On March 16th, 2021, the United States was shaken by the heinous murder of 8 victims in an Atlanta spa. 6 out of the 8 victims were Asian women. This hate crime was committed by a man who had a “sexual addiction” and carried out this disgusting act as a means to stop his “temptation” on a “very bad day”. These statements by Capt. Jay Baker, the spokesperson for the Cherokee Sheriff’s Office, only affirms the fundamental, systematic issues America is tasked with solving. It was not a “very bad day”. It was a hate crime, and the longer we as a society continue to ignore such crimes, the longer we are stuck in this hamster-wheel that no one seems to stop, and the longer we are in it, the longer we are part of the problem.
This kind of blatant hate has been displayed in the United States countless times. According to the data analysis done by California State University, San Bernadino, there has been a staggering 150% increase in anti-Asian hate crimes in the United States’ biggest cities, such as San Franciso and New York, although the number of hate crimes, in general, have decreased by 7%. This racism and hate can be tied to the rhetoric from former President Trump, according to Karthick Ramakrishnan, founder, and director of AAPI Data, which is a demographic data and policy research nonprofit. Ramakrishnan brings up the fact that the former president utilized the virus’ origin, which was in China, and began calling the coronavirus, the “China virus”. What the former president did by using such language, was set a precedent for hate, using Twitter, press-conferences, and other mediums of communication to send a message, using what researchers call the “Trump effect”. Presidents have an enormous, “out-sized” role in shaping the narrative of society during their term, and this, coupled with the former president’s frequent media usage, spread this hate like wild-fire.
However, Trump’s rhetoric isn’t the sole, defining factor of anti-AAPI racism in this country. Thinking this way would be an unrealistically “simplistic understanding” about what is actually going on here. Although we cannot pinpoint all of the factors that lead to anti-Asian racism in the present day, we do somewhat know the scope of these attacks, which are just now getting the media attention necessary to formulate change.
However, to understand the problems we face today, it’s equally important to trace back the roots of anti-Asian racism in the United States, to get a clearer picture of the deep-set, systemic problems in our country, as people of Asian origin have been living in the United States for over 160 years. In 1850, Chinese immigrants began coming to the United States, in hopes of following the Gold Rush, in California and other western states. Because of the Gold Rush, there was an unnervingly high demand for dangerous, low-wage jobs, beginning the rhetoric of Asian people stealing white jobs, leading to the unfortunate ruling of People v Hall, making it illegal for Asian people to testify against a white person in court, enabling cases such as the murder of Ling Sing, caused by George Hall, the namesake for the court case, to be common and acceptable, which led to massacres such as the Chinese massacre, and Rock Springs massacre in the late 1870s and ’80s along with the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which barred Chinese people from immigrating to the United States until it was repealed in 1943. Coincidentally, in 1900, there was an outbreak of the bubonic plague in San Francisco, likely started in a ship from Australia, which the entire Chinese community was blamed for because an immigrant from China was the first victim. Almost 120 years earlier, similar rhetoric from today was being spread, displaying how long-standing and how deep anti-Asian racism is in this country.
The Japanese internment camps, started after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, forced tens of thousands of settled, Japanese families into inhumane conditions, all out of fear that these innocent citizens would be an aid to the enemy, all fostered by the US government. In the end, no spies were ever found, and families went home to vandalized homes and businesses. Although the victims received a presidential apology and $20,000 each in reparations in 1988, these internment camps have forever altered the perception of Asian people in this country, and haven’t stopped this racism from spreading, revealing itself in incidents throughout the 1980s and ’90s, and early 2000’s, such as the violent attacks on Vietnamese shrimpers carried out by the KKK, the murder of Vincent Chin, the L.A. riots, and hate crimes towards Muslims and those perceived to be Muslim, usually people of South Asian descent, after 9/11.
The well-established racism and hatred against AAPI people have reared its ugly head countless times throughout history, and only now, is it getting media attention. The movement Stop Asian Movement has begun in light of the recent hate crime in Atlanta. US Representative Grace Meng said, in conversation with USA Today, “‘It was just something we grew up with. We were taught to mind our own business, not to rock the boat. But what’s changed for my generation – even before the tragedy in Atlanta – is that people like me were starting to see people who look like their fathers and mothers and grandfathers getting beaten up. That really struck a nerve”. The recent spike of anti-Asian hate crimes has fostered activism in the AAPI community, and broad support on social media and in real life with the #StopAsianHate trending, and Stop Asian Hate marches happening in the United States and Canada, specifically in New Jersey, New York, Maine, and Alberta. This movement is “rich with opportunity” as it could start the momentum for overdue changes, such as expanding Asian American history instruction in schools across the country, and more political representation. There is even push for more AAPI representation in the current presidential cabinet, fueled by Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth. Stop Asian Hate also intends to combat AAPI hate with data and education, while also pushing for more support systems in place to help aid the community, even urging churches and religious leaders to condemn white supremacy.
Although the Stop Asian Hate movement has gained unbelievable traction, the work still needs to be done. We need to remember the names of the 8 people who died in that Atlanta massage parlor. Soon Chung Park, Hyun Jung Grant, Suncha Kim, Yong Ae Yue, Delaina Ashley Yuan, Paul Andre Michels, Xiaojie Tan, and Daoyou Feng, all died on March 16th, 2021, because we, as a country, were oblivious to the hate embedded in the American government. We need to continue uplifting AAPI voices. We need to continue fighting, because history is watching us, and what we do with this moment, and we can’t afford to back down this time.
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