Author: Miya Shay

This post originally appeared on ABC13 RSS Feed

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — As concern grows nationally amid rising violence against our Asian American and Pacific Islander community, experts say data from Houston recording these hate crimes could be skewed.

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ABC13, Houston’s news leader, is hosting a one-hour town hall Wednesday (7-8 p.m. CDT), highlighting how acts of violence, discrimination and microaggressions against the AAPI community have unfolded across southeast Texas.

Eyewitness News reporter Miya Shay is gathering a panel of law enforcement and community leaders, and getting answers to your questions about this important issue.

Panelists for Wednesday’s town hall include:

Bobby Singh, Sikh community activist
David Shin, Korean community activist
Rogene Calvert, OCA Houston board member and community activist
Houston Police Department and FBI representatives

Viewers are urged to submit their questions for Wednesday’s town hall here:
(On mobile? You can open our form by tapping here.)

Stop AAPI Hate, a nonprofit organization which advocates on behalf of Asian crime victims, reports out of nearly 4,000 hate incidents in the U.S. since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 100 happened in Texas.

In the aftermath of the Atlanta spa shooting that killed eight people on March 16, HPD said the department had “not seen an increase in hate crimes toward the Asian community.”

Experts, however, believe Houston and other cities could be underreporting crimes against the AAPI community, where some segments of the population are less likely to report hate incidents, according to AAPI Data, a California-based policy and research nonprofit.

About 5.3% of Texans identify as Asian, while 7% of Houstonians are in the AAPI community, according to the U.S. Census.