A topic that has really caught my eye lately involves the rising number of hate-crime cases towards Asian Americans. Racism is completely unacceptable and extremely saddening when it is against any race, however the rising number of cases related to Asian Americans is a topic that I feel is not discussed nearly enough. Although hate-crimes against Asians make up a smaller amount of total hate crimes reported in America. Their number rose from 49 in 2019 to 122 in 2020, in America’s 15 largest cities. It is important that we address the hate that this specific group of Americans receive because with enough attention we may be able to stop or slow the rising rate of senseless comments and actions towards Asian Americans. The rate of hate-crimes noticeably began rising at the beginning of the pandemic. Although hate-crimes against Asians make up a smaller amount of total hate crimes reported in America. Their number rose from 49 in 2019 to 122 in 2020, in America’s 15 largest cities, according to statista.com. Connie Chung Joe, CEO of Asian Americans Advancing Justice told npr.org that many incidents are not even reported. Many of the attacks towards Asian Americans are unreported because they are afraid to speak up or there is a language barrier that prevents them from being able to speak up.
Npr.org provides many examples of these incidents. One incident that recently occurred involved a 27-year-old U.S. Air Force veteran, who was attacked by two men while walking down the street in the Koreatown neighborhood in LA. The man was left injured, but that was not all. Not only did the men attack him but they were yelling things through the neighborhood such as “all f-ing Asians gotta die.” This is very saddening to me because Asian Americans must feel so helpless and unheard. The way that Asian Americans feel right now reminds me of a topic that was brought up in multiple of the readings throughout this course, and that idea is “The Other”. My interpretation of “The Other” is someone or a group of people that feel as if they are outsiders or do not feel like they belong. It is crucial that as a country we work to fight this stigma against Asian Americans and learn to love all Americans, as we are all equal. I am very happy to have recently seen more attention being brought to this topic. There was a post that circulated Instagram this past week promoting love towards Asian Americans and expressing the growing rate of hate crimes towards this group. One Instagram post is not enough to stop people from doing awful things to Asian Americans, but it is a step in the right direction. In my opinion, the best thing we can do for these fellow citizens is bring attention to the topic, speak up if we see something inappropriate, and try to get the government involved.
Sources:
http://https://www.statista.com/chart/24442/anti-asian-hate-crime/
Racism has no place in our culture at all and has been an ongoing problem in our society for far too long now. This definitely has to do with how social media and media in general causes people to go to extremes as seen with the shooting recently against Asian-Americans. There has been narratives from both sides of the political spectrum that has caused damage to different races and peoples, no side has had a spotless record when it comes to race. Your post shares a lot of the sentiments that I have been feeling this past week and I’m sure a majority of Americans also feel the same way. Racism is something that needs to be taught out and honestly the first place to start is to teach people to think for themselves instead of listening to what their parents say, what the media says, or what people in authority say and taking what they say for the 100% truth. When this happens there will be a massive change in how our country deals with racism.
Hello! It is deeply saddening to see any type of racism on the rise, and with a global pandemic surfacing it was natural to expect the prejudices of many to show themselves. I agree that a lot of work must be done to reduce racism in America. Hopefully with the COVID pandemic dying down, Asian-American racism will lessen.
Great post! Racism is definitely a hot topic in our society, but rarely do we relate it back to Asian Americans. I was unaware until reading your post, about how much hate crimes against Asian Americans has increased in just one year. It is very unfortunate to hear stories about how these people are treated by others simply because of their race. I think this ties in very well with the concept of “Others” that we learned earlier in this course as well.
I appreciate your post very much. I think there is a big problem with racism, especially the recent hatred of Asians. Due to the outbreak of the epidemic, some racists have pointed social conflicts at innocent Asian immigrants. Asian immigrants are “others” in the eyes of Americans, so it is difficult for them to integrate into American society. Racists’ negative attitudes towards Asian immigrants have increased the burden on these Asian immigrants living in the United States. Therefore, I think that the issue of discrimination against Asians and immigrants should be emphasized by society.