Apr 19, 2021 3:01 PM EDT
Oregon’s Jade District is a 10-block area neighborhood in East Portland that is home to dozens of Asian-owned businesses, from grocery stores to herbal markets, bakeries and restaurants that include a James Beard-recognized Vietnamese soup spot.
But in the first two months of the year, at least 13 businesses there had their windows smashed, which community leaders say was the result of anti-Asian hate fueled by misguided scapegoat rhetoric about COVID-19. A month after the fatal March 16 shootings at Atlanta-area spas that left eight people dead, including six Asian American women, Asian American businesses across the country are reeling from the spate of hate and violence, and some say they’re operating in fear adding to the economic crisis many businesses have been grappling with since the beginning of the pandemic.
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Trashcans along SE 82nd Avenue are adorned with the Jade District logo, the name for the collection of highly diverse neighborhoods that make up the area.
Violence and discrimination against Asian Americans is on the rise across the country, and in the Pacific Northwest.
Violence and harassment against Asian Americans has increased significantly over the past year nationwide and in the Pacific Northwest.
The most prominent example was a string of vandalism against businesses in the Jade District, an outer Southeast Portland neighborhood that is home to a number of businesses that are owned by and cater to Asian-American customers.
Portland businesses are navigating wave of window smashing and burglaries with little help from city
Updated Feb 17, 2021;
Posted Feb 17, 2021
Work crews on Saturday, Nov. 21, 2020, clean up damage and board up windows in Northeast Portland s Hollywood District after protesters the previous night damaged and vandalized 27 businesses and workspaces, police said.
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Hanh Truong arrived at Fujiyama Sushi Bar & Grill early Jan. 28 to find the floor of the restaurant covered with broken glass.
Security footage showed someone driving up to the Southeast 82nd Avenue sushi bar before hurling a rock through the window. The same person threw another rock through the window of the nail salon next door before driving away, said Truong, the store manager at Fujiyama.