In a development that may be stunning to everyone except those living in Vancouver, the Canadian city has reported more anti-Asian hate crimes than the 10 most populous US cities combined.
Bloomberg reports that 1 in every 2 Asian residents of Vancouver experienced a hate incident in the past year.
Many believe that COVID-19 brought to the surface what has always been there-an underlying feeling of racism.
“There is so much anti-Asian racism in our past that carries through,” Trixie Ling told Bloomberg.
According to Forbes, Vancouver is the most Asian city in North America. 42% of the population are of Asian descent in Vancouver with 25% speaking Chinese.
A poll taken by Insights West discovered that 83% of Asians in British Columbia consider racism a serious problem. 43% say they’ve suffered acts of hate including slurs, property damage and assault.
Kayoko Nomura, 85, told Bloomberg that twice in recent months she’s endured incidents of hate. First someone yelled at her to go back to her country, then a women went on a rant after she picked up a magazine at a Costco while wearing gloves.
People my age tend to grin and bear it,” says the octogenarian, who didn’t report the incidents to the police. “I guess it is time that all of us should be speaking out.”
“So, you know, people living in fear, literally, especially women, seniors, and immigrants,” Queenie Choo, the CEO of S.U.C.C.E.S.S., a local non-profit helping immigrants, said to Voice of America.
Just this past March, someone scrawled racist messages on the window of the Greater Vancouver Chinese Cultural Center.
“You can compare that to act of terrorism, that that is the whole sole purpose is to put fear in all Chinese,” said Fred Kwok, the director of the Center to VOA.
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