Yes, anti-Asian hate is real.

On March 16, 2021, a white man shot and murdered eight people, six of whom are Asian women, in three different spas across Atlanta.

A 67-year-old Asian woman was stomped on and punched more than 125 times in New York City after being called an “Asian bitch”. The woman suffered multiple injuries, including severe bruising and tearing on her head and face.

An Asian American family celebrating a birthday in Carmel, California, experienced a tech company executive insulting the family with racial slurs.

True, most hate crimes in the US are directed towards African Americans. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, hate crimes against Asians have begun to occur more frequently. You should definitely keep this in mind when you visit America.

COVID-19 fuels anti-Asian hate

In 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic escalated in the US, hate crimes against Asians rose by 76 percent. Much of it is because some politicians and Americans believe that Chinese people carry the virus.

The origin of the COVID-19 coronavirus has been traced back to Wuhan, China. Former US president Donald Trump explicitly referred to the coronavirus as a “Chinese virus”. Even though Trump claimed that this term carries no racial discrimination, it has undoubtedly resulted in a rise of racist behavior and xenophobic violence. Although the assumption that “Chinese people are the ones to blame for the COVID-19 outbreak,” is unreasonable, Asian Americans across the country often hear hate speech such as “take the virus back to your country”.

The current pandemic and racism are putting Asians in the US more at risk of experiencing verbal abuse, shunning, and physical assault. As a matter of fact, Asian families are more worried about racism than the disease.

Why are Asians facing prejudice in the US?

While anti-Asian hate is spiking due to the coronavirus outbreak, racism towards Asian Americans can be traced back to the 1800s.

In the 1800s, large groups of Asian workers immigrated to the US. Due to xenophobia and widespread concerns of workplace competition, the United States passed immigration laws such as the Page Act of 1875 and the Chinese Exculsion Act of 1882 to exclude Chinese laborers from entering the country. The racism of these laws was especially clear in the advertisement, “Uncle Sam kicks out the Chinaman”, which shows how many white people viewed and treated Chinese laborers in the US. Not only did the immigration policy prohibit Asians, mostly Chinese people, from entering the US, the act banned Chinese Americans from becoming US citizens for decades.

Besides the immigration policy, discrimination against Asians flared again from 1875 to 1876, during a smallpox outbreak in San Francisco. Officials blamed the spread of smallpox on the unsanitary living conditions in Chinatown, claiming that “the cause [of the plague] is the presence in our midst of 30,000 of unscrupulous, lying and treacherous Chinamen.” The blame persisted despite the city’s effort in sanitizing all homes with chemicals.

Then, again, in 1900 Chinese Americans were also used as scapegoats for the San Francisco plague. The plague spread quickly in Chinatown. City officials attempted to segregate Chinese residents from the rest of the public due to their racist assumption that Chinatowns were centers of infection.

Like the discrimination against black people in the US, anti-Asian discrimination is deeply rooted. Both American society and the government have shown terrible prejudice towards Asian Americans, which helps to drive this current wave of anti-Asian hate.

Stereotypes and discrimination

The oversimplified, generalized stereotypes about a specific category of people are another cause of discrimination, prejudice, and hate crimes.

Asian Americans are often classified as the “model minority”. “Model minority” refers to a demographic minority who are perceived as high-achieving and more successful in terms of academic and socioeconomic status compared to other minority groups. While this may sound like a compliment, it places enormous discrimination on racial minorities. It is an excuse to “absolve white systems from taking real accountability for the inequities they’ve created” in American society.

In addition, those who favor the model minority stereotype often hold other prejudiced beliefs, such as the “forever foreigner” idea. Despite being a legal US citizen, Asian Americans are often asked where they’re from or why they speak English so well. Being constantly treated this way is psychologically harmful and can lead to depression and lower self-esteem.

Asians are also often targets of gendered racism, a form of oppression at the intersection of racism and sexism. Asian men are often seen as effeminate, which affects their likelihood of getting certain jobs. For example, Asian men are often hired for traditionally more feminine roles such as a librarian and less likely to get hired for traditionally masculine roles such as a guard. Asian women, who are also targets of gendered racism, are viewed as physically attractive and submissive. This is why anti-Asian hate crimes target women more than men since people assume that they are less likely to resist or fight back.

Hypocritically, the model minority are also viewed as vectors for disease. As stated in the prior sections, many people believe that all Asians carry the coronavirus and that, somehow, people of Chinese descent are at fault for the pandemic. The hypocrisy in the Asian stereotypes shows how messed up anti-Asian racism is.

Due to these oppressive stereotypes that create more hate and ignorance, an increased number of Asians are suffering from bullying and hate crimes.

Practical ways to protect yourself

When you visit America, you have to acknowledge the fact that anti-Asian hate is real. Obviously Asian people should not bear responsibility for the racism of others, but protecting ourselves is nonetheless crucial.

In a potentially dangerous situation, these are some ways to protect yourself:

1. Be aware of your surroundings. Do not just stare at your phone with your headphones on all the time. This can prevent you from being attacked.
2. Carry protection. For example, carry a small alarm device in your bag so you can call for help when needed. Or, carry a water bottle that can be used as a weapon when you are in a situation that could potentially be unsafe.
3. Don’t be alone, especially at night. Crimes often happen at night when few people are around, and most attacks are against individuals who are walking alone. Make sure to have company with you when you spend time outdoors.
4. Share your location with friends and family members who can help you in an emergency.
5. Talk to your friends and family to raise awareness of the anti-Asian-hate issue since they may not have been aware of the issue in the US. Talking with them can help address your concerns and allow you to better protect yourself when you visit America.
6. Speak up against racism. Remaining silent whenever you see hate crimes happening will only perpetuate racism because you are allowing it to happen. Standing up, however, is a way to show support, just like how we stand up against bullies.
   

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Yes, anti-Asian hate is real. Currently, the Stop Asian Hate movement in the United States has brought the issue to national attention by supporting victims and operating a public campaign condemning anti-Asian hate crimes. Nevertheless, racism takes many forms and can happen in any place. Therefore, stay aware of this issue and stand up against discrimination and disrespectful attitudes.