Despite it’s large Asian American population, New York has been the scene of two racist attacks against Asians this holiday week.
At least one of the perpetrators was seemingly inspired by the recent election of Donald Trump to the presidency.
Two Chinese American woman were eating in a diner, according to Gothamist, when they witnessed a rant by a Trump/Pence supporter upset by the reception Vice President-elect Mike Pence received at a recent Hamilton performance.
When one of the woman asked the man to lower his voice, he responded by directing his vile at the two woman.
“He said, ‘You guys can move if you want. Go back to Tokyo,'” recalled Jen who asked that her last name not be used. “And from there it just escalated. He used a lot of misogynistic slurs…. He called us bitches, sluts, cunt-whores, cunts.”
Jen’s friend Sally Wen Mao then walked over to him and poured cold water on his face.
That man called police and stood at the door to prevent Jen and Mao from leaving. At one point, the man pepper sprayed one of the patrons. Police eventually arrived and arrested him for assault and attempted assault.
In a separate incident, the New York Post reports a 63-year old Asian man was sitting on a subway train minding his own business.
A man who had sat next to him turned to Won Yi and said “Why don’t you go back to your own country.”
That man is then accused of punching Yi numerous times in the face and upper body. The attacker is described as being in his mid-30’s and Hispanic.
Yi refused medical treatment.
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