A recent analysis of police department statistics in 16 of America's largest cities from the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State University, San Bernardino shows the United States experienced a significant hike in anti-Asian hate crimes in the last year with New York and Los Angeles experiencing the most incidents.
According to the report:
"Anti-Asian hate crime reported to police in 16 of America’s largest cities and counties, rose 164%, in the first quarter of 2021 in comparison to the first quarter of 2020.
This year’s first quarter increase follows an historic surge in Anti-Asian hate crime that started last year. In 2020, Anti-Asian hate crime increased 146% across 26 of America’s largest jurisdictions that comprise over 10% of the nation’s population.
Last year’s first spike occurred in March and April amidst a rise in COVID cases, a World Health Organization pandemic declaration and an increase in political and online stigmatizing of Asians.
While FBI national hate crime data for 2020 will not be available until mid-November 2021, the nation’s highest reporting cities have been a reliable indicator of overall trends over the last decade. New York, Boston, and Los Angeles alone accounted for 12% of all hate crimes enumerated nationally by the FBI in 2019; and those cities combined matched national trends in nine of the last ten years.
The FBI defines a hate crime for police reporting purposes as a criminal act “motivated in whole, or in part, by the offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender or gender identity.”
To bring attention to this issue, KFI News Presents: Stopping The Hate, a look at the state of hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in Los Angeles County, and how members of the AAPI (Asian American Pacific Islander) community are working to encourage people to report hate incidents and hate crimes.
To find out more about how you can raise awareness and help reduce incidences of violence against the AAPI community, visit: Stop AAPI Hate.
Stopping the Hate is a production of the KFI News Department for iHeartMedia Los Angeles, produced by Steve Gregory and Jacob Gonzalez.
The program includes interviews with:
Tim Murakami - Undersheriff, Los Angeles County
Photo Credit: Jacob Gonzalez
Undersheriff Tim Murakami began his law enforcement career in 1979 as a deputy at Men’s Central Jail. He worked patrol at East Los Angeles station and was a member of the Gang Suppression Team. He also served at Recruit Training Bureau (RTB) in both pre-employment investigations and the Recruitment Unit.
Upon his promotion to Sergeant, Murakami served at Sybil Brand Institute, where he was a part of Operation Safe Jails. He returned to RTB and then went to Industry Station (IDT), where he worked as a Patrol Sergeant and the Asian Community Liaison Team Sergeant. He also helped implement the Asian Crime Taskforce, handling operations, intelligence, special investigations, and organized crime.
After his promotion to Lieutenant, he remained at IDT, serving in various roles before transferring to Cerritos and then Temple Stations. He was promoted to the rank of Captain in 2013 and returned to IDT, where he served as unit commander until his promotion to Assistant Sheriff of Patrol Operations in 2018.
In 2019, Murakami was promoted to Undersheriff where he oversees the Executive Division. He also supervises three assistant sheriffs whose responsibilities comprise a majority of the department’s charter– custody, patrol, and county-wide operations.
Murakami has been involved in several aspects of the Department including; the Explorer Program, Youth Activities League, Street Racer Operations, Emergency Preparedness Network, and several task forces and incident command teams.
Undersheriff Murakami has supported the Fred Jordan Mission and served on the Board of Directors for the Women’s Care Center. He has received several awards for both his community and Department contributions, including “Rookie of the Year”, the Department’s Distinguished Service Award, multiple community achievement awards, the Asian Gang Investigators of California “Lifetime Achievement Award”, the Los Angeles Chinese American Sheriff’s Advisory “Community Achievement Award” and he served as the first police chief for the city of Rosemead.
Murakami is married with four children and 14 grandchildren. When he is off duty, he enjoys staying active and spending time with family, including his dog.
LA City Councilman John Lee (District 12)
Photo Credit: Councilman Lee's Staff
John Lee was elected to the Los Angeles City Council on August 30, 2019. As a resident of CD12 for over 40 years, he found his passion for public service when he first began volunteering for local nonprofits at age 13.
He previously served as Chief Legislative Deputy and Chief of Staff to his Council predecessors, Greig Smith and Mitchell Englander. Throughout his tenure in public service, Lee spearheaded innovative programs and policies to improve the delivery of city services to neighborhoods. He created the CD12 Rapid Response program to combat illegal dumping in the community. He was also instrumental in building the Devonshire Police Activities League Supports (PALS) Youth Center in Northridge. PALS is a community program where at-risk youth work with police officers, learn leadership skills and participate in programs that strengthen the community. A long-time advocate of programs and organizations that serve some of the most vulnerable in our community, Lee was actively involved in identifying and securing a location and funding for the San Fernando Valley Rescue Mission, which, since opening its doors in 2014, has helped thousands of individuals and families experiencing homelessness to find permanent housing.
On the City Council, Lee's priorities include public safety, economic development, innovation and reducing red tape, and working with the community and his colleagues to find a better approach to address the homelessness crisis. Since starting his term, he has demonstrated that he is not afraid to tackle tough issues or fight for CD12 residents’ right to be heard when it comes to matters that directly impact them.
Lee proudly represents the communities of Northridge, Chatsworth, Porter Ranch, Granada Hills, North Hills, Sherwood Forest, Reseda, and West Hills on the Los Angeles City Council. He resides in Porter Ranch with his wife and their two children.
Lee continues his conversation with KFI News' Steve Gregory about what the city is doing to help raise awareness and stop hate crime incidents against members of the AAPI community.
Cynthia Choi, Co-Executive Director of Chinese For Affirmative Action
Photo Credit: Cynthia Choi
Cynthia Choi is the Co-Executive Director of Chinese for Affirmative Action, a 50-year-old community-based civil rights organization based in San Francisco which aims to advance racial justice, economic justice, education equity, and immigrant rights. Most recently she was the Vice President of Philanthropic Partnerships at Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy where she was responsible for leveraging strategic opportunities to advance AAPI social justice issues and philanthropic investments.
Before joining AAPIP, Cynthia led local, state, and national community-based organizations working on a range of issues from reproductive justice, gender violence, immigrant/refugee rights, and environmental justice issues.
Manju Kulkarni - Executive Director, Asian Pacific Policy & Planning Council
Photo Credit: Manju Kulkarni
Manjusha P. Kulkarni (Manju) is Executive Director of Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council (A3PCON), a coalition of over forty community-based organizations that serves and represents the 1.5 million Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in Los Angeles County.
A graduate of Boston University School of Law, Manju also serves as a Lecturer in the Asian American Studies Department of UCLA. A 2014 recipient of the White House Champions for Change award under President Obama, her work has been featured in numerous publications, including the New York Times, CBS News, and CNN.
In March 2020, Kulkarni and her team at A3PCON joined Chinese for Affirmative Action and San Francisco State University in co-founding Stop AAPI Hate, the nation's leading aggregator of COVID-19 related hate incidents against members of the AAPI community. On March 18, 2021, Kulkarni testified before Congress at the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties on the issue of anti-Asian hate; she shared Stop AAPI Hate data as well as policy recommendations for addressing the current wave of racism and discrimination faced by AAPIs in the U.S.
Born in India and raised in Montgomery, Alabama to Indian immigrants, she resides in Los Angeles with her husband and two daughters.
Last week, Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer appointed Kulkarni to a five-year term on the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission effective July 1st. Kulkarni said:
“We need elected officials and public institutions that will emulate the highest values of integrity and service. I am honored to join the City Ethics Commission to carry on the important work of preserving public trust and confidence for all communities in our elections and city government.”
Guy Aoki - Co-Founder / Director, Media Action Network for Asian Americans
Photo Credit: Guy Aoki
Guy Aoki was born and raised in Hilo, Hawaii, and attended Occidental College in Los Angeles and The University of Hawaii at Manoa majoring in Psychology. He worked as a Los Angeles Times reporter, researcher, and producer for Casey Kasem's "American Top 40" and writer of syndicated radio shows for Dick Clark like “The U.S. Music Survey."
In 1987, Aoki was one of 140 people who lobbied Congress to pass the redress bill for Japanese Americans who were put in concentration camps during World War II.
In 1992, he co-founded Media Action Network for Asian Americans (MANAA). The all-volunteer, non-profit organization is the first group solely dedicated to monitoring the mass media and advocating balanced, sensitive, and positive depiction and coverage of Asian Americans. A founding member of the Asian Pacific American Media Coalition, Aoki meets annually with the Presidents and Vice Presidents of the top four TV networks pushing them to hire more Asian American actors, writers, producers, and directors.
Aoki continues his conversation with KFI News' Steve Gregory discussing his organization's "TV Network Report Card" which reveals where the TV networks stand currently with respect to Asian American inclusion in their broadcasts. View the entire press release.
Morgan Ang - Freshman at Orange County School of the Arts
Morgan Ang is a freshman at the Orange County School of the Arts in Santa Ana.
Morgan is a self-taught filmmaker who grew up curious about the world. He writes, produces directs, and films short stories and documentaries because he loves to tell stories and share experiences through the visual media because he believes that a good story will provoke a great response. Throughout his quest for knowledge, he began to look around at the world around him, finding and creating ways to change his community and society, while standing up through continuous activism and conversation for a better future.
One of Morgan's recent films, 'Reconsidered Repercussions' examines how Covid-19 has increased hate incidents and bullying towards Asians and Pacific Islanders. The film follows the actions and thoughts both internally and externally of a teen bully who believes stigmas and has a bias against Asians and Pacific Islanders. The short film creates a discussion that endorses, enforces, and informs others to think before they act and speak, reminding them that their actions and words have consequences.
See Morgan's work HERE. Follow him on Instagram @morgan.zolo and YouTube with Zolo Productions.