Voters wait in line to cast ballots at the Chinatown Mall on the first day of early voting for the Nevada 2020 caucus Saturday, Feb. 15, 2020.
Tuesday, March 16, 2021 | 2 a.m.
Craig Valdez says his Asian-American community has been taken for granted despite being integral to society. Worse, Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders have long been potential targets of hostility, especially now as scapegoats for COVID-19.
“The anti-AAPI sentiment has always been a part of our country’s history,” said Valdez, a member of Clark County’s Asian-American Pacific Islanders Community Commission. “It may not be something that we talk about very often in national dialogue or even in our textbooks.”
But he wants it to go on record with the seal of the Clark County Commission, which will consider a resolution today “condemning and combating racism, xenophobia, and intolerance against Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders.”
In a letter that Valdez helped draft, the community commission tells county leaders that Stop AAPI Hate, a website for people to report racially motivated violence in the wake of the pandemic, recorded 2,800 incidents nationwide last year — setting up the local group’s call for the county’s solidarity.
“Reports of ongoing anti-Asian rhetoric, discrimination and hate incidents against Asian-Americans have only continued to surge nationwide due to COVID-19,” the community commission’s letter reads. “Fear of the novel coronavirus, which originated in China, has increased racist and xenophobic sentiments, creating a climate that hails back to the era of Yellow Peril.”
Census data show that 10% of Clark County residents, or more than 220,000 people, are of Asian descent — a population that has more than doubled in the last 20 years. Additionally, Nevada is home to more than 21,000 Asian-owned businesses centered around tourism, services and dining, the community commission said.
“They are our friends, family, neighbors, small-business owners, union workers, teachers, and healthcare workers who continue to give back to our community,” its letter adds.
For Vida Chan Lin, founder of Las Vegas’ Asian Community Development Council, the proposed resolution is about acknowledgement.
“The Asian community is one of the fastest-growing in Nevada, but when it comes to awareness of issues that we have, nobody talks about (them) or dismisses” them, Lin said.
Metro Police Sgt. Malcolm Napier, who is a liaison with Vegas’ Chinatown as leader of the Spring Valley Area Command, said police here haven’t seen a spike in hate crimes singling out Asian-Americans.
Nor does the Asian-American Pacific Islanders Community Commission letter list any local examples of bias-driven violence against people of Asian descent.
But, Valdez said, that doesn’t mean it won’t happen.
“We’re trying to be proactive,” said Clark County Commissioner Tick Segerblom, who put the item on today’s meeting agenda at the group’s request. “Hopefully we don’t face that, but we want everybody to know that we stand behind our Asian community.”
