Anti-Asian Hate Crimes
Written by Faith Mendoza, Edited by Katherine Bautista, & Researched by Asic
Asian hate crimes have been happening around the country for a while. However, these crimes have had an alarming increase recently, through violent, physical, and mental attacks. It’s important to understand that race can play a role in violence and prejudice, even if the offender does not have racist intentions.
In the United States alone, attacks on Asian Americans have shown an increase by more than 150% over the past year. Part of the reason is the Coronavirus. The virus spread from China, and as we all know, it had devastating effects on the world. Many are quick to judge Asian-Americans, claiming that it’s their fault the world “shut down”. Common racist comments made are “Go back to your country!”, “Ching Chong!”, “It’s all your fault!”, “You’re all the same!”, “Chink!”, and so much more.
A recent hate crime incident is the Atlanta, Georgia shooting at the Gold Spa that happened on March 16, 2021. 8 people were murdered, with 6 of them being Asian (4 who were Korean). Their names were Xiaojie Tan (49 years old), Daoyou Feng (44 years old), Hyun Jung Grant (51 years old), Suncha Kim (69 years old), Soon Chung Park (74 years old), and Yong Ae Yue (63 years old). Many were angered by this, and there was even more backlash regarding the situation when it was stated that the suspect “had a bad day”. In addition to that, it was also stated that the situation is “too early to be identified as a hate crime”. Other cases of hate crimes include shoving Asian-Americans to the ground, causing an 84-year-old man named Vicha Ratanapakdee to die in San Francisco in February. Many Asian-Americans throughout the country live in fear with the fact that anything like this, or possibly something even worse, can happen to them or their loved ones.
Some of these attacks can fall under the category of being a hate crime, but even if they are or aren’t, they fit into a history of viewing Asian-Americans in ways that make discrimination and violence against them more likely to happen. Recent studies have shown that Americans tend to assume an Asian is foreign-born unless they have some striking feature that would mark them to clearly be American. Other research has also shown that most Asian-Americans (but elderly men in particular) are seen as “weak”, and that they can’t fight back. This means that they’re said to be an “easy” target. To help combat the negativity in the Asian community, hashtags like #stopasianhate have been used to advocate and speak up against the numerous issues and violence.
Asian American hate crimes are a serious issue that needs to be properly addressed and fought against. To help with this, educate yourself, your friends, your family, your peers, and anyone you can. Please don’t be afraid to stand up and protest against these racist acts. Educate, empower, and develop yourself and those around you, as it’s the only way we, as a society and as separate individuals, can combat the innate xenophobia and racism instilled in people’s hearts and minds. Asians are not a virus, but racism is.
Sources:
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Graphics by Denny Mae Villegas, Althea (Nicole) Ocomen, & Zoe Cannon
