The New York Police Department announced yesterday that five recent assaults on Chinese women in the Lower East Side of Manhattan may have been hate crimes, causing great concern throughout the Chinese community. 

Following the announcement, elected representatives have advocated swift legislation, stepping for hate crimes and strengthening sensitivity training in schools. In addition, Chinese community groups have called on law enforcement officials to undertake a thorough investigation of the cases, and, in addition to punishing the offenders, educate the populace about respecting people of other races. 

Elizabeth Ouyang, president of the New York chapter of the Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA), sent an open letter to Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance saying, "We believe it is the responsibility of law enforcement agencies to take this case seriously, and to undertake a thorough investigation in order to determine whether these crimes were due to racism." 

Yu Yaosheng, a retired lieutenant in the NYPD and a member of the board of directors for the New York chapter of OCA, said he believes that "this case demonstrates the importance of crime reporting for ethnic minorities."  He said that "the reason the NYPD suspected these crimes were hate-motivated is that all the victims were Chinese women of 50 years or older, walking alone, obviously unable to retaliate against their attackers. This incident once again demonstrates that Asian Americans, particularly Asian women, can easily become ideal targets for attackers." 

Yu added that he supports making public the descriptions of the attackers in order to widen the search effort; however, only catching and punishing the attackers will send the right message to future offenders. Yet Yu also stressed that for younger offenders punishment should be complemented with education. "The best thing would be to have them spend more time around Chinese residents, to promote mutual understanding and to teach them to respect people of other ethnicities," Yu said.