Hello and welcome to the 538 Politics Podcast.

I'm Galen Druke.

There were protests against anti-Asian violence across the country over the weekend.

They were in response to the killing of eight people in three massage parlors around Atlanta,

six of whom were women of Asian descent.

The protests also addressed the broader context of anti-Asian rhetoric and violence that

has increased since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Today, we're going to discuss the killings in Atlanta and take a closer look at anti-Asian

crime data.

Hate crime data can be difficult to collect, but according to the Center for the Study

of Hate and Extremism at California State San Bernardino, the largest cities in the country

saw a 150% increase in anti-Asian hate crimes reported to the police on average over the

past year.

We're also going to look at the political response to these attacks and talk about how Asian-American

political participation and influence is evolving, particularly given that people of Asian descent

are the fastest growing racial or ethnic group in the country.

Here with me to do that are editor-in-chief Nate Silver, hello Nate.

Hey everybody.

Also here with us, Politics Reporter Alex Samuels, hey Alex.

Hey Galen.

And also joining us is Jane Jen Political Science and Gender Studies Professor at the University

of Southern California.

...