Spa Worker, Waiter, Mechanic: Volunteers Patrol US Streets After Anti-Asian Attacks

Anti-Asian hate crimes almost tripled from 49 to 122 last year across 16 major cities, even as overall hate crime fell seven percent, according to a recent report by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism.

Wearing bright safety vests and carrying walkie-talkies, volunteers patrol a Chinese neighborhood in New York to protect Asian Americans against a surge of pandemic-era violence after deadly mass shootings at Asian-owned spas in Atlanta. "We want to show our presence so that any person who wants to commit a crime will think again," says Richard Lee, team leader of Public Safety Patrol (PSP). The men and women from various professions walk the streets of Chinatown in Flushing, Queens nightly in groups of around eight to reassure scared residents and help catch any would-be attackers. The PSP, which started its walkabouts on Monday, is similar to other civil patrol teams that have mobilized in San Francisco and Oakland in response to the spike in attacks against Asian Americans since the outbreak of coronavirus.