Hate Crimes 

From violent attacks against people of color to racist imagery scrawled across windows or nooses hung over trees, hate incidents across the United States are surging. White nationalist and extremist organizations are emboldened by what they have seen as a growing political embrace of their hateful ideologies. NOW stands with partner organizations such as the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Stop Hate Project and SPLC’s Fighting Hate initiative in calling for strengthening the ability capacity of community leaders, police, and allied organizations to combat hate groups through legal services and community outreach.

NOW is horrified at the rise in violence against the Asian American community. An insidious side effect of the pandemic has been the recklessness of far-right extremists, including elected leaders, attempting to scapegoat the APIA community.  An analysis released by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism examined hate crimes in 16 of America’s largest cities. It revealed that while such crimes in 2020 decreased overall by 7 percent, those targeting Asian people rose by nearly 150%. There was a surge in cities such as New York, where anti-Asian hate crimes rose by a shocking 833%.

IMAGE SOURCE: https://assembly.state.ny.us/mem/Yuh-Line-Niou/story/92838 

“Incident after incident of police brutality, murder, and institutional racism has eroded the trust between law enforcement and communities of color. Nothing short of systemic reform can begin rebuilding that trust. We don’t have a broken system. Our system is working exactly how it was designed. The system is designed this way. Hurting certain communities while allowing other communities to gain from our hurt.”  


-Yuh-Line Niou of the New York State Assembly’s 65th district. 

Hello. Today is the most amazing day. It is sunny outside and there is a slight breeze. The ocean sweet smell of kelp and salt are in the air. After work today we will go down to the beach to put our feet in the sand.

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