The non-profit organization Stop AAPI Hate is working to bring awareness to the rise in attacks against Asian and Pacific Islander Americans. The group just released data from thousands of incidents that were reported to the group throughout the United States last year. Now the group is calling on all Americans to join efforts to end discrimination against AAPI people, said Cynthia Choi, co-founder of the organization.
With President Donald Trump publicly blaming China for the spread of COVID-19, The non-profit reporting center was founded in 2020 as reports of crimes against Asian people began to increase. According to the data, nearly 3,800 incidents were reported to the group between March 2020 and February 2021, and Choi alleged that even this number is a vast misrepresentation of the entire picture.
"We’ve pretty much said from the very beginning that we know that people are underreporting on our site, and there’s definitely been an historic underreporting to law enforcement and government agencies, which is one of the reasons we started this reporting center," she said.
Though it's still too early to compare the entirety of 2020's stats to just two months of data from this year, Choi said incidents aren’t getting less intense. They are simply being reported less frequently for a myriad of reasons. She also noted that the incidents aren’t just limited to Asians being subjected to verbal and physical assaults on the streets, but they're "pervasive and systemic" and not all "hate crimes." According to the report, more than 35 percent of reports of discrimination happened at the site of businesses.
For Asian women, the issue has been even more prevalent as women, in general, tend to experience more harassment than men, and Choi said a short-term goal is to spread awareness about the Stop AAPI Hate reporting center so it has more data that would help establish plans to bring an end to these kinds of attacks.
"It’s very concerning that this is happening from across the country where we see reports from all 50 states including DC. We’re seeing, again, that these types of acts are really penetrating everywhere," she said.
Right now, the center accepts reports in 12 different languages.
The group also provides an outlet for people that do not identify as Asian to pitch in and use their reporting tool as well.
"We also have resources for people who are concerned about being directly targeted and also for those who witness individuals being targeted, not just Asians, but other groups that are being targeted because of what they look like, their gender — and how to do that safely," Choi said.
"Anything Is Possible," a documentary about NBA superstar Kevin Garnett recounting his career from being drafted out of high school to a championship with the Boston Celtics, is set to premiere on Showtime. Executive producer Marc Levin and co-directors Daniel Levin and Eric Newman joined Cheddar to provide some background on the project and discuss Garnett's legacy. With KG considered a pioneer for modern NBA draftees straight out of high school (the fifth pick in 1995), the filmmakers also discussed the possibility of the league reversing course on its current rule that requires a player to be at least 19-years-old and a year removed from high school to play.
Brian D. Avery, managing member at Event Safety Services joins Cheddar News to discuss how preventable the recent crowd surge at Travis Scott's Astroworld was.
Former NBA star, commentator, and entrepreneur Baron Davis and Deluxe Corporation Chief Brand Officer Amanda Brinkman, joined Cheddar to discuss Season 6 of the reality show "Small Business Revolution," premiering Tuesday. The season will focus on helping six Black-owned businesses in the Twin Cities, Minneapolis and St. Paul. Davis noted learning about the lack of resources, connections, and opportunities for Black business owners during the show. "There are so many things we need to do as a society to address racial injustice and inequity, however, one of the ways for it is economic empowerment," Brinkman added.
Cryptocurrencies are getting off to a good week. Ethereum surged more than 4% in 24 hours on Monday, hitting a new all-time high above $4,700. Meanwhile, Bitcoin surged 7% to a price of $66,250. Haohan Xu, founder and CEO of Apifiny, joins Cheddar News with thoughts on the growing sector.
Two days after a deadly tragedy claimed the lives of at least eight Astroworld concertgoers and injured several others, the first lawsuit was filed against rapper Travis Scott. Criminal defense attorney Karen Felecia Nance joins Cheddar News to break down the incident.
The latest Marvel movie hit theaters with one of the biggest opening weekends of the year. 'Eternals' opened over the weekend with an estimated $71 million, the fourth-best domestic debut this year. Erik Davis, managing editor at Fandango, joins Cheddar News to talk about the state of box office sales.
Lydia McMullen-Laird and Samuel McMullen, co-founders of Live Zero Waste, join 'Cheddar Reveals' to discuss the sum of humanity's 'trash addiction' and lifestyle changes people can make to help reduce their individual trash output.
On this episode of 'Cheddar Reveals', Lydia McMullen-Laird and Samuel McMullen, co-founders of Live Zero Waste, discuss the sum of humanity's 'trash addiction' and lifestyle changes people can make to help reduce their individual trash output; Ryan Lupberger, Sustainability Pioneer and CEO of Cleancult, breaks down how Cleancult is redefining cleaning products and solutions to reduce their impact on the planet; Cheddar gets a look at Curiosity Stream's 'Going Circular.'
Figuring out how to reduce congestion and emissions has long been a thorny issue for the car-centric United States. One possible solution - high-occupancy vehicle lanes (HOV), or carpool lanes - have their own thorny history. Despite pushes from the federal government for more HOV lanes in the 1970s and 1990s, the math of how HOV lanes work may mean they relieve traffic only a little - or even make it worse.
