Asian Pacific Americans are portrayed in the media in a variety of contradictory stereotypes, ranging from the "model minority" at the head of his or her class in school, to the non-English-speaking welfare recipient who is a "drain on the system." Asians are also characterized in film as unscrupulous businessmen and cruel mobsters, or as compliant, submissive and exotic. One-dimensional portrayals, coupled with the absence of accurate images and positive role models, obstruct public understanding of the Asian American community, which can contribute to an anti-Asian climate.
Despite the diversity among Asian Pacific Americans, they are often misperceived as a monolithic group. Thus, even though an act of anti-Asian sentiment might be perpetrated with a particular ethnic group in mind (e.g., Indian, Filipino or Korean), a failure to make distinctions between Asian Pacific American ethnic groups causes members of all groups to become potential victims of hate crimes.
Hate incidents are expressions of hostility based on race, religion, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation or disability. Hate incidents are not illegal. They may take the form of name-calling or using racial slurs, hate speech, the distribution of racist leaflets or other disrespectful behavior. Hate crimes are defined by federal or state statutes. A hate crime occurs when a person commits an act such as assault, battery, criminal damage to property, criminal trespass to property or mob action because of the victim's real or perceived race, religion, nationality, gender, sexual orientation or disability. Hate crime laws vary from state to state. Hate crimes are another type of abuse, and one which can occur anywhere and anytime. In the United States today, the most commonly publicized hate crimes are those perpetrated on particular ethnic groups (such as persons of Middle Eastern descent, or African-Americans), those based on sexual orientation (e.g., "gay-bashing"), and those due to religion (often aimed at Jewish and Islamic groups). Religious buildings, including churches, synagogues and mosques, are commonly targeted and vandalized. When targeted religious buildings serve particular ethnic or sexual-orientation groups, it is difficult to know if the target was the religious group itself, or their membership, or both. Hate crimes also regularly occur due to gender and disability status. Hate crimes may include verbal, physical or sexual abuse perpetrated on people or property destruction, including graffiti, cross-burning, and arson.
Asian Pacific Americans are one of the fastest growing populations in the United States, a trend that started in the 1970s. Today, Asian Pacific Americans are highly visible, especially in the states of California, Hawaii, New York, Illinois, Texas and Washington. Unfortunately, this visibility gives rise to tension from individuals who feel threatened by this increase in ethnic diversity, especially in urban and suburban areas where Asian Pacific Americans encroach on or displace other residents.
When the U.S. economy declines, attention often shifts to the role that other countries play in providing "unfair" competition, Asian Pacific Americans are often perceived to be "foreigners" who take jobs away from "real" Americans. For example, in 1990, Japan was perceived as "taking over" the U.S. by buying companies and real estate. Little attention was given to the fact that Great Britain was then the largest foreign investor in the U.S., while Canada held the largest percentage of foreign-owned real estate. In 2001, an incident where a Chinese fighter jet collided with a U.S. military aircraft caused a backlash when talk radio hosts defamed the Chinese.
In the 2007 article, “How Did Asian Americans Respond to Negative Stereotypes and Hate Crimes?” the authors uses the EPA model of stereotypes and how prejudice and bias affects Asian Americans. The EPA model has three dimensions, Evaluation (valence), Potency and Accuracy. This article supports my paper since a more detailed explanation is provided about hate crimes and stereotypes. It also gives examples how people perceive Asian Americans. A good example would be how all Asians look alike. Obviously they don’t. Unfortunately, because most Asians whether they are Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese and countless other ethnic backgrounds, most are lumped together as one. This is a biased approach and leads to prejudice and confusion. It is important to clear up the differences between ethnic origins and learn from those mistakes.
In the 1994 article, “A Look at Asians as Portrayed in the News.” Joann Lee covers how the number of hate crimes against Asian Americans dramatically increased during this time period. As a historical perspective, this is an interesting point. At this time we were in a recession and Asians were discriminated against by news stories saying that “Asians are taking away jobs.” We are seeing this today as well. The terrorist attack on September 11, 2001 is a prime example how South Asian Americans are discriminated today. This supports my paper because the media plays a strong part in portraying Asian Americans. Whether it is in film, television or the news, the media affects how one sees Asian Americans. If the news portrays all Asian Americans negatively, then this is how prejudices are formed by the public and generates fear and loathing.
The 2000 article, “The New Victims of Hate,” Lynette Clemetson talks about the increase in violent attacks against Asian Americans in the United States. According to Clemetson, “part of the problem is that hate crimes against Asian Americans are vastly underreported.” Most victims want to put the crime behind them. This article supports my paper because stereotypes can lead to violence and thus a hate crime happens.
In the 1994 article, “Asians under Attack,” Samuel Cacas, reported how community involvement is important to reduce racial tension that can lead to violence. This supports my paper because if there is more awareness of racial tolerance in the community, then stereotyping and racism can be lowered. There needs to be leaders in communities that can reach out to various groups so that people of all ages can interact without fear.
In the 1993 article, “Racial violence against Asian Americans,” various cases were taken and reported on in the Harvard Law Review. This article supports my paper because it brings up what hate crimes against Asian Americans are based upon: racial hostility or racial targeting, in which “race figures in the calculated costs and benefits of crime.” Stereotypes that contribute to such crimes include the perception that Asian Americans are rich, weak, the model minority and do not face discrimination and that as a group they are a foreign threat to the United States. The goal is to eliminate stereotypes so that racial violence is reduced against Asian Americans.
In the 1991 article, “Hate crimes grow here and countrywide as Asian businesses gain economic prosperity,” Liz Mullen shows how the Los Angeles region increased hostility against Asians when Japanese business owners flourished during the recession. This supports my paper because today we see how South Asian Americans are treated. Today, many Indians are subjects of hate crimes due to their success. Many Indians are business owners and their property is destroyed by graffiti, theft and vandalism and destruction. When jobs are taken away, the usual cry is these foreigners are taking away jobs from Americans. The hard facts, many of these people are Americans, Asian Americans, who have been in the United States for many generations.
In the 2001 article, “Hate Crimes,” it is again pointed out that many bias crimes against Asian Americans remain unreported. Most of the time the victim feels that there is no benefit for reporting the crime and nothing will be done. This supports my paper because I feel that victims should report the crime. “If prevention of hate crimes, rather than punishment, is the goal, the most effective long-term approach would be through education—starting in elementary schools. As a melting pot of many cultures, part of the process of learning to be a good citizen in the United States is learning to understand and respect others in terms of their diversity and cultural differences.”
In the 2007 article, "Murder not a hate crime? Well, it's still murder," Laura Washington points out that the murder of an Asian American fisherman who drowned in Lake Michigan has the Asian American community worried. He was murdered by John Haley after the news stories about defective toys from China. Was it a hate crime or just a murder that is still being investigated today? This supports my paper because sometimes it is unknown if a crime is one of hate or just malice. Sometimes crime happens for crime’s sake and racial bias isn’t the determining factor.
Finally, hate crimes aren’t just associated with average people. In a prolific hate crime, actor Mark Wahlberg assaulted two Vietnamese men. In the criminal complaint, "Actor Mark Wahlberg Assaulted Vietnamese Americans in Hate Crime," it was noted that Wahlberg assaulted Thanh Lam with a baseball bat on the back of the head. Later that evening he punched Hoa Trinh in the eye. The cause of these incidents was after Wahlberg made racial slurs against both men calling them gooks and slant-eyes. Wahlberg was arrested and later sentenced to two years imprisonment. He was released forty-five days later. This supports my paper because hate crimes can happen to anyone and by anyone. It is surprising that an actor would assault someone. If someone is in the public eye, they should uphold some standards and be more racially tolerant than the general public.
In its annual hate crime statistics report for 2004, the FBI reported racial bias motivated crimes against 5,119 hate crime victims of single-bias incidents. Out of that, 5.2 percent were victimized because of an anti-Asian or Pacific Islander bias. Hate crimes have decreased in Los Angeles and California by 6% in 2006 while Nationwide there was an 8% increase according to a 2006 FBI report. There were 7,720 single-bias incidents in 2006. Out of that, 16.2% were victimized because of an anti-Asian or Pacific Islander bias.
Hate crimes are motivated by prejudice and bigotry. These crimes pose a unique danger to society because, while they often result in an attack on an individual, they can affect the fundamental rights and emotional well-being of entire communities by making them feel vulnerable and isolated. Hate crimes cause tensions, which may erupt into violence between members of different ethnic, religious or racial groups. A quote from The Denver Post: “Such violence, whether perpetrated against women or against people because of their ethnicity, has no place in any community but particularly damages a community of learning,” said G.P. “Bud” Peterson, CU-Boulder chancellor.
Better documentation and awareness of hate crimes plays an important role for instigating change. Anti-Asian violence is widely underreported at both the individual and state level. Some Asian American victims of hate crimes aren't comfortable with or capable of reporting their experiences because of lack of bilingual law enforcement personnel, mistrust of local police, and ignorance about hate crimes and other civil rights protections. There is also the problem of non-identification or miss-identification of hate crimes by law enforcement officers who either don't take them seriously or deliberately avoid a thorough investigation.
Despite the passage of over a decade since the collection of federal hate crimes statistics, some states and localities still have not made rigorous efforts to prosecute and collect data on anti-Asian violence. This prevents any real recognition of the situation, which reinforces the underlying problem. If victims are left feeling that they have no recourse, and if the attacks they suffer are not categorized as hate crimes, then the cycle of silence will persist. It is important to report hate crimes whether you are the victim or a bystander. If a hate crime is not reported, then it makes the crime unimportant and the criminal can get away with such acts.

Bibliography
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Mullens, Liz. "Hate Crimes Grow Here and Countrywide as Asian Businesses Gain Economic Prosperity." Los Angeles Business Journal (Feburary 4, 1991): p. 33 (1).
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Yueh-Ting Lee, Sandy Vue, Richard Seklecki, Yue Ma. "How Did Asian Americans Respond to Negative Stereotypes and Hate Crimes?" American Behavioral Scientist (2007): 271-293.

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[ 2 ]. Clemetson, Lynette, “The New Victims of Hate,” Newsweek 06 Nov 2000: 61.
[ 3 ]. “Asians under Attack,” Harvard Law Review June 1993, 30 Oct. 2008: 1926-1943
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[ 4 ]. “Hate Crimes,” America 04 June 2001: 3 .
[ 5 ]. Pankratz, Howard, “Asian assault victim in Boulder forced to say “I Love America,”
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