Combating Anti-Asian Racism

Anti-Asian racism and xenophobia has been on the rise since the start of the pandemic. Between March 19, 2020 and December 31, 2020, Stop AAPI Hate logged over 2,808 first-hand accounts of anti-Asian hate from 47 states and the District of Columbia.

In the last month, there has been another disturbing wave of attacks, this time against our community's elderly. Vicha Ratanapakdee, an 84-year-old Thai-American man, was shoved to the ground and killed in San Francisco. A 64-year-old Vietnamese American woman was assaulted and robbed in San Jose in broad daylight. And in New York, Noel Quintana, 61, a Filipino American, was slashed in the face with a box cutter while riding the subway.

These racist attacks are a reminder of the anti-Asian sentiment that has existed in the US since the first laborers emigrated from Asia to the US centuries ago. Racially discriminatory laws were passed to limit immigration, naturalization, property ownership, and the right to vote. Asians in America were characterized as the Yellow Peril, seen as economic threats for accepting lower wages, and dehumanized as a lesser race. Japanese Americans—born in the US—were rounded up and imprisoned in barracks during World War II for years, their property destroyed and “redistributed.”

To learn more about what you can do to combat anti-Asian hate, please join me and Modern Health on Monday, 3/8/21 at 3:00pm EST or Thursday, 3/18/21 at 2:00pm EDT. These sessions are open to all.

*EDIT: New sessions in April have been added to the schedule, including ones specifically for individuals that self-identify as Asian.