The Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State University, San Bernardino recently released a report on hate crime trends in 16 major American cities. Such hate crimes decreased overall by 7 percent from 2019 to 2020. But hate crimes targeting Asians and Asian Americans increased nearly 150 percent.
Much of the hate seems to have been inspired by former President Trump associating people of Asian ancestry with the COVID virus. He regularly used the term "China virus" to make this association.
Local residents Karena Jew, Sharon Hoshida, Juliet Velarde Betita, Judy Guillermo-Newton and Michal Lynch organized a gathering in solidarity with Asians, Asian Americans, and Pacific Islanders on Saturday, March 27 in front of the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. Nearly 300 people turned out, many of them residents from the Asian-American community who play vital roles in Santa Barbara.