Mexican-American Elderly Woman Beaten After Mistaken for Being Asian
Warning: Images may be disturbing and upsetting Amid the ongoing violence against the Asian community, an elderly Mexican-American woman, mistaken for being Asian, was attacked on Friday in Los Angeles
Photo: Unsplash/ Jason Leung
Warning: Images may be disturbing and upsetting
Amid the ongoing violence against the Asian community, an elderly Mexican-American woman, mistaken for being Asian, was attacked on Friday in Los Angeles. The woman only been identified only as Becky, 70, and the attack occurred when she was about to get off the 81 Metro bus at La Loma Road and Figueroa Street on April 9, The East Sider reported. According to Becky’s son, Peter, a Black woman used anti-Asian slurs before dragging her to the front of the bus. Peter told the publication that none of the passengers or the driver stepped in to help her and the assault stopped only after a passenger called 911.
“She is badly beaten. Her eyes were closed, her whole face was swollen, she was all beaten, very bad, and the girl [the attacker] wanted to pull out my mother’s hair,” Peter told NBC. “When she attempted to exit the bus, that’s when the anti-Asian slurs came toward my mother,” Peter said. “She threw her on the floor and started beating her in the head.”
The suspect was eventually arrested on another bus and the Los Angeles Police Department confirmed that the woman was in custody. Yahoo News reported that Becky spent 24 hours in the hospital and was then released. In addition to her injuries her son shared that she has lupus, arthritis, and other disabilities, and her bruised leg makes it difficult for her to walk. The startling photos that have now gone viral show her broken nose and deep bruises on her face and neck as well as injuries to her scalp.
Twenty-three-year-old Yasmine Beasley was arrested at 1:20 p.m. on suspicion of felony assault, Officer Mike Lopez told Oxygen.com on Friday and her bail was set at $130,000.
From March 2020 to February, nearly 3,800 attacks against Asian Americans nationwide were reported to Stop AAPI Hate. It also states that women reported hate incidents 2.3 times more than men and the Chinese are the largest ethnic group that reported experiencing hate at 42.2 percent. Experts say the racist rhetoric tied to Covid-19 has contributed to the rising violence against the Asian community with former President Donald Trump’s use of “the Chinese virus” considered an impetus for the vitriol.
“Trump’s role in exacerbating and igniting this firestorm can’t be denied,” Karen Umemoto, director of the Asian American Studies Center at UCLA told the LA Times, noting that a recent study found a significant increase in anti-Asian hashtags in the week after Trump tweeted about “the Chinese virus.”
To donate to the #StopAsianHate cause you can go to GoFundMe.com.
