WASHINGTON — Today, Act To Change and Stop AAPI Hate, joined together for Data Convos to break down the results of the 2021 Asian American Bullying Survey Report. After a surge in anti-Asian hate crimes and discrimination due to rampant misinformation and conspiracy theories about COVID-19, the event served to analyze the insights from these reports and share concrete recommendations on what everyone can do to address bullying and racism, especially in the AAPI community.
Based on responses from more than 300 AAPI youth, survey findings highlight a dramatic rise in bullying in 2020 among Asian American youth.
Highlights from the survey findings include:
- The bullying of Asian American youth is uncomfortably normalized. 80% of Asian Americans have experienced bullying, in-person, or online.
- Cyberbullying affecting Asian Americans in 2020 surged to unprecedented levels. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and racist tropes blaming Asian Americans, 70% of Asian American youth experienced or witnessed an increase in cyberbullying in 2020.
- Asian Americans are significantly less likely to report bullying to an adult than their peers are, potentially due to cultural barriers and lack of trust in adults and schools. 38% of Asian Americans told an adult about the bullying, compared to 63% of non-Asian Americans.
- Parents, caregivers, and educators of Asian American youth lack the necessary knowledge or tools to handle and fight the bullying. About ⅓ of adults did not take action after learning someone was bullied.
Belinda Lei from Act To Change, an AAPI anti-bullying organization, said the following:
“Having the data to quantify what the AAPI community has been experiencing since the beginning of Covid-19 validates the struggles we face. The normalization of bullying AAPI youth is engrained in our society and perpetuates the lack of reporting within our community. This new study will allow us to help AAPI youth navigate difficult conversations around race and continue our efforts in sharing resources to address bullying with the AAPI community and beyond.
We know that things must change. We cannot have AAPI youth afraid to go to school or use social media because of what others around us might say. We must invest all of our resources into educating our children and putting an end to AAPI bullying. This data validates our efforts to change how the world views and treats our AAPI youth. Stay tuned for more announcements to combat the scourge of AAPI bullying.”
Manjusha Kulkarni, Executive Director of Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council & Co-Founder of Stop AAPI Hate, said the following:
“Now that schools are back in session, we must be proactive at stopping racism and discrimination directed at our young people. Much like the virus, hate, discrimination and racism towards AAPI youth continue to spread. This recent data underscores how students are increasingly attacked online and in-person – this is unacceptable.
It is critical that we continue to document racism against AAPI youth, but that is just the start. We must advocate for more educational resources for students, teachers, parents and caregivers. We must also get young people the mental health and consultation services that they need.”
To prevent and tackle bullying among youth, particularly with the rise of anti-Asian hate, Act To Change and partners recommend action in the following areas:
- Spreading awareness and educating the public about the prevalence, severity, and impact of anti-Asian bullying on students, and call for change.
- Developing easily shareable and accessible resources/toolkits and school curriculums for Asian American children/teens, their caregivers and parents.
- Crafting programs that provide mental health and consultation services for bullied Asian American children who need help.
- Continuing the much-needed work in data collection and data disaggregation for Asian Americans. Comprehensive data is critical to representing the vast diversity of experiences in the Asian American and Pacific Islander community.
Act To Change is a national nonprofit organization working to end bullying among AAPI youth. It envisions a world where all youth can grow up feeling proud of and supported in who they are.
Stop AAPI Hate is a national coalition addressing anti-Asian racism across the U.S. The coalition was founded by the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council (A3PCON), Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA) and San Francisco State University’s Asian American Studies Department. Between March 19, 2020 and February 28, 2021, Stop AAPI Hate has received 3,795 reported incidents of racism and discrimination targeting Asian Americans across the U.S. Visit stopaapihate.org
