Stop AAPI Hate movement
Stop AAPI Hate is a coalition of Asian American advocacy groups launched on March 19, 2020, primarily to document and respond to self-reported incidents of bias, harassment, discrimination, and violence against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI), with a focus on those purportedly exacerbated by pandemic-era rhetoric associating the virus with Asia.[1][2] Co-founded by organizations including Chinese for Affirmative Action and the Asian American Studies Department at San Francisco State University, it operates as a reporting platform where individuals submit accounts of "hate acts" via an online form, encompassing verbal slurs, shunning, and physical assaults, rather than solely law enforcement-verified crimes.[3][4] The coalition's data collection yielded over 10,000 reports of such incidents from March 2020 to late 2021, predominantly involving women and verbal harassment, though these figures exceed official hate crime statistics due to the inclusion of non-criminal events and reliance on voluntary submissions without independent verification.[5] In parallel, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) data recorded a 73% rise in reported anti-Asian hate crimes in 2020 compared to 2019, totaling around 280 incidents nationwide, an increase attributed partly to improved reporting awareness but still representing a small fraction of overall violent crime.[6][7] Stop AAPI Hate's efforts contributed to heightened public attention, influencing federal legislation such as the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act signed in 2021, which aimed to streamline hate crime prosecutions, alongside state-level advocacy for AAPI equity initiatives.[3] Key activities include policy advocacy, community resource provision, and annual surveys claiming persistent high rates of perceived hate—such as 53% of AAPI adults reporting experiences in 2024—though these surveys, conducted via partnerships, reflect subjective perceptions rather than corroborated events and have faced scrutiny for potential overstatement amid broader societal stressors like urban density and media amplification.[8][9] Defining characteristics encompass a multiracial equity framework emphasizing root causes like systemic racism, yet causal analyses of incident spikes highlight confounding factors including lockdown-induced tensions and selective incident classification, with FBI trends showing stabilization or modest declines post-2021 despite ongoing coalition reports.[10][11] The movement's reliance on broad incident definitions has sparked debate over data comparability to empirical crime metrics, underscoring tensions between advocacy-driven tracking and standardized law enforcement records in assessing bias trends.[12]Founding and Historical Context
Origins Amid COVID-19 Pandemic
The Stop AAPI Hate reporting center originated in early 2020 amid the initial U.S. outbreak of COVID-19, which health authorities traced to Wuhan, China, prompting concerns over bias incidents targeting Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI). By February 2020, Russell Jeung, a professor in San Francisco State University's Asian American Studies department, had compiled hundreds of media accounts of verbal harassment, shunning, and assaults linked to pandemic-related scapegoating.[13] This documentation effort, shared via email with advocacy leaders, highlighted a perceived need for systematic tracking beyond official police reports, as many incidents involved non-criminal verbal or civil discrimination not captured in law enforcement data.[13] On March 19, 2020, the center formally launched as a volunteer-led coalition initiative without initial funding, spearheaded by Jeung alongside Manjusha P. Kulkarni of AAPI Equity Alliance and Cynthia Choi of Chinese for Affirmative Action.[13][14] The organizers aimed to create a centralized online portal for self-reported incidents nationwide, focusing on those tied to COVID-19 origins rhetoric.[15] They specifically cited political statements, such as references to the "Chinese virus," as exacerbating factors in the reported uptick, though empirical causation remained debated amid longstanding historical patterns of anti-Asian exclusion in the U.S.[15][16] Official data substantiated a rise in verified hate crimes: Federal Bureau of Investigation statistics recorded 158 anti-Asian bias incidents in 2019, increasing to 279 in 2020, with the majority classified as intimidation or simple assaults rather than severe violence.[17] This baseline shift aligned with the center's early reports, which aggregated over 1,000 self-submitted accounts by June 2020, though such data relied on voluntary disclosures prone to under- or over-reporting without independent verification.[18] The initiative positioned itself as a grassroots response to fill gaps in federal tracking, evolving from ad hoc news monitoring into a broader advocacy platform.[13]Key Founders and Organizational Structure
Stop AAPI Hate was co-founded in March 2020 by Manjusha P. Kulkarni, executive director of AAPI Equity Alliance; Cynthia Choi, co-executive director of Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA); and Russell Jeung, chair of Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University.[19][20] These individuals represented partnering organizations that initiated the coalition to document and address reported incidents of anti-Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) discrimination amid the COVID-19 pandemic.[21] Kulkarni, an attorney with prior experience leading the Asian Law Caucus, focused on equity advocacy; Choi brought decades of civil rights work through CAA, a nonprofit founded in 1969; and Jeung contributed academic expertise in ethnic studies and community research.[22][23] The organization operates as a national coalition rather than a standalone nonprofit entity, with CAA serving as its fiscal sponsor to handle administrative and financial operations.[21] Leadership is centered on the co-founders, who oversee strategic direction, data aggregation, and advocacy efforts, supported by a small team including policy directors and community liaisons.[21][24] The coalition model facilitates collaboration with academic departments, advocacy groups, and community networks, emphasizing volunteer-reported incident tracking over formal hierarchical governance.[19] This structure has enabled rapid scaling of reporting mechanisms but relies on partner organizations for sustainability, without a publicly detailed board of directors or membership dues.[13]Objectives and Operational Methods
Stated Mission and Goals
Stop AAPI Hate describes its mission as a U.S.-based coalition dedicated to fighting racism and discrimination against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAs & PIs), striving to advance the multiracial movement for equity and justice by raising awareness about anti-AAPI hate, working in solidarity with allied communities, and advocating for comprehensive solutions that tackle the root causes of race-based hate.[1] This mission emerged from its founding in March 2020 amid heightened reports of anti-Asian incidents during the COVID-19 pandemic, evolving into efforts to document, respond to, and prevent such acts nationwide.[19] The organization's stated goals are operationalized through four core strategies: data and research to track and analyze hate incidents as the nation's largest reporting center; policy and advocacy to hold perpetrators accountable, strengthen civil rights protections, dismantle systems of oppression, and enhance support for victims; community care centered on healing responses to racial trauma, including piloting programs and researching interventions; and strategic communications to challenge misconceptions via storytelling and foster cross-community solidarity.[25] These objectives aim to shift the burden of confronting hate from individuals toward public institutions and broader societal change, with an emphasis on engaging political leaders, allies, and the public to promote a safer environment for AAPI communities.[19]Incident Reporting and Data Collection Process
Stop AAPI Hate facilitates incident reporting through an online form accessible on its website, available in 18 languages including English and various Asian American and Pacific Islander languages, allowing individuals who have experienced or witnessed hate acts targeting these communities to submit details confidentially.[26] Reports are submitted via a third-party platform such as Typeform, capturing descriptions of incidents like verbal harassment, physical assault, civil rights violations, or online misconduct, while optional personal information (e.g., name, contact details) is collected only for potential follow-up with explicit consent and never shared externally without permission.[26] [27] Upon submission, the Stop AAPI Hate team processes reports by downloading them as spreadsheets, translating non-English entries, merging datasets, anonymizing personal identifiers with unique codes, and excluding invalid entries such as duplicates, non-AAPI-targeted incidents, troll submissions, or events outside the United States (with exceptions for Guam and Puerto Rico).[27] Each report undergoes qualitative review and categorization using a codebook that classifies acts into types including verbal harassment (the most common, comprising 63.0% of reports through December 2021), physical assault (16.2%), and others like shunning or discrimination, enabling pattern analysis by location, victim demographics, and perpetrator characteristics.[27] This methodology emphasizes a broad scope beyond legally defined hate crimes, encompassing non-criminal "hate acts" to capture the full spectrum of reported experiences.[28] The data collection relies entirely on voluntary self-reports from victims or witnesses, without independent verification against law enforcement records or other external sources, which limits its comparability to official crime statistics.[28] Aggregated, anonymized data informs periodic national reports, visualizations, and policy advocacy, with raw details retained internally and shared only in summarized form or with consent for illustrative anecdotes.[26] Community feedback on data practices is solicited via email, reflecting the coalition's collaborative approach involving partners like Asian Americans Advancing Justice and the Asian American Studies department at San Francisco State University.[27]Key Activities and Campaigns
Public Awareness and Rallies
Stop AAPI Hate advanced public awareness primarily through targeted advocacy campaigns and data reports emphasizing the scale of reported anti-Asian American and Pacific Islander incidents. The organization's launch on March 19, 2020, aligned with early efforts to document and publicize hate acts amid the COVID-19 pandemic, fostering broader recognition of verbal harassment, assaults, and discrimination.[19] In September 2023, Stop AAPI Hate partnered with Chinese for Affirmative Action to initiate the "Stop the Blame" campaign, which deployed digital advertisements and messaging to challenge political scapegoating of Asian communities and promote counter-narratives against discriminatory rhetoric.[29] This initiative aimed to educate the public on the harms of blame-shifting without direct involvement in street actions. Similarly, in February 2025, the group launched "Many Roots, One Home," an advocacy drive opposing immigration policies perceived as fueling anti-immigrant sentiment, including targeted outreach to highlight interconnected community vulnerabilities.[30] Regarding rallies, Stop AAPI Hate did not centrally organize large-scale demonstrations but supported participant safety and efficacy by distributing resources such as protest guides, digital security tips, and know-your-rights fact sheets for on-campus and public events.[31][32] These materials addressed risk assessment, legal protections, and stakeholder engagement, enabling activists across immigration statuses to engage securely. The organization's reporting and statements amplified community-led actions; for instance, on the first anniversary of the 2021 Atlanta spa shootings on March 15, 2022, Stop AAPI Hate acknowledged nationwide vigils, protests, and rallies honoring victims while calling for sustained policy responses.[33] Community events invoking the "Stop AAPI Hate" banner occurred independently, such as a march of hundreds in Mountain View, California, on April 12, 2021, protesting local anti-Asian incidents.[34] Stop AAPI Hate's social media presence, including Instagram posts sharing protest imagery, further disseminated awareness of such grassroots mobilizations, though the group maintained focus on empirical tracking over direct event coordination.[35] This approach prioritized verifiable incident data to inform public discourse, contrasting with more demonstration-heavy arms of the anti-hate movement.Policy Advocacy and Partnerships
Stop AAPI Hate maintains a dedicated Policy & Advocacy team responsible for budget and policy advocacy, legal and legislative research, coalition building, and community engagement to address anti-Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) racism.[36] The organization employs a public health framework through initiatives like No Place for Hate, which seeks to mitigate hate crimes and bias incidents by promoting preventive measures in public spaces and institutions.[37] In legislative efforts, Stop AAPI Hate supported California's No Place for Hate bill package, including SB 1161 and AB 2448, signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom on September 23, 2022, which mandates reporting and response protocols for hate acts in public transit systems and businesses.[38] The group partnered with the California AAPI Legislative Caucus to advance AB 2448, focusing on enhanced safety measures amid reported rises in anti-Asian incidents.[39] At the federal level, it endorsed the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act signed by President Joe Biden on May 20, 2021, which aimed to expedite hate crime prosecutions following increased attacks on Asian Americans.[40] More recently, Stop AAPI Hate backed New York's REACH AANHPI Act, passed on August 27, 2025, to incorporate Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander history into school curricula, collaborating with community groups to promote inclusive education as a counter to discrimination.[41] [42] In February 2025, the organization launched the Many Roots, One Home campaign to oppose perceived xenophobic policies, including mass deportations and racial profiling, by engaging federal and state lawmakers and advancing pro-immigrant legislation.[30] The group opposes certain legislation deemed xenophobic, issuing statements against bills targeting immigrant communities in September 2024.[43] Earlier, the Stop the Blame campaign, initiated September 21, 2023, with Chinese for Affirmative Action, mobilized against anti-Asian political rhetoric and discriminatory policies.[44] Partnerships form a core of Stop AAPI Hate's strategy, operating as a coalition fiscally sponsored by Chinese for Affirmative Action, which provides administrative support.[21] It collaborates with organizations like Asian Americans Advancing Justice and the AAPI Equity Alliance on programs such as Stop the Hate, which funds 173 community-based entities serving AAPI, Black, Latinx, and other marginalized groups to provide direct survivor support.[45] Additional alliances include civil rights groups for joint advocacy against hate in public transit and education, as well as state-level caucuses for bill prioritization.[46] These partnerships emphasize data-driven responses, though critics note potential alignment with progressive policy agendas over broader crime prevention.[47]Reported Data and Analyses
Early COVID-Era Incident Reports (2020-2021)
Stop AAPI Hate initiated its incident reporting mechanism on March 19, 2020, in response to rising reports of discrimination against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) amid public associations of the COVID-19 pandemic with China and Asia.[48] The organization established an online form and hotline for self-reporting, categorizing submissions into types such as verbal harassment, physical assault, and civil rights violations based on victim descriptions without independent verification of criminality.[26] These reports encompassed a broad range of experiences, including shunning, online discrimination, and symbolic actions like spitting, rather than solely confirmed hate crimes.[27] Through December 31, 2020, Stop AAPI Hate documented 4,632 incidents nationwide, with verbal harassment comprising the majority at approximately 63% of cases.[48] [27] Incidents were concentrated in public spaces, with 31.2% occurring on streets and 26.8% in businesses.[49] California reported the highest volume, accounting for over 40% of totals, followed by New York and other urban centers.[50] Women and elderly victims were disproportionately represented, with females comprising about 70% of reporters and those over 60 years old facing elevated risks of physical attacks.[27] In 2021, reports surged to 6,273 incidents by year-end, reflecting a 35% increase from 2020 and bringing the cumulative total to 10,905.[48] This escalation coincided with heightened media coverage following events like the March 16 Atlanta-area shootings, though Stop AAPI Hate attributed the trend to ongoing pandemic-related xenophobia rather than isolated incidents. Physical assaults rose to 16.2% of reports, while avoidance and shunning accounted for smaller shares.[27] By September 2021, interim data showed 5,771 incidents for the year, underscoring persistence in urban and public settings.[50]| Year | Reported Incidents | Primary Categories | Key Locations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 4,632 | Verbal harassment (63%), Physical assault (~15%) | Streets (31%), Businesses (27%) |
| 2021 | 6,273 | Verbal harassment (63%), Physical assault (16%) | Streets (31%), Businesses (27%) |