APPLETON, Wis (NBC 26) -- Across the country and here at home in northeast Wisconsin, Asian Americans and their allies are sounding the alarm after repeated verbal and physical attacks continue to play out on the national scale.
"The trend that is happening right now is real. They are reliving the trauma of when they first came to this country in the early '80s and '90s," says Long Vue the Executive Director of WUCMAA, The Wisconsin United Coalition of Mutual Assistance Associations.
Vue says the discrimination unfolding is something many Asian Americans haven't seen to such a degree in decades. Vue says community leaders started noticing the trend at the onset of
COVID-19's spread, as some Americans pointed at a race of people for starting the pandemic.
"We have instances where grandma goes to the grocery store and people spit on her, harass her."
Vue's non-profit, WUCMAA, advocates for the advancement of under-served communities in the Appleton area. He says many Asian Americans in northeast Wisconsin have to live differently today than they were just a year ago.
"When I talk to my community, I talk to them about safely traveling during the day. If you need to travel, go during the daytime. If anything happens to you take video, take good notes, take pictures."
The data to date is scarce, but Stop AAPI Hate has found that the prejudice incidents reported towards Asians are skyrocketing. Their findings suggest that in 2020 most of the hate crimes came in the form of verbal harassment or being shunned and avoided. It's an act that is often just as painful as the violence, that has been grabbing the national headlines.
"We need the community to stand up. Private organizations and individuals as well too," adds Vue.
Many across the country and right here in northeast Wisconsin are pleading with their community, their neighbors, to be an ally in the fight, and to ultimately let the perpetrators of the hate know that they are not in this battle alone.
"If you have an (Asian) neighbor, tell them, I want you to know, I want you to feel safe. If anything happens, I'm here to help you too," adds Vue.
