Texas restaurant owner receives anti-Asian threats over masks, hate crimes on rise

HOUSTON - Recent analysis says there’s been a nearly 150% spike in Anti-Asian hate crimes in 2020. 

Just a few days ago, a local business in Texas started receiving racist, death threats to his ramen restaurant. 

‘Commie’, ‘Go back to China’, ‘Kung flu’, ‘Hope you die', are just some of the hateful messages spray-painted outside Mike Nguyen’s Noodle Tree Ramen restaurant in San Antonio this past Sunday. 

Nguyen has lymphoma and is immuno-compromised, putting him at high risk of getting severely sick from COVID-19. 

SIGN UP FOR FOX 26 HOUSTON EMAIL ALERTS

Last Wednesday, he criticized Governor Abbott for lifting the mask mandate in an interview with CNN. Since then, Nguyen said he's been dealing with continuous, racist backlash. 

The anti-Asian harassment, death threats, and late-night phone calls have only increased since then. 

"The one star reviews on Google and Yelp, the harassment online, the death threats; I thought that's where it kind of would stop, but the fact that it escalated to someone vandalizing the restaurant. What’s the next after that when it escalates? It's going to be violence," Nguyen said. 

"A lot of Asian-Americans who do get attacked, they’re afraid to report it in fear of confrontation, or backlash or retaliation. I feel that it’s my duty to be able to stand up to this. You gotta put a stop to this before it escalates to a fatal point," Nguyen continued. 

Hate crimes against Asian-Americans spiked nearly 150% in 2020, mostly in New York and California, according to recent analysis by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University. 

Houston police and the Harris County Sheriff’s Office said as of Tuesday, they have not received any similar reports. 

However oftentimes, Asian-American advocates say incidents go unreported.

"It is important for us to speak out because if we don’t, nobody else is aware of these incidents, and they get shoved under the mat and its like it never happened," said Cecil Fong, the former president of OCA Greater Houston. 

FOR THE LATEST NEWS UPDATES, DOWNLOAD THE FOX 26 NEWS APP

For example, racist incidents like this.  

Lily Jang, a former Houston TV news anchor turned realtor posted on her Instagram story that she was called a racial slur while at Kroger in the Heights. 

"I was minding my own business just shopping for groceries, he decided to hurl a racial slur at me because I was wearing a mask," Jang said. 

Jang began recording video of the man after the racial slur. The man appeared irate and could be heard in the video saying, "Governor Abbott said you don’t have to wear that crap no more. This is a free country." 

The Asian Chamber of Commerce says the public can support local Asian businesses like in Houston’s Chinatown. Many of them were hit hard during the pandemic. 

Advocates also encourage people to record hateful incidents, if it's safe to do so, and report them to the authorities. 

To report hate crimes against the Asian community, click here or https://www.standagainsthatred.org/