The killing of Yao Pan Ma occurred on April 23, 2021, as a result of an attack by 49-year-old African American Jarrod Powell in

East Harlem East Harlem, also known as Spanish Harlem or and historically known as Italian Harlem, is a neighborhood of Upper Manhattan, New York City, roughly encompassing the area north of the Upper East Side and bounded by 96th Street to the south, F ...

, New York, United States. The racist attack drew national attention as part of a rise in anti-Chinese hate crimes in America.

Background

Ma and his wife moved to the United States in October 2018 from Mainland China, where Ma had worked as a dim sum chef. Ma worked at a restaurant until it closed permanently due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. As he hadn't worked long enough to qualify for unemployment, Ma and his wife, who had also lost her job permanently, collected bottles and cans to make money to afford food. Since the COVID-19 pandemic started, there has been an uptick in racist incidents and bullying against Asian Americans. A few months prior to the attack against Ma, 84-year-old Thai-American Vicha Ratanapakdee died after being attacked in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

Killing

On April 23, 2021, Yao Pan Ma was collecting cans along Third Avenue and East 125th Street in East Harlem. Attacker Jarrod Powell attacked Ma from behind and mercilessly shoved him to the ground. After mercilessly kicking Ma's head repeatedly without showing any remorse, he fled the scene. A nearby surveillance camera showed the attacker stomping on Ma's head. Ma was moved in and out of multiple facilities during his times in hospital and eventually died of cerebral hemorrhage in a long-term care center run by

The New Jewish Home The New Jewish Home (formerly Jewish Home Lifecare among other prior names) is an American nonprofit older adult health care system based in New York City. The organization serves older adults of all religions and ethnicities at its three campus ...

on December 31, 2021.

Suspect

Jarrod Powell, a 49-year-old African American man from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

was arrested. He was charged with attempted murder, bullying, felony assault and hate crime charges. After Ma's death, his family called on the district attorney to upgrade the charges to murder. Charges were later upgraded to second degree murder as a hate crime.

References

2021 controversies in the United States 2021 in New York City April 2021 crimes in the United States April 2021 events in the United States Asian-American issues Asian-American-related controversies African-American–Asian-American relations Racially motivated violence against Asian-Americans Crimes in Manhattan Deaths by person in New York City Hate crimes Anti-Chinese violence in the United States 2020s crimes in New York City {{crime-stub

Background

Killing

Suspect

See also

References