2024-07-16 20:51:33
The New York Post reported the incident immediately and deleted it about an hour later.
Analysis of the growing trend of the AAPI (Asian Pacific Islander) community
The Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported on the 16th that the Asian-American community is outraged after the perpetrator of the attempted assassination of former US President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on the 13th was reported to be a “Chinese national” immediately after the incident.
The New York Post tabloid initially reported that the shooter was a “Chinese male” immediately after the incident, but corrected the report about an hour later to say that he “has been identified as a white male.”
But although the New York Post corrected the article immediately after it was published, tens of thousands of people read, amplified, liked and commented on the article in a short period of time, the SCMP reported.
“Even if X number of people saw that post in the first hour and 20 minutes, that’s a lot of people who can unleash lethal anger toward Asian Americans on the street,” said one Asian American advocacy group official.
“In an era of heightened anti-Asian hate, the Chinese-American and Asian-American communities are already looking back every day.”
Gary Locke, a former U.S. ambassador to China who now heads the Committee of 100, a Chinese-American civic group, expressed the anxiety of Asian Americans in an open letter on the 15th.
“The irresponsible reporting of false information has caused further harm to the Chinese-American community,” said former Ambassador Locke.
The SCMP pointed out that this phenomenon of hasty criticism and backlash against Asians is a phenomenon that has been taking place since Trump designated China as the epicenter of COVID-19 and continued to scapegoat AAPI (Asian American/Pacific Islander) and hate incidents for years.
According to FBI statistics, there were 158 anti-Asian hate crimes in the United States in 2019, but after COVID-19, the number increased to 279 in 2020, 746 in 2021, and then decreased to 499 in 2022.
According to the advocacy group Stop AAPI Hate, it received more than 11,000 reports from March 2020 to May 2023. Most involved incidents of harassment, intimidation, ostracism, and other forms of discrimination.
“These reckless and false reports perpetuate the hatred and violence against the Asian community,” New York State Assemblywoman Grace Lee said. “The New York Post should apologize for this false report and take steps to ensure accurate reporting.”
“This report demonstrates a powerful bias that distorts fiction into news,” said Arianny Ong, an Asian American civil rights attorney and activist.
The SCMP analyzed that the antipathy towards Asian-Chinese is emerging as the AAPI community, which includes mainland Chinese, Taiwanese, Hong Kongers, Samoans and Afghans, becomes more organized, powerful and strategic politically.
According to the Pew Research Center, AAPIs are the fastest-growing racial group in the United States, and therefore the fastest-growing segment of the electorate. Vice President Kamala Harris is also of Indian descent.
Nearly 60% of eligible AAPI voters cast ballots in 2020, and their turnout is likely to be influential in presidential elections in key battleground states like Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania.
Organizers of last week’s annual AAPI conference also met to strategize ahead of this year’s presidential election.
A poll released the day before the event found that 90% of Asian Americans plan to vote in November, with 46% supporting Biden and 31% supporting Trump.
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2024-07-16 20:51:33