Asian-Owned Businesses Attacked in Columbia

Lynelle Essilfie

03/01/2021

During the late hours of February 11 into the 12, six Howard County businesses were the targets of vandalism and robbery. The Coal Fire and East Moon Bistro in Ellicott City and the Corner Bakery, Urban Hot Pot, Bonchon, and Kung Fu Tea in Columbia had their front doors shattered to allow unauthorized access into their restaurants. Cash was reported missing from Urban Hot Pot, Bonchon, Kung Fu Tea, and East Moon Asian Bistro. Along with the undisclosed amounts of money, safes were stolen from Urban Hot Pot and East Moon Asian Bistro.

Howard County police are currently investigating these cases for potential connection labeling them as commercial burglaries. Possible racial biases related to these incidents are not being explored however, many within the community and the restaurants themselves feel the robberies purposefully targeted Asian businesses and were intended as hate crimes. 

In a statement on their Instagram, Kung Fu Tea said, “We are deeply saddened that during these difficult times our community is filled with such hatred and division. As an Asian American establishment, the fact that these attacks came on Lunar New Year, such a celebrated time of year for us, is heartbreaking.” February 12 marked the beginning of Lunar New Year, a fifteen day celebration for many Asian communities. 

Before the burglaries during the afternoon of the 11th in honor of Lunar New Year, County Executive Calvin Ball signed an executive order creating an Asian American and Pacific Islander workgroup. Within a meeting through zoom, Ball discussed the vast contribution the AAPI community makes to our county and its celebrated high diversity levels. Over 60,000 AA and PI reside within HoCo. 

The diversity within our area is frequently boasted, serving as a defining feature of our community yet, people of color are often still overlooked and disrespected. Anti-Asian rhetoric has increased since the beginning of the COVID-19 Pandemic, exposing the prevalent racism in our county. Many falsely accepted and used the label of “the Chinese Virus” when discussing the pandemic, placing blame and targets on those within the Chinese and surrounding East Asian community. South Asians and Pacific Islanders are overlooked within discussions centering on Asian desires and issues, undervaluing their voices and discrediting their Asian background. 

As a community, we must strive to listen and uplift the voices of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders along with other people of color. Asian-owned businesses can serve as a safe place and means of increasing the power of the Asian community within our area. Diversity holds little value if the members contributing to it are not acknowledged and supported. In light of these crimes, eat at Urban Hot Pot, Bonchon, Kung Fu Tea, East Moon Asian Bistro, and other AA and PI- owned establishments. Kung Fu Tea and Bonchon will donate ten percent of all profits from February to Stop APPI Hate, an organization dedicated to reporting hate crimes against the Asian American and Pacific Islander community. In addition to this donation, a Go Fund Me by Kung Fu Tea: KFT & BonChon Columbia for Stop AAPI Hate is currently active and collecting money for Stop APPI Hate.