An Asian Woman Was Attacked In NYC By A Woman Wielding A Hammer
Hate crimes aimed at Asian Americans have soared this year. According to the New York Police Department went from three in 2019 to 28 in 2020. Now, Asian-Americans are being forced to face the anxious reality of their safety in a country whose historic culture of hostility towards them has only increased this year of a pandemic in which former President Donald Trump pointed blamed them for the coronavirus pandemic.
The rise of xenophobia and violence against Asian-Americans haven’t gone unnoticed by Asian Americans or media outlets. This year, various attacks on the Asian-American community have been highlighted.
Last week another story, another attack, is being highlighted and once again, in New York
An Asian American woman was attacked by a stranger with a hammer in New York.
According to police, the attacker demanded the victim remove her mask after approaching the victim and another woman at 8:40 p.m. ET Sunday in Hell’s Kitchen. “Police released surveillance video that showed the moment a woman appeared to accost two Asian women walking on the sidewalk from behind,” NBC News reports. “The woman demanded they remove their masks before striking one of them in the head with a hammer, police said.”
The victim is a 31-year-old woman who was with another Asian woman, 29. The victim was taken to the hospital for a laceration to the head while the woman with her did not suffer any physical injuries.
The victim told NBC New York that she has lived in New York City for two years and has ” never faced this kind of thing… This has never happened in my life.”
Authorities are still searching for the attacker.
In a statement about the attack, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said that he was “disgusted” by the attack. “The latest seemingly senseless and despicable hate crime against Asian Americans in this state,” Cuomo said in a statement according to NBC. “We will do everything in our power to protect those who are vulnerable to these attacks and to hold cowardly perpetrators accountable to the full extent of the law.”
An analysis of hate crime data, which was released last week, revealed that anti-Asian attacks are on the rise. “The analysis, released by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, found that hate crimes surged 169 percent when comparing the first quarter of 2021 to the same time period in 2020 across 15 major cities,” NBC reported.
New York City has made up a large part of the rise in hate crimes.
