Love Us Like You Love Our Food.
Asian hate has increased rapidly over the course of last year and the recent Atlanta terrorist shootings was the last drop.
Asian hate has risen 90% this year and 200 incidents were reported just last month. Not to mention so many incidents which go unreported.
Albeit receiving recent spotlight, Asian community is not stranger to hate crimes. In fact, Asian hate is as old as the history of immigration in the Western Hemisphere.
As an Asian American, I have always been told by my parents to turn a cheek and not respond to the hate.
But it has become truly unbearable.
Especially after seeing a grandma getting kicked in the street and thinking she could be my grandma or your grandma or grandma of someone else I know.
It’s important to raise awareness of anti-Asian hate crimes, which more than doubled between 2019 and 2020.
The seed of the Atlanta shooting actually goes back to the Page Act, in 1875, which is the headliner for the Chinese Exclusion Act.
According to UC Berkeley’s study, Anti-Asian movements have a long history in the US.
That’s where Chinese women were really targeted, because they were seen as prostitutes.
Although some did come in as prostitutes, it fed this whole idea of the sexualized Asian woman.
They were seen as bearers of disease, as were all Asian immigrants.
If you look at Angel Island in San Francisco Bay Area, one of its prime functions was to do these medical tests on new immigrants. Quite a few people, a lot of South Asians especially, were turned back because they didn’t pass. They had hookworm or things that were easily treatable, but it was justification for sending them back.
During times of national crisis, those fault lines erupt. That’s when the violence spikes, along with anti-Asian hostility and legislation and attitudes. For my family, it was World War Two. I’m Japanese-American. They were all either in concentration camps, or, if they were of age, they were in the U.S. Army.
There is a hypersexualized image of the Asian woman
Most non-Asians don’t realize that it’s racist to say all Asians look the same or that they can’t tell the difference.
Trust me, if you were an Asian who had little to none exposure to overseas countries, you may also not be able to tell the difference between Irish, Scottish, English, German or Nordic people.
But it’s telling that to us that makes it so uncomfortable.
The hate against Asian and people of color need to stop.
The real virus keeping us from living peacefully is hate. We speak up and stand up for each other. It’s sad that we fear for our elders lives when they go to the grocery store. Stop!
Asian-Americans are the most disparate population in the United States. In the past fifty years, as the United States has become socioeconomically really polarized, Asian-Americans have been the most polarized. There’s a lot, and it’s not only ideological.
If you are actually genuine about support to Asian communities, consider supporting charities and donating to Send Chinatown Love, Yong Yue Memorial Fund, Suncha Kim Memorial Fund, Asian-Pacific Covid Recovery Fund.
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