On a balmy October night, my friends and I had just finished hot pot in Boston Chinatown. We were in a light mood -- laughing and joking as we walked. It was 8 PM.

There were people on the streets. We thought we were safe.

Well, we were wrong.

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Around Harrison Ave, we hear clattering behind us. As it gets louder and louder, I start running, tightly clasping both of my friends' hands. Oh my god.

This could not be happening, I thought. The next few minutes were particularly a blur for me, but as I panted in the warm Taiwanese bakery around the corner of the street, my friend, who is half-Asian, told us that the man "chasing" us had yelled the c-slur combined with a derogatory sexual slur. I could feel the fear in her eyes as I stroked her arm.

Really, the c-slur? I thought. Do people still do that?

Yes. They do.

On the way back, safely tucked on the back row of an Uber, I glance out the window at the Chinatown lights fading into my peripheral vision. And I couldn't help but wonder: It has been five years since the Anti-Asian Hate movement started in the wake of COVID-19, but, truly, has anything changed?

The Stop Asian Hate Movement

In 2020, the Stop Asian Hate campaign stemmed from misinformation about the COVID pandemic. China was largely blamed for "starting" this virus, while inaccurate myths like "all Chinese people eat bats" circulated the internet. As the virus escalated and deaths tallied up in both Asia and the US, much of the Asian diaspora was suddenly culpable of causing the virus.

For more than a year, numerous Asian-Americans were victims of intense violence and racism. In fact, per Pew Research Center, in 2021, 1/3 of English-speaking Asian adults feared someone might threaten or physically attack them. They were understandably so because by August of that year, there had already been more than 9000 cases of anti-Asian hate. In 2022, the entire demographic was more likely than any other racial and ethnic group to have changed their daily routines due to concerns for violence and discrimination.

This was extremely disheartening. Yet, the AAPI community stood up, responding with a movement galvanizing millions to fight for racial equity and anti-discrimination.

According to StopAAPIHate.org, in 2020, three organizations, AAPI Equity Alliance, Chinese for Affirmative Action, and San Francisco State University, founded the Stop AAPI Hate reporting center in response to rising COVID-related acts of hate and made further impact by releasing research and advising the Biden presidential transition team on AAPI hate. Since then, 12,400 acts have been reported, and the organization has garnered more than 286,000 Instagram followers.

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Demonstrations, rallies, and protests were also major to the movement, with many arising after the mass shooting at Atlanta spas killed eight, of which six were women of Asian-descent. Specifically, the incident in Atlanta spurred protests in more than 50 cities, with hundreds of thousands of people participating in crowdfunding, petition-signing, and social-media-mobilizing to support victims and condemn Asian hate. Three years later, in the same Chinatown that my friends and I were in, student Ryan Doan-Nguyen held a Stop Asian Hate rally in March of 2021.

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Post-2021: What Came Next?

One year of protests, taglines, and community mobilization later, the international campaign made many achievements in 2022. It not only encouraged the passage of federal laws on hate crimes but also emboldened and inspired a generation of Asian-American activists to raise their voice, sparking dialogues of change. Congress approved the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act in May of 2021, designating more funds and law enforcement for hate crime reporting and police training. This bill also supports community-based organizations. In fact, these community organizations have seen a surge in engagement, too. More than 130,000 people participated in Asian Americans Advancing Justice's bystander trainings. Through this, funding has surged as well, where grants and funding increased 16% from 2020 to 2021.

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Most importantly, the movement raised awareness about more systemic anti-Asian racism. For years, the narrative had always been that the community -- defined by the model minority myth -- doesn't face marginalization.

Yet Vox wrote in 2022 that "the movement was at a crossroads."

What came with these victories were also doubts on how much and what kind of change was really necessary for change. Policy advocates worried that the bills that have been passed were insufficient. They feared that while some legislation took a stance on the issue of Anti-Asian violence, others may even further harm other communities of color. The question, now, was how to eliminate the biases inherent in these acts of violence. Vox quoted the social media director of advocacy group 18MillionRising, Turner Willman, who called for not just "raising awareness and visibility" but for it to be "coupled with structural change."

Five Years Later. What Now?

Now, in its five-year anniversary, much has been and still could be achieved. For one, Stop AAPI has been receiving fewer reports of violence. Though many could still be undocumented, this decrease is a good step forward. Activism is still in place, and we all still remember Stop Asian Hate of 2020.

However, more concerns have arisen after Trump's election in 2024. Recently, Stop AAPI Hate released data that showed an "alarming surge" of anti-Asian hate on the internet post-election. In fact, January of this year saw the highest number of anti-Asian slurs recorded on social media, totaling more than 87,000 slurs.

These observed slurs have increased by 66% since the election. Beyond the slurs, much of the recent cases have centered around immigration crackdowns, bans on DEI initiatives, and H-1B visas. Specifically, many attacks have been targeted at South-Asians, where the rhetoric has become that Indians are "stealing jobs" and threatening "white livelihoods," said Stop AAPI Hate. Meanwhile, the anti-East-Asian rhetoric zones in on hostility towards China.

By Nafis Al Sadnan from Unsplash

These devastating reports and numbers show us that despite the progress that the community has made post-pandemic, a lot more support, mobilization, and funding are needed in the coming years to not only solve current issues but also emphasize the continuing fight against systemic hate and for racial justice.

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So yes, I tell myself, gazing into the Boston skyline, a lot has changed. Yet more crucially, a lot more needs to be changed.