Rhetoric cited

Asian groups have cited the rhetoric of former president Donald Trump during the pandemic, blaming China for the virus. He and other US politicians have used terms such as "kung flu", "China virus" and "Wuhan virus".

In addition to the pandemic, issues played up in Western media such as trade disputes and the situations in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region have fueled anti-China and anti-Asian sentiment. Tariffs imposed by Trump have continued under the administration of President Joe Biden.

Justin Yu, president of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, said at a vigil on Feb 7 in memory of Christina Yuna Lee, a talented graphic designer fatally stabbed more than 40 times early this month: "We all chose New York as our home. We have our family here. We raise our children here. We have our grandchildren here. Are we making a mistake?"

Lee was stabbed by a man who followed her into her apartment building and up six flights of stairs in Manhattan's Chinatown early on Feb 6.

Assamad Nash, 25, a homeless man charged with murdering Lee, was not ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation despite his connection to three other criminal cases, Newsweek reported. Nash, also charged with attempted sexual assault, is being held without bail.

Yu said: "We New Yorkers, especially AAPI (Asian American and Pacific Islander) New Yorkers, are paying the price. We are being killed, being attacked, being pushed down the subway, rocks are being thrown at us on the sidewalk. We deserve better treatment in New York City.

"Today, we are moaning, we are crying, we are trembling in fear, we are terrified. Do something, New York City. Wake up, New York City. Please do something. We are begging."

Don Lee, chairman of Homecrest Community Services in Chinatown, Manhattan, said: "I don't think people know us－I think Asians are invisible to them. I think the lack of understanding of who we are, the lack of understanding of our history, the lack of understanding that we are humans too, I think that's what adds to it."

Ben Wei, the founder of Asians Fighting Injustice, helped organize a vigil last month for another victim, Michelle Go.

The 40-year-old, a Chinese American from California who held an MBA and worked in mergers and acquisitions for consulting company Deloitte, was killed when she was shoved into the path of an oncoming train at a Times Square subway station on Jan 15 by a homeless man claiming he was God.

Wei said: "New York City has failed Chinatown. New York City has failed AAPIs and Asians. We do not feel safe. New York City has also failed our allies, communities and minorities of color."

Meanwhile, Kaiming Chen, whose father was attacked two years ago, pulled out a photograph showing a man on a ventilator lying unconscious in a hospital bed.

"This is my father. Two years ago, he was knocked unconscious by a homeless individual. On that day, my father was sitting outside 124 East Broadway in Chinatown when a homeless individual was walking by. For no reason, he decided to punch my dad. My father's eye was injured－his eyeball almost fell out," Chen said.

"I'm opposed to the 91 East Broadway shelter," Chen said of another shelter for the homeless proposed for the neighborhood. "We have a very simple request－to live in a peaceful, safe environment."

According to Jackie Wong, a member of Concerned Citizens of East Broadway, there are five shelters in Manhattan's Chinatown, and three more will be built in the area.

All eight shelters will be within a 1.6-kilometer radius, he said, adding: "We are a very condensed neighborhood. Don't forget that."

Such shelters in New York are located mainly in Harlem, Midtown West, Chinatown-Lower East Side, Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn, and central Bronx, according to Wong.

"Many other neighborhoods have zero or very few shelters," he said.

"They are putting all the shelters in low-income neighborhoods. They are taking advantage of people who are more vulnerable and letting people who have more money take advantage of the situation," Wong said. "They are not bearing any of these burdens. They put all the burden on the community of low-income people."

Kathryn Freed, a former New York City Council member and former New York Supreme Court justice, said: "We have to deal with the homeless crisis in the city. You cannot expect the jails to deal with the homeless crisis. They are not set up for it. The Corrections Department is not set up for it.

"Right now, the idea of trying to put a shelter like that, a facility like that, in this community is totally insensitive to what's going on in the community, which we have to deal with first."

The city is also planning a 40-story jail in the area, which already has a jail, she added.

Frank Smith, a Chinatown resident, said: "Remember it's not racism; it's not black and Asian. It's a mental health and drug issue."