Stop AAPI Hate National Report (Mar 19 – Aug 5 2020): Comprehensive Study Notes

Overview

  • National compilation of anti-Asian hate incidents recorded by Stop AAPI Hate between March 19 – August 5 2020

  • Dataset: N = 2{,}583 self-reported incidents across 47 U.S. states + D.C. + Puerto Rico

  • Focus: descriptive statistics of discrimination types, locations, motives, victim demographics, and qualitative examples

  • Context: Surge in xenophobia linked to COVID-19 pandemic; report guides advocacy, civil-rights enforcement, public awareness

Aggregate Key Findings

  • Verbal harassment dominates (≈ 70 ext{%})

  • Shunning/avoidance ≈ 22 ext{%} → distinct, non-contact form of racialized exclusion

  • Physical assault ≈ 9 ext{%}; coughing/spitting (often weaponized as “disease”) ≈ 6 ext{%}

  • Civil-rights concerns (workplace bias + barring from services/transport) ≈ 8 ext{%} total

  • Businesses = single most common site (≈ 38 ext{%})

  • Primary suspected motive: race (90.4 ext{%}) rather than specific nationality

  • Women file reports 2.4-times more than men; youths (<20 yrs) 14 ext{%}, elders (≥60) 7.5 ext{%}

  • California alone supplies 46 ext{%} of cases; next highest: NY (14 ext{%})

Detailed Statistical Breakdown
Types of Discrimination

  • Verbal Harassment / Name-Calling — 70.6 ext{%}

  • Shunning (deliberate avoidance) — 21.8 ext{%}

  • Physical Assault — 8.7 ext{%}

  • Coughed At / Spat Upon — 6.4 ext{%}

  • Online Harassment — 4.8 ext{%}

  • Workplace Discrimination — 4.3 ext{%}

  • Barred from Establishment — 2.7 ext{%}

  • Vandalism / Graffiti — 2.1 ext{%}

  • Barred from Transportation — 1.0 ext{%}

Sites of Discrimination

  • Business — 38.4 ext{%}

  • Public Street / Sidewalk — 20.4 ext{%}

  • Public Park — 11.1 ext{%}

  • Online (platform-specific) — 10.7 ext{%}

  • Private Residence — 9.8 ext{%}

  • Public Transit — 9.1 ext{%}

  • School (K-12) — 3.7 ext{%}

  • Other — 2.1 ext{%}

  • University — 1.9 ext{%}

  • Place of Worship — 0.5 ext{%}

Suspected Reasons for Discrimination (multiple selections allowed)

  • Race — 90.4 ext{%}

  • Ethnicity — 68.7 ext{%}

  • Face Mask / Clothing — 15.9 ext{%}

  • Gender — 8.4 ext{%}

  • Language — 6.4 ext{%}

  • Food-related stereotypes — 2.7 ext{%}

  • Religion — 1.0 ext{%}

Demographics of Respondents

  • Age Groups:

    • 10s — 14.1 ext{%}

    • 20s — 23.7 ext{%}

    • 30s — 28.6 ext{%}

    • 40s — 17.0 ext{%}

    • 50s — 9.1 ext{%}

    • 60s — 6.6 ext{%}

    • 70s + — 0.9 ext{%}

  • Gender Identity:

    • Female — 69.5 ext{%}

    • Male — 29.1 ext{%}

    • Trans & Gender Non-binary — 1.4 ext{%}

  • Ethnicity (top categories, N = 2{,}525):

    • Chinese — 40.4 ext{%}

    • Korean — 15.7 ext{%}

    • Pan-Asian (not specified) — 11.8 ext{%}

    • Other Asian — 9.7 ext{%}

    • Vietnamese — 7.9 ext{%}

    • Filipino — 7.6 ext{%}

    • Japanese — 6.7 ext{%}

    • Taiwanese — 5.3 ext{%}

    • Hmong — 4.2 ext{%}

    • Remaining groups (<2 ext{%} each): Thai, Lao, Mixed, Cambodian

Geographic Distribution (selected)

  • California: 1{,}116 incidents — 46.36 ext{%}

  • New York: 340 — 14.13 ext{%}

  • Washington: 100 — 4.15 ext{%}

  • Illinois: 73 — 3.03 ext{%}

  • Texas: 72 — 2.99 ext{%}

  • Long tail across >40 states; each <3 ext{%}

Qualitative Incident Themes & Examples
Barred from Establishment / Services

  • Masked shopper trailed + surfaces disinfected only where she touched (Phoenix AZ)

  • Ride-share canceled on seeing Asian passenger in mask en-route to medical visit (NYC)

Children & Youth

  • Orange-juice attack in school bathroom with “Coronavirus” slur (Union City CA)

  • Classroom ridicule: peers move away after return from Taiwan; teacher fails to intervene (Seattle)

  • Summer-camp “corona touch” game targeting 9-y-o boy; counselors intervened late (Austin TX)

Coughed / Spat Upon

  • Healthcare worker stalked on NYC subway; assailant spits while yelling slurs; bystanders passive

  • Portland street cough + “go back to your country”

  • Chicago incident misidentifying victim as Chinese, spat upon

Elderly-Targeted

  • Korean grandparents + infant followed by group shouting COVID accusations (Cliffside NJ)

  • Cigarette thrown at elderly couple after slurs (Palo Alto CA)

  • 70-y-o woman verbally harassed in apartment complex (Oakland CA)

Online Harassment

  • Realtor’s Facebook post pairing virus with dog-meat image (Des Moines IA)

  • Fake Instagram “Ching Chong House” menu by CSU students (Fort Collins CO)

  • Bat-soup jokes and emojis in livestream (Union City CT)

Physical Assault

  • Shoulder-push + attempted spit; bystander defender also spat on (Manhattan NY)

  • SUV driver mounts curb to chase Asian pedestrian (Thousand Oaks CA)

  • Woman sprays Lysol on victim, yelling “You’re the infection” (Marietta GA)

Shunning / Social Avoidance

  • Customer runs away covering mouth upon seeing Korean American (Issaquah WA)

  • Athletes hug walls of empty hallway to avoid Asian student (Queen Creek AZ)

  • Families clutch children, utter “stay away” comments at venue entrance (Trenton NJ)

Verbal Harassment

  • Repetition of “Wuhan lane” directed at lone Chinese family in Queens NY

  • Elevator encounter: “You f**king Chinese people… we’re going to get you” (Portland OR)

  • Group blames victim for bringing virus, screams while unmasked (Pittsburgh PA)

  • Long-time customer told “Go back to China”; store manager refuses accountability (West Palm FL)

Workplace Discrimination

  • Lab coworkers mimic “Ching Chong” accents repeatedly

  • Conference attendee ordered out after sneeze though others symptomatic (Monterey CA)

  • HR jokes masks from China are “contaminated” → refusal to use PPE (Louisville KY)

Organizational Background

  • Stop AAPI Hate: founded by

    • Asian Pacific Policy & Planning Council (A3PCON)

    • Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA)

    • SF State Univ. Asian American Studies Dept.

  • Mission: Track incidents, advocate policy change, support vulnerable AAPI communities (especially low-income, immigrant, refugee)

  • Historical lineage: Draws on civil-rights frameworks (CAA est. 1969) and 1968-69 student strikes that birthed Ethnic Studies at SFSU

Analytical & Real-World Implications

  • Intersectionality: Women, youth, and elders disproportionately affected, indicating gendered + age-based vulnerability layered on racialization

  • Civil-Rights Enforcement: 8 ext{%} incidents involve explicit denial of goods/services—potential Title II, VII, or ADA violations

  • Public Health Paradox: Mask-wearing (public-health compliance) paradoxically triggers discrimination—contradicts “blaming” logic

  • Geographic Concentration: High CA share reflects population density but also signals need for state-level interventions; yet widespread distribution shows national scope

  • Online-Offline Continuum: Digital hate (≈ 11 ext{%} of sites) mirrors and amplifies offline stereotypes, suggesting platform accountability

  • Disease Rhetoric: Coughed/spat incidents weaponize contagion anxiety; historically parallels 19th-century “yellow peril” disease narratives

  • Policy Recommendations (implied):

    • Collect disaggregated data to inform targeted responses

    • Fund community safety programs (bystander training, reporting hotlines)

    • Integrate anti-racist curriculum in schools to protect youth

    • Enforce workplace anti-harassment laws and public-accommodation statutes

Connections to Broader Scholarship & History

  • Echoes earlier spikes in anti-Asian sentiment during SARS (2003) and post-9/11 racialized backlash (e.g., against South Asians & Muslims)

  • Reinforces theories of “perpetual foreigner” stereotype and racial triangulation of Asians in U.S. racial hierarchy

  • Aligns with public-health literature on scapegoating during epidemics (e.g., cholera, HIV)

  • Empirically supports calls for inclusive pandemic response plans that center racial equity