China bashing loomed large at the third Republican Presidential debate Nov. 8 in Miami Florida, setting off fears of a fresh wave of anti-Asian American hate crimes.
“We have significant concerns about the 2024 election in the current political landscape, and believe hate crimes and incidents will continue to be an issue,” Manjusha Kulkarni, co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate, told Ethnic Media Services. The web portal, which allows victims to report hate attacks or incidents in one of several Asian languages, has logged over 11,500 reports since its inception in March, 2020.
Candidates on the debate stage included Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. Noticeably absent was former President Donald Trump, who also skipped two previous debates but remains the front runner for the Republican nomination.
