Asian American, Pacific Islander community least likely to report hate crimes: study

Asian American and Pacific Islanders are the least likely to report hates crimes, according to a study done by Survey Monkey and AAPI Data.

In the study, 35 percent of Asian Americans said they would be “somewhat uncomfortable” or “very uncomfortable” reporting a hate crime to the police. The Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander group reported that 33 percent would be uncomfortable telling the police about a hate crime.

Overall, the study found that 30 percent of the Hispanic community, 31 percent of Black people, 32 percent of Native Americans and 21 percent of white people would also feel uncomfortable reporting hate crimes to the police.

“What our data show is that upwards of 2 million AAPIs have experienced these hate incidents since Covid-19 started,” Karthick Ramakrishnan, the founder of AAPI Data, told NBC. “But a very small fraction of them have reported to community hotlines and an even smaller proportion, at least what we know, have been established by law enforcement authorities as hate crimes.”

Discrimination against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders was highlighted after a man shot and killed six Asian women in Georgia earlier this month.

Data from the survey showed that 1 in 10 Asian American or Pacific Islander adults have already experienced a hate crime in 2021.

The study found that 27 percent of Asian Americans and 24 percent of Pacific Islanders have experienced a hate crime or incident in their life.

Many have spoken out against violence toward Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders with a group of 26 governors signing a statement condemning the surge in violence against the community.

The White House announced on Tuesday measures to address violence against Asian Americans.

The survey had a sample size of 16,336 people and was conducted between March 18 and March 26.