#StopAsianHate — Anti-racism includes Asians
In the span of the last few weeks, several videos have gone viral on social media of racist attacks against Asian American individuals. We’ve had celebrities speak out against these recent attacks, such as Daniel Dae Kim, Daniel Wu, Gemma Chan, Henry Golding, Harry Shum Jr., Anna Akana and many others. Many influencers are speaking out as well.
Civil-rights activist and co-founder of Rise (a sexual-assault-survivor advocacy organization) Amanda Nguyễn noted in an Instagram video over the weekend, the past few weeks alone have seen several violent attacks on Asian Americans across the country. 84 year old ThaiAmerican Vicha Ratanapakdee died last month during his morning walk in San Francisco, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. A 64 year old Vietnamese American woman was assaulted during broad daylight in San Jose and robbed of $1,000 in cash she withdrew for Lunar New Year. In New York City, 61 year old Noel Quintana, a Filipino American, was slashed in the face with a box cutter while riding the subway. And that’s not all of them. I agree with Amanda, racism is killing us.
It’s no surprise that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a rise in anti-Asian crimes and the former Trump administration also played a part in inciting anti-Asian violence. Trump was calling COVID-19 the “China Virus” and “Kung Flu” for a while and blamed COVID-19 on China for a while. No wonder there’s been a lot of anti-China sentiment recently. All this to say, Asian discrimination has been happening long before the COVID-19 pandemic started.
As a Chinese American myself who is very much part of the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) community, I couldn’t bear to sit back and watch. I couldn’t stay silent when injustices are ravaging my own community. These individuals who were recently affected by the recent anti-Asian sentiment could very well be similar to our elders like my parents and grandmother. This hate is unjustified and it does not help anyone. When you tear apart a community, you’re also not benefiting anyone. COVID-19 is not China’s fault, the pandemic took a worldwide group effort to get as infectious as it did. Don’t get me started on how the Trump administration handled the pandemic in the United States, that is another long conversation. On the other hand, combatting the pandemic takes a group effort and we need everyone to cooperate as much as possible whether that means social distancing, wearing masks properly (over the nose please), washing your hands and disinfecting items frequently, getting vaccinated when possible, getting tested when possible, and not gathering in public as much as possible (seriously, why are we still having weddings and banquets right now).
Anti-racism includes Asians and here are some resources to help you get educated and involved. Stop AAPI Hate started in March 2020, which tracks and responds to incidents of hate, violence, harassment, discrimination, shunning, and child bullying against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in California and where possible throughout the United States. Their approach also states that “in order to effectively address anti-Asian racism we must work to end all forms of structural racism leveled at Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color”. You can report any hate incident on their home page. From March 19th through December 31st, 2020, 2,808 firsthand reports of anti-Asian hate incidents were collected from 47 states and the District of Columbia. Of the reported incidents, 7.3 percent of the reports counted elderly Asians as the victims.
Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJC) co-founded its own anti-hate initiative called Stand Against Hatred in response to racist rhetoric during political campaigns in 2016, reported in this recent Rolling Stone article which also includes steps you can take as an ally, such as checking in on your Asian friends and volunteering to escort individuals home in local Chinatowns.
There is hope though, yet more work still needs to be done. Last month, President Biden signed a memorandum directing federal agencies to explore ways of combating racism and xenophobia against Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States. Bianca Mabute-Louie recently penned an op-ed in Elle about how our fierce love for our elders is compelling us to speak our truths and be better activists, it’s worth checking out.
