Creating Data Visualizations to Understand the Impact of Structural Racism on Anti-Asian Hate Crime During COVID-19 and to Mitigate Its Effects, United States, 2023-2025

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in the scapegoating of Asians, leading to a rise in hate crimes against them and adversely affecting their mental health and well-being. This project seeks to visualize the connection between structural racism, health, and anti-Asian Hate Crime (AHC) incidents reported in both the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and news and social media collected by the the Asian American Foundation (TAAF) during the period of 2020-2021. The project will first visualize the pattern of AHC incidents reported in FBI and media data, considering variations by states, counties, and months. This project will then identify state- or county-factors associated with AHC incidents and visualize them. The project will further examine changes in mental health and coping behaviors, following AHC incidents. The project will finally explore whether community-level AAPI organizations availability can mitigate the adverse effects of AHC incidents on mental health and coping behaviors.The project's target audience includes social change networks, media outlets, academic society, federal/state legislators, and national-level professional organizations. The resulting visualizations will facilitate policy debates surrounding various aspects, such as addressing underlying risk factors related to AHC, improving data collection and reporting methods within law enforcement agencies to accurately document AHC incidences in Federal/State archives, implementing policies and interventions to mitigate adverse effects on people's health, promoting understanding of cultural differences and inclusivity.