Despite the end of the pandemic, Korean Americans continue to experience hate crimes, and government campaigns to prevent hate crimes against Asians are showing minimal impact, according to a recent survey.
In a survey conducted by the Korea Daily from April 23 to May 7, 64% of respondents reported experiencing racism and hate crimes. Approximately 30% had not encountered such incidents, and 6% were unsure. The survey revealed that the most common locations for these incidents were on the street (32%), near work, school, or home (21%), and in public places like parks and swimming pools (17%). Additionally, 9% of Korean Americans reported experiencing racism and hate crimes on public transportation.
Verbal abuse, including derogatory words and slurs, was the most frequently reported type of racism and hate crime (65.3%), followed by harassing behaviors like spitting (16.8%). About 10% of respondents experienced denial of service.
Despite California’s major campaign to prevent Asian hate crimes, only 32% of respondents noticed a change. This finding aligns with other major research data. Earlier this year, a survey by the Asian American Foundation found that 47% of Asian respondents experienced discrimination, and 57% believed racially motivated crimes were worsening.
Stop AAPI Hate, an anti-hate nonprofit, reported that 67% of the 11,467 crimes recorded from 2020 through mid-2023 were hate crimes. The Pew Research Center’s survey of 7,006 Asian Americans, including 1,146 Korean Americans, found that 32% knew someone of Asian descent who had been a hate crime victim since the pandemic began. By ethnicity, 39% of Chinese, 35% of Korean, and 31% of Vietnamese respondents knew someone who had been a victim.
The Korea Daily conducted its online survey with California state government support, gathering responses from 176 individuals. The gender breakdown was 71% male and 29% female, with age distribution as follows: 50s (42.7%), 60s (30.5%), 40s (16.5%), and 30s (5%).
BY NICOLE CHANG, HOONSIK WOO [chang.nicole@koreadaily.com]
