Mar 17th, 2021, 11:20 AM

What’s Up With the Recent Attacks Against Asian-Americans?

By Kate Tuttle
Chinatown, San Francisco. Image credit: roxann/Unsplash
A look with Cynthia Choi of Stop AAPI Hate on the recent attacks against Asian-Americans, what is causing them and what is being done to take action

When I was interviewing my grandfather about the Japanese internment during World War II for a middle school project, he told me a story I will never forget. He described how his father, who had emigrated from Japan to America to escape poverty, had been pushed down the stairs of a building in San Francisco’s Chinatown for no other reason than being Japanese. He sustained serious injuries, and nearly lost his life. I had thought that this harrowing violence towards Asian-Americans was left behind in the last century--after all, I had never experienced such things myself, nor did I know of anyone who had. However, while scrolling through my local news last month I was shocked to see a video of an elderly Asian man violently pushed to the ground in Oakland’s Chinatown.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

Just like how my great-grandfather was pushed down for no visible reason, the same was done to this elderly man. But even worse is that this was no solitary incident. That same month, 84-year-old San Francisco resident Vicha Ratanapakdee, an immigrant from Thailand, was violently shoved to the ground during his morning walk. Unfortunately, the injuries he sustained were fatal, and he died the following day at the San Francisco General Hospital. 

In the Bay Area alone, over 700 anti-Asian hate incidents have been reported to Stop AAPI Hate, a reporting center that has been recording hate incidents against Asian-Americans since the start of the pandemic. Hate incidents range from name calling to defacing of property, and also include crimes such as robbery and assault. In the past two months there has been a particular rise in the latter, with at least 32 Asian-Americans being robbed or assaulted in the Bay Area since the start of 2021, according to news reports. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by @abc7newsbayarea

Racism against Asians in America is by no means a new phenomenon. Aggressively racist views towards Asians have been around since the initial migration of Chinese workers to the West in the 19th century. Many Americans accused the Chinese migrant workers of stealing their jobs, and anti-Chinese and anti-Asian coalitions soon formed. The hatred began shifting over to the influx of Japanese migrants, especially as Japan began taking an aggressive world stance. The racism against these Asian groups was institutionalized federally by the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, a total ban on immigrant workers from China, as well as the implementation of Japanese internment camps during World War II, in which all people of Japanese descent were forced into detention camps during the war. This period of strong anti-Asian sentiment is known as the "Yellow Peril", and its effects can still be seen in society and media today. However, things took a turn post-WW2, and soon Asians became known to Anglo-America as the "model minority",  a term used to deny the Asian-American struggle and justify the discrimination of other minority groups, thus pitting minority groups against each other. As the "model minority", Asian-Americans are viewed as hardworking and submissive, a stereotype that has harmed many Asian-Americans as well as other POC. A more recent wave of hate incidents against Asian-Americans targeted South Asian groups following the attacks of 9/11. Many South Asian-Americans, especially Muslims and Sikhs, became victims of the rampant Islamophobic discrimination and attacks. 

"Soul Consoling Tower" at Manzanar Internment Camp, California, U.S. Image Credit: jvoves/creativecommons.
 

Now there seems to be yet another wave of anti-Asian racism linked to the Covid-19 pandemic that is being felt worldwide. “The pandemic has led to astronomical levels of hate,” says Cynthia Choi, co-executive of Chinese for Affirmative Action and one of the founders of reporting center Stop AAPI Hate, “the backlash against Asian-Americans is remarkable.” Many Asian-American activists and allies cite former President Donald Trump’s racial language when talking about the coronavirus as a major factor into the scale of attacks against Asian-Americans across America. According to an October report by Stop AAPI Hate, former President Trump had posted tweets using “stigmatizing rhetoric” 23 times, with these tweets reaching over one million retweets, and over four million likes.  Names such as the “China virus”, the “Wuhan virus”, or the “Kung-flu” are racially charged and harmful to the AAPI (Asian and Pacific Islander) community, activists claim. 



Stop AAPI Hate has recorded over 3,000 hate incidents against AAPIs in the US since the pandemic began. But these numbers are likely an under count, says Choi. In many Asian cultures, there is a philosophical principle of preserving through hardships and not complaining. In Chinese it is 吃苦 (chīkǔ), in Japanese it is 我慢(gaman). This along with immigration status and language barriers can prevent many Asian-Americans, especially those older and first generation, from reporting incidents of hate against them. “Based on our experience Asians, especially LEP (limited English proficient) immigrants, are hesitant to report out of distrust and fear of being entangled with government and law enforcement agencies,” explains Choi, “In some cases, they are undocumented or believe nothing can be done about the incident.” 

The current governmental system for reporting hate incidents is also outdated and not easy to access, contributing to these difficulties. Choi says, “Because many governmental reporting systems are difficult to navigate and/or are not language accessible, I would say as a whole they are not adequate and are failing to meet the needs of all.” When anti-Asian incidents began occurring across the nation and the world, Stop AAPI Hate was formed to make this process streamlined and easily accessible for all.

Recent efforts to raise awareness by Asian-American celebrities such as Jeremy Lin and Daniel Dae Kim has helped bring this issue to the national stage. Several politicians have spoken out condemning acts of racism against the Asian community, and President Joe Biden signed an executive order condemning racism and xenophobia against Asians and banning the usage of racially-charged terms for the coronavirus in executive office. Choi calls these actions, “a good start,” but she says that the solution will not be forged solely by the government or by law enforcement. “A lot of progress has already been made by grass-root movements. Not relying on just the government. The private and public sector as well, they’ve been doing this stuff for decades,” she says.

Asian-American activist groups have been especially wary about relying on law enforcement in light of recent protests over police brutalization, and because around 90% of hate incidents are non-criminal with many incidents also stemming from a mental health crisis plaguing the country. Instead, grass-roots movements that include community-led initiatives such as volunteer neighborhood watches have become prevalent in efforts to bring back a sense of security for Asian-American residents. “The U.S. has traditionally overly relied on law enforcement approaches which have not increased safety and led to the highest incarceration rates in the world,” states Choi, “we also believe we should focus on intervention and prevention based strategies to address the root causes of crime, violence and racial bias.” 

It is important to note that this issue is not solely an American issue. Anti-Asian racism has been seen all across the globe, including right here in Paris. Last month, a group of Japanese residents was attacked with hydrochloric acid in the 17th arrondissement, with one person suffering burns on their arm. Although the perpetrators were not caught and a criminal motive was not identified, the Japanese embassy in Paris sent out an email to Japanese nationals in Paris warning them about these attacks.  If this is the first you are hearing about this incident, you are not alone. Only a small handful of French news outlets have reported on this incident, and it is widely unknown to the public. Across the globe, Asians are fighting discrimination that range from name-calling to assault, and many have taken to Twitter since the pandemic began to express their concern.

So what can we, as the community, do to help? Choi suggests four methods of action:

1. Encourage people to speak out against racist remarks/attacks towards Asians and elevate Asian voices when they are speaking of their experiences.

2. Protest anti-immigration policies that often target South East Asians and Pacific Islanders.

3. Push elected officials to take action and condemn racist attacks.

4. Spread awareness of the Stop AAPI Hate reporting center to Americans to give better access to the Asian-Americans who may need it and improve the accuracy of the data.