically,
Asians are experiencing record unemployment and hunger.
In New York City, almost 1 out of 4 Asians
were unemployed in 2020.
And businesses in Chinatown have been suffering.
So we decided to counter all of that negativity and hatred with love.
And how do we express love in the Asian culture?
Many times, it’s through food.
Mrs. and Mr. Lee say they only go out once a month —
because they’re scared.
To them, these bags mean much more than a hearty meal.
So what can the government do to protect those like Mr. and Mrs. Lee?
President Biden signed a memorandum condemning anti-Asian hate,
but Asian lawmakers say there is more to be done.
We immediately asked for a meeting
with the Department of Justice.
We want to talk to look for ways to
better prosecute such crimes.
In addition, we are pushing the No Hate Act.
The No Hate Act improves the hate crime
reporting in the country.
As of now, lawmakers say it’s rare these attacks are prosecuted as hate crimes,
as it’s difficult to prove racist intent.
The suspect in Noel’s case has been arrested
and charged with assault.
Yet, Noel is moving onward — starting with acceptance.
Do you think you can forgive him for what he did?
Oh, yes.
Yeah. Everybody deserves forgiveness.
Whatever hardships or grievances that he had in the past,
he has to forgo it.
And ... live a peaceful life
and he would be happy.
What does the scar mean to you right now?
To me, it's ...
maybe it will give me something
to strengthen me.
That you live on,
that you go on living and
not feel sorry about for yourself.
Some of the perpetrators and suspects
in recent attacks against Asians
have been identified as Black,
which has sparked conversations
about anti-Blackness among Asian Americans.
Tensions between the two marginalized communities date back decades.
Conflicts peaked in 1992, when around 2,000 Korean-owned businesses
were burned and looted in the aftermath
of the police beating of Rodney King.
Tensions between the groups had been festering
after a Korean shop owner fatally shot
a 15-year-old Black girl in the same month.
What is contributing to this kind of tension is
the false stereotype that Asian Americans are a model minority
and that they are better off than others.
Yet leaders from the Black Lives Matter movement
have been quick to decry the violence against Asian Americans.
We cannot give into hating each other.
We cannot give into dividing each other.
We need to be a unified front.
We have to rely on our neighbors and our friends
to stand up for us when injustices are happening,
as many Asians have come out to support like, you know, Black Lives Matter —
that have historically fought together, side by side,
for many of the civil rights that we enjoy.
Noel is joining the movement as well —
sharing his story, hoping to prevent another tragedy.
I never knew that nobody would help me
in this kind of instance.
I hope that there should be an awareness.
Noel! Noel! Noel!
Many Asian Americans say their trauma has been rendered invisible,
their voices often unheard in the face of systemic racism.
But times are changing.
Women gou le —
this means, we've had enough.
We are a force to be reckoned with
and that we care and that this is a movement we are invested in sustaining.
This march is about unity.
I want to bring awareness to the fact that we are here for the same fight:
the fight to end systemic racism.
Asians Americans just tend to get erased as a whole in the country.
We still have a common enemy:
The common enemy is racism.
Justice for Asians!