The investigation continues into last week鈥檚 string of shootings in Atlanta, which killed eight people, six of whom were of Asian descent. Those killings underscore a spike in anti-Asian violence and rhetoric that has accompanied the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Columbus Division of Police say they haven鈥檛 had a single case of a hate crime directed at the AAPI, or Asian American and Pacific Islander, community since the pandemic began.
That lack of documented cases may not be a good thing, though. State Sen. Tina Maharath (D-Canal Winchester) says the explanation may be lack of reporting. Maharath, who is of Laotian descent, says her office has fielded complaints from people all over the state.
鈥淲hen I ask them if they鈥檝e reached out to any law enforcement, or just any one of authority outside of me, they say no,鈥� Maharath says. 鈥淎nd it鈥檚 because they don鈥檛 see people who look like them, who act like them in law enforcement. They see more hate and more racism.鈥�
For their part, Columbus Police acknowledge it is possible that incidents are going unreported.
Sofialyn Durusan works in the youth department at Asian American Community Services, and she agrees the lack of cases is likely stems from a lack of reporting. She says she and her colleagues experience discrimination regularly.
鈥淪o when we went to the grocery store, people would look at us and then they would bring out sanitizer and sanitize before serving us, and we were like, 'Oh, this is a little weird,'鈥� she says. 鈥淎nd then once it started happening to a handful of us, we were like, 'Oh this is a repeated pattern of microagressions.'鈥�
When it comes to physical violence or vandalism, Durusan hasn鈥檛 heard of any examples in Columbus. She says cases of verbal abuse or slurs are more likely, but again, AASC hasn't fielded complaints about specific incidents she can point out.
According to U.S. Census estimates, people of Asian descent make up about 5% of Columbus' population. And with the AAPI community spread throughout the city, rather than concentrated in a specific area, Durusan suggests anti-Asian racism doesn鈥檛 have a specific place to latch on to.
Meanwhile, Maharath has along with state Sen. Niraj Antani (R-Miamisburg) to establish a . Maharath says that group could act as a sort of clearing house for reports of discrimination, support public education and recommend legislation
鈥淭his commission would gather whatever data we have and disseminate that information that concerns the AAPI community, and it will stimulate all this public awareness and advocacy of the AAPI community through education,鈥� Maharath said during .
Durusan says AASC is going to start submitting complaints to the group . The organization has collected reports of nearly 3,800 incidents of hate directed at the AAPI community鈥� come from somewhere in Ohio.
Despite lingering mistrust, Durusan also encourages people to report incidents to the police.
鈥淚 know it鈥檚 still scary, even I鈥檓 still hesitant on it,鈥� Durusan says, 鈥淏ut trust the system, because that鈥檚 as much as we can do on our end. As long as we鈥檙e doing that, it鈥檚 not鈥攚e鈥檙e doing the right thing.鈥�
