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Originally posted by the Voice of America.
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Online hate against South Asian Americans rises steadily, report says

by Reuters

WASHINGTON --

Online hate against Americans of South Asian ancestry has risen
steadily in 2023 and 2024 with the rise of politicians from that
community to prominence, according to a report released Wednesday by
nonprofit group Stop AAPI Hate.

Why it's important

Democratic presidential candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris is
of Indian descent, as are former Republican presidential candidates
Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy. Republican vice presidential candidate
JD Vance's wife, Usha Vance, is also Indian American.

Harris faces Republican former President Donald Trump in the 2024 U.S.
elections.

There has been a steady rise in anti-Asian hate in extremist online
spaces from January 2023 to August 2024, the report said.

The nonprofit group blamed the rise on a "toxic political climate in
which a growing number of leaders and far-right extremist voices
continue to spew bigoted political rhetoric and disinformation."

Key quotes

"Online threats of violence towards Asian communities reached their
highest levels in August 2024, after Usha Vance appeared at the
Republican National Convention and Kamala Harris was declared a
presidential nominee at the Democratic National Convention," Stop AAPI
Hate said.

"The growing prevalence of anti-South Asian online hate ... in 2023 and
2024 tracks with the rise in South Asian political representation this
election cycle," it added.

By the numbers

Among Asian American subgroups, South Asian communities were targeted
with the highest volume of anti-Asian online hostility, with 60% of
slurs directed at them in that period, according to the report.

Anti-South Asian slurs in extremist online spaces doubled last year,
from about 23,000 to more than 46,000, and peaked in August 2024.

There are nearly 5.4 million people of South Asian descent living in
the United States, comprising of individuals with ancestry from nations
including India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson
Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's
largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as
international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000
newspapers and 750 broadcasters around the globe.

#racism #bigotry #south-asians #usa #online-hate #south-asian-americans #kamala-harris #nikkihaley #vivek-ramaswamy #usha-vance #stop-aapi-hate