IN THE NEWS
Schumm, 22, a Baruch College student, was penned in by the crowd on the other side of the train. “If I’d been closer, I would have said something,” she said. “I’m not shy.”
Instead, she took out her phone and started recording. Her video, posted Oct. 12 by Jews of NY, has been viewed nearly a million times on Instagram and TikTok, according to Jews of NY founder Yaov Davis.
Many of the hundreds of commenters noted, as Schumm did, “that nobody helped” the Jewish man, with nearby riders looking nervously elsewhere.
Ava Schumm was on a crowded subway in Manhattan when she heard a man making loud, derogatory comments about Jews.
His target: a bearded Orthodox Jew wearing a black hat and coat.
November 2022
What Should You Do If You Witness Antisemitic Harassment?
Some Asian women are learning new skills to protect themselves, bolstering their sense of agency, confidence and competence on the street.
On a warm April afternoon in Washington Square Park, I squared off with my friend Noelle, a petite Filipino policy researcher, and shoved her. She slapped the ground as she fell, landing seat-first with a
June 2021
What I Gained From Self-Defense Class in the Wake of Anti-Asian Attacks
dull thud. Dazed yet grinning, she braced both hands on the ground behind her, lifted her leg, angled her foot and kicked me in the shin. Then she got up, brushed herself off and let me do the same.
need for more grass roots community programs, the federation’s deputy director, Joo Han, added that she has also noticed more Asian-Americans buying guns. “When people feel like they don’t have alternatives, they feel like they have to defend themselves using extreme measures,” Ms. Han said. “The fear that advocates have, is that something is going to go wrong, and it’s going to end in greater violence.”
“I think it just speaks to the urgency that people are feeling.”
Many Asian-Americans, responding to the continuing spate of attacks, are now increasingly arming themselves with items for personal defense. Two nonprofits, the Asian American Federation and the Center for Anti-Violence Education, have teamed up to provide self-defense training. Stressing the
May 2021
Keys, Wallet, Pepper Spray: The New Reality for Asian-Americans
Rej Joo has taught online self-defense workshops many times, but he’s seen how the recent rise in anti-Asian attacks across the city has increased demand.
"It’s happening everywhere and anywhere" said Joo, program manager for the Center for Anti-Violence Education. "I think there’s an overarching sort of paranoia and fear, rightfully so, because these attacks are unwarranted."
May 2021
Self-Defense Trainings Empower Asian American Community
Unprovoked assaults like the beating that relatives say left 61-year-old Yao Pan Ma in a coma last month. Police say he was jumped from behind with no warning while collecting cans in East Harlem.
Joo and other trainers at the CAE also work to teach people what to do if they witness a hate crime or even just verbal harassment. It's what’s called Upstander Training.
"It’s a fancy way of saying active bystander," Joo said. "We train people how to intervene or disrupt in a safe manner."
The NYC subway system is arguably the most unnerving public place that Asian New Yorkers are forced to navigate during this period of rising bias attacks against Asians in the city. At times desolate due to a pandemic drop in ridership, the subway can feel at once confining and indifferent, a place where bystanders minding their own business may seem even less inclined to get involved in stopping an unprovoked attack. In recent months, Asian New Yorkers have been slashed and nearly
April 2021
As Ridership Ticks Up On Subways, Some Asian New Yorkers Still Fear For Their Safety
pushed into oncoming trains.
The MTA, in an attempt to make riders feel safe, hired a hundred private security officers last year, and updated its existing anti-hate campaign to include posters and signs written in Chinese and Korean.
April 2021
Bystander Intervention: What Can People Do If They Witness Anti-Asian Attacks?
What should someone do if they witness an attack?
Rej Joo and Donnay Edmund of the Center for Anti-Violence Education discussed intervention training and how the organization equips people to handle certain incidents.
They also explain what people can do if they’re not comfortable with physically intervening, such as calling for help, checking in with the victim and verbally fighting back.
NEW YORK — Attacks against the Asian community have plagued the country.
Dozens have been seen in New York City alone, including one where a woman was thrown to the ground and stomped on while bystanders just watched and did nothing.
"Body position, how you carry yourself, how you look at somebody, all those things will help you in your self defense to even prevent it from happening in the first place," Nidaime told WCBS-TV.
With a rise in anti-Asian hate crimes, martial arts schools like the Chinese Hawaiian Kenpo Academy are seeing a greater interest.
With a rise in anti-Asian hate crimes in New York City — at least 31 so far this year — is an apparent increase in those seeking self-defense classes, and also a call for those witnessing attacks to intervene.
Step by step, siblings Nidaime and Meg Nakamura show self-defense skills they teach at Seido Karate.
March 2021
Increase in Anti-Asian Attacks in New York City Sparking More Interest in Self-Defense Classes
myths obscure a clear picture of this persistent struggle. This evolving list, compiled by multiple contributors across departments at MoMA, brings together readings and films as well as links to grassroots organizations and community businesses that you can support immediately to make sure the history we’ve inherited is not the future we perpetuate.
–Simon Wu
View an incomplete list of readings, films, and organizations on Asian American culture, fighting racism, and histories of subjugation and exclusion.
Racism against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders has a long and painful history. In light of the recent increase in hate crimes, this history has become all the more urgent, even as “model minority”
March 2021
Asian American and Pacific Islanders Resources for Racial Justice
NEW YORK (WABC) -- As hate crimes against Asian Americans continue to rise, Eyewitness News hosted a town hall to shed light on the disturbing uptick in unprovoked attacks.
After our "Stop the Hate: An Eyewitness News Social Town Hall" ABC News Live will air "Stop the Hate: The Rise in Violence Against Asian Americans" Thursday at 8 p.m., featuring an appearance by Eyewitness News reporter CeFaan Kim.
March 2021
Stop the Hate: An Eyewitness News Social Town Hall
In an ongoing initiative to help Asian New Yorkers deal with the rise in anti-Asian bias incidents amidst the coronavirus pandemic, the Asian American Federation (AAF) has launched a series of three safety videos that teach simple, easy-to-follow self-defense strategies designed to keep individuals safe in threatening situations.
Developed in partnership with experts from the Center for Anti-Violence Education, these videos are available in English, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Tagalog and Vietnamese.
January 2021
AAF Releases Self-Defense Videos to Help Asian New Yorkers Stay Safe Amid Spike in Bias Incidents During COVID-19 Pandemic
Joo Han, AAF’s deputy director, who helped to spearhead the effort at the organization, said they undertook the project in response to the anxiety and fear the community has been experiencing since anti-Asian rhetoric and attacks began to escalate nearly a year ago.
and complaints about attacks and ongoing bias toward Asian people and Asian Americans continued for months, though reported hate crimes have recently declined.
Despite the surge in racist behavior targeting Asian people, the City Council entirely defunded a $1 million initiative to prevent hate crimes. The program allowed various nonprofit organizations to take reports of hate crimes from residents who might not otherwise feel comfortable calling the police. It also funded organizations to provide education and outreach on what resources were available.
Racism and discrimination against New York City’s Asian community proliferated well before the coronavirus outbreak reached a fever pitch in the city and state. Businesses in Chinatown saw declines in customers starting as early as January because of fears of the virus, which initially emerged in China. A man assaulted an East Asian woman wearing a mask in a subway station, referring to her as diseased, a month before the city saw its first confirmed coronavirus case. Reports
July 2020
Coronavirus Pandemic Drives a New Wave of Hate Crimes
NYC Against Hate trained thousands of people in "upstander" interventions and pushed for more community-based alternatives to policing when hate violence occurs.
In February 2019, the NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force announced its arrest of two twelve-year-old boys who allegedly chalked swastikas on a playground in Rego Park, Queens. The twitter account for NYC’s Chief of Detectives, then held by current NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea,, tweeted that “No matter
July 2020
A Program to Reduce Hate Violence in NYC Was Showing Promise, Then the City Defunded It
the face of hate, the NYPD, partnered with the community, has ZERO tolerance.” The two children were Black and Asian. Several community leaders in Rego Park told the NY Times that March that they didn’t want to see the children arrested.
The nonprofit Jews for Racial and Economic Justic intervened, contacting the child’s family and providing a workshop on anti-Semitism to community after the arrest. Audrey Sasson, the group’s executive director, says she believes the incident showcases the failure of policing to provide meaningful help when hate crimes occur.
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about stay-at-home orders, the shut-down of courts, slow-downs in obtaining orders of protection, and domestic violence shelters that cannot fill beds due to social distancing health measures for residents and staff. Advocates working with survivors of domestic violence are faced with having to re-think long-held safety-planning strategies, and consider more fully what many survivors have always known: leaving is not the only option. Safety planning in close quarters requires thinking about how to be, if not safe, then safer.
Becoming safe from an abusive partner has most often been defined by the act of leaving the relationship. Leaving can cause hardship, including financial struggles, and is more difficult for survivors who are marginalized by race, gender identity, disability, language or immigration status. While leaving an abuser has been shown to increase danger in the short-term, it is still considered the gold standard for getting safe from abuse.
June 2020
To Become Safer Amid Pandemic We Must Explore Our Responses to Abuse More Deeply
April 2020
NYC Human Rights Commission Forms COVID-19 Team After Anti-Asian Discrimination Skyrockets
During the same time period last year, there were five anti-Asian discrimination reports, according to the commission.
"In order to best serve New Yorkers during these uncertain times, we have created a dedicated COVID-19 Response Team," the commission's chair Carmelyn Malalis said in a statement Sunday morning. "All New Yorkers are facing extraordinary levels of stress right now; discrimination and harassment should not be among them. Even in the midst of a pandemic, human rights cannot be violated, and we encourage anyone who has experienced COVID-19-related discrimination to report it to us."
The NYC Human Rights Commission is launching a team to respond to COVID-19 discrimination and harassment, as reports of racism against Asians surge in the city.
The commission has gathered 248 reports of various incidents of harassment and discrimination related to the coronavirus since February. 105 of them—42 percent—targeted Asians.
Over the past year, New York City leaders have been advocating for education programs and other outreach to young people to stop the spread of hate-related violence across the five boroughs.
In reaction, a city-wide “Day Against Hate” is planned for Thursday, Feb. 13, featuring programs designed to bring concrete skills-learning and education to both change perceptions and teach skills to de-escalate ideas that lead to hate and associated violence.
February 2020
Advocates Offer Education and Outreach to Stem Hate Related Violence
A coalition called “New York City Against Hate” brings together nine groups who have stood up to hate in the city. The group has sought ways to both educate people to intervene in hateful episodes, and to educate young people on tolerance.
Some city leaders seek increased policing, stronger penalties for offenders, keeping hate offenders in jail including re-evaluation of bail reform laws and stronger laws to deter hate crimes. However, leaders of this coalition want to maintain “no cash bail for offenders and instead, offer mental health solutions that offenders can trust.”
New York has seen several recent high-profile attacks against members of the Jewish community and some grassroots movements are taking matters into their own hands. CNA's William Denselow with the report.
February 2020
New York's Jewish Community Fights Back Against Rise in Antisemitism Attacks
December 2019
Center for Anti-Violence Education
For the last 45 years, the Center for Anti-Violence Education has empowered New Yorkers by providing self-defense training in a variety of capacities including the Power, Action & Change for Teens program designed for 12-19-year-olds who identify as girls, for gender non-conforming youth, and for any youth on the trans spectrum.
Ante las constantes amenazas de abusadores en las calles de Nueva York, esta organización ha decidido poner al servicio de la comunidad unos talleres cuyo objetivo es que las mujeres sepan cómo reaccionar al verse acechadas por un sospechoso. Por otro lado, las autoridades continúan tras la pista del individuo señalado de agredir sexualmente a una persona en Park Slope.
September 2019
Centro de Educación Antiviolencia ofrece cursos de defensa personal para las mujeres en Brooklyn
News Archives
CAE press coverage pre-dating 2019 is available by clicking the “Access Archive” button.