Anti-Asian Racism Takes Devastating Toll on Community
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Millions of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) call America home, despite the anti-Asian sentiment that questions their place in the country.
Since the start of the COVID pandemic, they have repeatedly found themselves at the receiving end of unprovoked violent attacks.
And even though the pandemic’s unique circumstances have impacted numerous communities, the challenges faced might be far from comparable in some instances.
Additional stressors such as racism, bigotry, and xenophobia have significantly increased the burden on an already historically grief-stricken population.
This is likely to have a profound negative impact on the mental health and well-being of crime survivors and the community.
Where does this anti-Asian sentiment stem from, what are its consequences, and what can we all do to combat the violent acts that come from it?
Anti-Asian violence peaks in past year
Multiple local and national reports have recorded the rise in violent attacks against AAPI.
In fact, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center, 58% of Asian American participants said it’s more common for other people to verbalize racist views against Asians than it was before the pandemic.
A more recent report was released by Stop AAPI Hate, a not-for-profit created to track violent and discriminatory acts against Asian Americans.
The document covers 3,795 reports received through their website between March 2020 and February 2021.
From deliberate avoidance to civil rights violations, discrimination against Asians has taken many forms. According to the report, incidents include:
68.1% verbal harassment
20.5% shunning (including social rejection and avoidance)
11.1% physical assault
8.5% civil rights violations
6.8% online harassment
Females reported attacks 2.3 times more than males during this time.
The numbers likely don’t represent all of the incidents because not all victims report hate crimes and attacks. Language and cultural barriers, fear, and lack of trust are some of the possible causes.
From shunning to shooting: Say their names
Dozens of attacks against AAPIs have been reported across the nation in 2021 alone. They show a painful reality where older people and women are frequent scapegoats.
The following are only a few incidents of violence against Asians that have made headlines:
Atlanta shooting
Eight people, including six Asian women, were killed following a series of shootings in the Atlanta area on March 16. Soon Chung Park, Hyun Jung Grant, Suncha Kim, and Yong Ae Yue died in the attacks. Delaina Ashley Yaun, Paul Andre Michels, Xiaojie Tan, and Daoyou Feng died in a related shooting in Acworth, Georgia.
Attacked while walking
Vichar Ratanapakdee, an 84-year-old Thai immigrant, was shoved to the ground during his morning walk in a San Francisco neighborhood. He died soon after.
Assaulted on a train
Noel Quintana, a 61-year old Filipino American man, was attacked in Brooklyn during his morning train commute. A stranger slashed his face from ear to ear with a box cutter. Quintana later said nobody responded to his “Help me!” cries.
Attacked while waiting for the bus
Matthew Leung, a 51-year-old elementary school worker, lost part of a finger during an attack at a bus stop in Rosemead, California.
Attacked in the street
In San Francisco, Xiao Zhen Xie, age 76, was punched in the face while waiting to cross the street at a traffic light. She defended herself with a stick she picked up.
Punched while walking
While walking alone on the streets of White Plains, New York, an 83-year-old Korean American woman, who decided to remain anonymous, was spat on and punched so hard by a stranger that she blacked out.
Harassed waiting in line
Another woman, age 52, was shoved to the ground outside a Queens bakery after being verbally abused by the assaulter for no apparent reason.
Punched on the subway
In separate incidents on the same day, two older Asian women were punched in the head and face on the New York City subway.
Spat on
Numerous other incidents of Asian Americans being spat on and yelled at because of their ethnicity have also surfaced.
None of these incidents has been classified as a hate crime.
What’s fueling the anti-Asian sentiment?
Finding one root cause of racism against Asians or any other marginalized group is not a straightforward process. The phenomenon comprises a multitude of factors that interconnect in complex ways.
“Asians are easily identifiable and thus easily othered,” Dr. Ravi Chandra, Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, told Psych Central.
“The hate rhetoric from political leaders, the 4,000 verbal and physical assaults over the last year, and the recent homicides and mass murders at the Georgia spas have made it clear that Asian Americans, particularly women and elders, are not safe in the current climate,” Chandra said.
History and COVID-19
From indentured labor to the federal Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 to Japanese internment camps during World War II, violence against Asians is indeed not something new.
It’s been a problem for quite a while.
“The escalation of hate crimes against Asian-identified individuals is directly connected to the rampant anti-Asian sentiment historically and contemporarily perpetuated from the highest positions of office in America,” Joyce Yang, PhD, licensed psychologist, researcher, and full-time faculty member at the University of San Francisco, told Psych Central.
Many believe former President Donald Trump’s anti-Asian rhetoric has been particularly damaging.
In fact, a recent study found that a tweet sent out by Trump on March 16, 2020, immediately spiked the number of racist anti-Asian hashtags. The tweet referred to COVID-19 as the “Chinese Virus.”
“Trump stoked anti-Asian sentiments that have existed for a long time,” Jason Wu, PhD, a licensed psychologist in San Jose, California, told Psych Central.
Chandra added that “for the last year, political leaders persisted in calling COVID-19 the ‘China virus.’ Many people’s distress about the pandemic was thrust onto Asians as if they were the cause.”
This is not the first time the Asian community has been scapegoated, says Wu. “There is a historical precedent. The Chinese were blamed for the bubonic plague in San Francisco. The city enacted discriminatory quarantine measures against Chinese and Japanese Americans that European Americans were not subjected to.”
In the more recent years, U.S. foreign policy and mainstream media accounts have also contributed to the portrayal of some Asian countries, especially China, as America’s rival.
A 2021 Gallup poll, for example, showed that Americans now see China as the nation’s greatest enemy. This, in part, stems from the inaccurate perception that the Asian country has become the world’s driving economic power.
Unverified claims that China’s government unleashed the coronavirus on the world as a bioweapon have also fueled the problem.
According to the Center of Hate and Extremism at California State University, incidents of violence and discrimination against AAPIs in 16 large U.S. cities increased 149% since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the pandemic in March 2020.
“Many AAPI members describe feeling like perpetual foreigners in this country, reinforced by questions of ‘where are you originally from,’ or people mispronouncing our names,” Wu said. “In addition, there are many Asian Americans who have been both implicitly and explicitly taught by both those in power in society, as well as some of their own Asian elders, that it is best to not draw attention to oneself as a method of protection and staying safe in this country.”
The model minority myth
Experts believe that another contributing factor to racial discrimination against Asians is the perpetuation of the model minority myth.
This is the belief that all members of the AAPI community are high-achieving, intellectually superior, self-sufficient, and progressively becoming richer and more successful.
Despite the stereotype, the community is experiencing record unemployment, hunger, and financial struggles.
“[The myth] was explicitly manufactured to make Black, Indigenous, and People of Color feel fundamentally less than while manipulating AAPI into docility and obedience,” Sarah Kwan, MS, PhD, a psychologist in San Francisco, told Psych Central. “It is a violent tool that continues to foment infighting and trample on solidarity. This is by design.”
The model minority myth is additionally problematic because it puts significant inequalities within the AAPI community in a blind spot.
It also perpetuates the belief that AAPIs don’t face significant challenges as individuals and as a group, and therefore, don’t require support and attention.
Medically reviewed by Karin Gepp, PsyD — Written by Sandra Silva Casabianca