Even with the people in this country blaming the pandemic on China, the recent attacks took me by surprise.

The first time I heard about the attacks I was so upset. I was shocked that someone would do something so violent to innocent people – mowing down people in Atlanta with an AR-15 and the two attacks in New York, the most recent one with a hammer.

I know the pandemic has been hard on everybody, but this has gone too far.

According to a New York Times, last year, attacks in New York City that were prosecuted as hate crimes typically involved people blaming Asians for spreading the Coronavirus. This echoed the rhetoric of former President Donald J. Trump, who has referred to the disease as the “China virus” and the “Kung Flu.”

Every morning my dad watches the news; He told me there have been 42 incidents reported in the first four months of 2021 and he’s never heard of anything like it. He was very shaken up about it. He said he missed the days when there was not as much violence, and people didn’t have to always worry about someone trying to hurt them or steal from them. To me it seems normal, because it happens so often. But it’s not normal. And it needs to stop.

Many of the people who committed the attacks haven’t even been arrested or charged with a hate crime. That makes it difficult to know how much Asian-Americans are suffering.

There are some things that could help stop the violence against Asians. One way is having the victims of Asian American hate crimes talk about their point of view, and how they feel about the pandemic and  the violence that came with it. 

Another way is having a group come together and go on live TV to tell the world about how they feel. Finally you could protest about it.