Google Signs Up Asian American Business Owners For Cameras In Queens

QUEENS, NY — Google provided a flash in the dark for Asian American and Pacific Islander business owners who have faced anti-Asian hate spurred by a global pandemic.

The tech giant will shared information on free security cameras to Queens small businesses with help from the Asian American Federation and the National Asian/Pacific Islander American Chamber of Commerce and Entrepreneurship and the Asian American Federation, the groups announced.

Google also hosted an event Friday at Diversity Plaza, located at 73-19 37 Road at 1 p.m.

Two AAPI entrepreneurs who have already received Google Nest Cams appeared at the event where other business owners can apply to the program, according to Google, which is seeking to give away hundreds of Nest kits.

Entrepreneurs who weren't able to attend can sign up at aapistrong.com/nestcamkits.

U.S. Rep. Grace Meng, who represents parts or all of Auburndale, Bayside, Elmhurst, Flushing, Forest Hills, Glendale, Kew Gardens, Maspeth, Middle Village and Murray Hill and Rego Park, was set to attend the event.

Research from the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism revealed that anti-Asian hate crime increased by 339 percent compared to last, especially in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles, reported CBS.

New York City had a particularly drastic rise in hate crimes from 30 to 133 attacks, a 343 percent increase, according to the data compiled by CBS.

Since the start of the pandemic, one in five Americans surveyed have said that they believed Asian Americans were partly responsible for the spread of Covid-19, according to the Brookings Institution, a nonprofit public policy organization.

Hate crimes have also risen in Flushing and Chinatown, predominantly Asian American neighborhoods, according to the New York Times, which also reported that an Asian Hate Crimes Task Force was formed in response to bias crimes toward that community in 2020.