Woman gives free cab rides to Asians in NY amid hate crimes

By Jaleen Ramos

A woman in New York has started providing members of the Asian Community free cab rides amid the rising number of anti-Asian hate crimes in the city.

On April 2, Maddy Park launched Cafe Maddy Cab, an Instagram page where she offered to pay the taxi fares of Asian Americans who are uneasy about taking public transportation within New York City.

“Last week I took the train. It was a 30-minute commute and I realized every minute of that commute I was terrified. I was scared that any moment in time someone might say a racial slur or attack me. Worst of all I thought that if something were to happen to me, nobody would stand up,” Park said in a report by WABC News.

Park first put up $2,000 of her own money to provide the fare of taxi rides for Asians who could not afford it and created the Instagram page. 

“I just said look, I have $2,000, if you need a ride, just charge me on Venmo,” Park said.

The account has so far garnered over 12, 000 followers and the initiative has raised more than $100,000.

“It really opened my eyes to how many people are actually supporting the Asian community in New York City,” Park added.

Nearly 3,800 hate crime incidents were reported against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in 50 states in the US  over the last year, according to Stop AAPI Hate.

In the week of March 15 to 21, police recorded a total of nine hate crimes, up from three in the same period of 2020.

On March 29, an elderly Filipina immigrant was randomly attacked in Midtown Manhattan in New York City.

The 65-year-old Filipino woman was walking along 360 West 43rd Street when a man approached her and suddenly kicked her multiple times.

In February, a Filipino American had to receive almost 100 stitches after he was slashed by another passenger on the New York City subway.

Noel Quintana, 61, who is based in New York, said the assailant was reportedly kicking his backpack during the train ride, and when he confronted him to stop, the man attacked him and slashed his face with a box cutter.