Hate crimes and assaults targeting Asian Americans are on the rise in our country over the past year, correlated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Anti-Asian hate crimes surged by 149% in 2020 in an analysis of hate crime data in 16 of the largest cities in the United States (California State University San Bernardino) - 114% in Greater Los Angeles. Self-reporting tools from various AAPI organizations have recorded over 4,000 incidents since Feb. 2020.

The 2020 Census counts Asians and Pacific Islanders as 12.3% of the demographics in the City of Redondo Beach. The City Council issued a draft resolution on April 13, 2021 to denounce xenophobia and anti-Asian AAPI sentiment and to affirm the city's commitment to the well-being and safety of Asian American communities. 321Vote gathered a diverse group to propose revisions for which Jerome Chang made a public comment at the City Council meeting on April 13, 2021. Council Member Laura Emdee from district 5 immediately motioned to pass these revisions and the City Council unanimously approved them. See the resolution here.

While AAPI are 12.3% of the city, they uniquely constitute 20.4% of the student enrollment in the Redondo Beach Unified School District, which suggests the bulk of the Asians have families with kids. Further, these kids are young: they populate the elementary schools the most (15%), followed by middle school (12%), then the least in the high school (9%). The demographic breakdown is here. There will soon be an influx of Asian students in the upper grade levels, followed by an increase in young voters. Current Asian parent voters have an outsized impact: for every vote, they can affect nearly 2 students!