- Reported violence against Asians
has skyrocketed in our country.
I would like to be helpful
in changing that because I think
it's incredibly ignorant
and it's incredibly just hateful.
And I feel like we've had our fill of hate.
I don't know if anybody else is with me on that,
but how have you been dealing
with this and how's your family been dealing with this?
- It's definitely been really tough and exhausting,
especially when you see it happen
to people who are really close to you.
But I will say that one, there is a group chat
that I'm part of, of other Asian-Americans that are,
we're really trying to help amplify this.
And that's been great to have that support system
but also seeing the world get up
and having you do this segment and talk about it.
It just means a lot to us
and to our people and makes us feel safer.
And I know that it's helping get the awareness
out also to other Asians that may not even really,
a lot like one of my,
this one woman named Linda Toh, her mother, Nancy Toh,
was in New York and was attacked
and had her nose smashed in.
- What?
- Yeah, and so I reached out to her
and became friends with her
and was talking to her about it.
And she was saying like
because her mother doesn't speak English,
she wasn't even aware
about these attacks against Asian-Americans.
So the fact that we're amplifying this
I know not only is bringing awareness to our allies
and people that we need to help us amplify this message,
but it's also putting out the word to other Asians
in our country to say like, hey, you know,
we're in danger right now,
be on the lookout,
make sure you're always aware of your surroundings
and be careful.
And hate crimes against Asians
have been going on for a long time.
As you know, the most intractable problems
in our country are like gun violence, racism, and misogyny.
So like, if you are part of a marginalized group
in our country, you have experienced some sort
of hate crime or racism and we're not safe right now.
And that's the really scary thing.
At first, they were going after a lot of elderly Asians
and the elderly Asian people, my mother,
my grandparents who are no longer with us,
but our generation's grandparents,
they came to America and as immigrants,
they really were conditioned to be quiet,
keep their head down.
So there's a lot of under-reporting going on
because they don't want to cause more waves.
They don't want anyone to make a fuss over them.
And also there's a huge language barrier.
So when they want to go to the police station
and report, a lot of people don't know what they're saying.
They can't understand.
There's not somebody there that speaks their language.
So a lot of under-reporting goes on.
So a lot of people didn't really know what was happening
because so much under-reporting.
- People just are afraid to even say anything.
- Yeah, so now we're talking about it
and people know and President Biden
has taken public stances against it
and that's been really meaningful for our people
and a lot of other Asian people
have gotten up and spoken about it.
And also our allies, that's been really important.
So that's why we've seen this like astronomical rise
in hate crimes against Asian-Americans.
And so we do need help.
- I heard it was like 1000%` in some places.
- It's like 1900% increase in just a year
in just the city of New York.
- Wow!
- And then that's just 1900, almost 2000% increase
in hate crimes.
I mean, it's crazy.
It's like, but right now there's so
many people that are aware of it now,
we're amplifying that message
and getting more people like yourself to talk about it,
so that people know.
- And if you see this happening,
like an obvious, if you see something like this happening,
speak up, like don't put yourself in danger by any means
but somebody else is in danger.
So maybe look around and get other people to join you
in being like this is wrong.
- Right, and at the very least, something that's
very important is
to get you- - [Kelly] Report it.
- Report it, yes, 100% and also get your cameras out,
get your phones out.
We all have cameras on our phones.
Get your phones out.
Start recording.
That happened with my friend, Sam.
It was a bystander who watched what happened to his mother.
And because we had these great pictures,
we were able to get the NYPD to put out wanted posters
and then post it on social media.
And then that guy was found and arrested.
So we had pictures from a bystander.
So if you're there and you're afraid to say something
because sometimes it is really scary.
There's these really violent attacks happening.
- And people get in shock, people.
- 100%.
- People literally, I've heard people go and they're like
I don't know why I didn't.
I just was in shock that it was happening.
- Yeah, so get out, if the least you can do
is just get out your phone and record it.