Asian Americans have increasingly become the victims of hate crimes because of their ancestry in recent years, but the incidents remain rare, according to police statistics.
While the investigation hasn’t so far uncovered an anti-Asian motive on the man’s part, the establishment media has run with that narrative, connecting the attacks with anti-Chinese sentiment related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The disease is caused by a coronavirus that emerged under opaque conditions in Wuhan, China, in 2019. Its spread around the world was abetted by a coverup by China’s ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
While the CSU analysis indicates that there has been an increase in anti-Asian hate, it’s difficult to determine if this trend was seen country-wide, as police departments commonly don’t make the data readily available. The analysis doesn’t provide specific sources.
Based on 2019 FBI data, anti-Asian sentiments motivated about 2.2 percent of hate crimes reported. Since Asians make up about 6 percent of the population, it appears they are less likely than other races to experience hate crime—with the exception of whites.
Hate crimes are crimes for which authorities seek a higher penalty, alleging that the perpetrator was motivated by animus toward characteristics such as race, religion, and sexual proclivities. Hate crime charges can be difficult to bring since they depend on determining the perpetrator’s state of mind. The most common type—nearly 30 percent—is vandalism or property damage.