Asians Speak Out About Attacks

“I was riding a bicycle on the road, and a group of three men rushed towards me, and then they punched and kicked me,” Sam Wong said. Wong delivers Chinese takeout food for his uncle’s restaurant in Sunset Park and tried to protect himself. “I wanted to resist, but they are too tall and stronger than me. I could only lie on the ground and hold my head in my hands.”

On March 4, 2021, three young men attacked Wong and stole his electric bike and all the food he was about to deliver.

“When I got home, my family was worried about my injury and kept asking me what happened. I [felt] powerless at that moment. Did I do something wrong because I’m Asian? Why do people attack me? I have been trying to do my job well. I don’t hurt anyone,” he said.

His family was furious. His father said, “I watch the news every day, and there are always incidents of discrimination against Asians reported on the news, but I did not expect it to happen to my son. I am so angry about this. We respect everyone, regardless of race, but why do others harm us?”

Stop AAPI Hate published a report covering the 3,795 anti-Asian hate crime incidents from March 19, 2020 to February 28, 2021. The report said, “The number of hate incidents reported to our center represents only a fraction of the number of hate incidents that actually occur, but it does show how vulnerable Asian Americans are to discrimination …”

Attacks against Asians in New York and throughout the country make Asians fear for their safety outside of homes.

Xiao Zhang takes her newborn baby out in her Brooklyn neighborhood but keeps her eyes out for anything strange. “I have watched too much news about the incident[s] of Asians being attacked recently. When people were waiting for the subway, they were pushed onto the railroad tracks, and pedestrians were pushed down when they were walking on the road. I am afraid to go out at 6 or 7 in the evening. I worry about my family, my children, and I also worry about myself,” she said.

In Asian communities in Brooklyn and Queens, some say that they hesitate to report crimes or attacks. When they experience discrimination, racial slurs, or get pushed around, they just keep silent. That’s why the problem has only begun to get attention on the national level.

“I immigrated to the United States with my parents when I was a teenager, and lived in New York for more than 20 years. This epidemic made us feel that the United States has undergone tremendous changes. This anti-Chinese attitude surprised me. We are not a virus.” said Junjie Li, Wong’s neighbor.