How Asian-Americans are banding together to confront hate crimes
- Reports of attacks, primarily against Asian-American elders, have spiked in recent months
- Activists claim this has been fuelled by anxieties about Covid-19, described as the ‘Chinese virus by former president Donald Trump
When her friend was hurt in a hit-and-run accident – in what she firmly believes was a hate attack – she decided to take action.
“I wanted to do something more proactive rather than wallow in fear,” said Lim, who is Korean-American.
So Lim, 32, bought her mother pepper spray, started learning judo from her father – and wrote “How to Report a Hate Crime”, an information booklet with advice on dealing with the police and phrases written in English to show to bystanders, to ask for help.
As of this year, Lim has begun printing the booklet in six languages – Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Thai and Vietnamese – and has more on the way, including Tagalog and Khmer. She distributes them to friends and Asian community centres in Los Angeles. She feels her work is more important than ever.