The Increase Of Violence Against Asian Americans In The Period Of Pandemic

With COVID-19 cases multiplying by the day, a familiar theme of Asian hatred has been unmasked and is terrorizing those who fit the bill. Advocacy group, Stop AAPI (Asian American and Pacific Islander) Hate, has been documenting COVID related harassment towards Asian Americans and have received a total of 2,808 first hand accounts of anti-Asian hate in the US in 2020 alone (Stop AAPI Hate). Anne Anlin Cheng, a journalist at the New York Times, in her opinion piece, “What This Wave of Anti-Asian Violence Reveals About America” digs into the complex history of racism and Asians in America and speaks on why the media has been quiet about the numerous attacks on elderly Asian Americans. She poses the question that I will be exploring in my essay, “Are Asian-Americans … injured enough to deserve our national attention?”(Cheng). Violence against Asian Americans is often overlooked because of stereotypes that promote racial hierarchies because, regardless of it’s positive or negative, stereotypes reinforce inequality. In the case of Asian Americans, the idea of the “model minority” perpetuates violence from both white people and other people of color. These stereotypes promote and cloak racism against Asain Americans.

The job of a stereotype is to reinforce inequality. We defined stereotypes in lecture as a “characterization of a group of people that function to both rationalize and reinforce a hierarchy of power, or inequality in a society” (“Stereotypes” 5). Cheng notes the dichotomy of the Asian American stereotype of being either a foreign threat (Yellow Peril) or being a domestic tool (Model Minority) to deflecting and excusing racism against other minorities. The characteristics of being either a foreign threat or a domestic tool reflects on our definition as this dichotomy helps keep white people on top in the racial hierarchy in America. Stereotypes force upon both micro and macro consequences to the marginalized racial group. Micro consequences are what we see on an individual level, it involves applying societal beliefs and expectations about a group or an individual. An example of this in the Asian American community is the dubbing of COVID-19 the “kung flu” or the “China virus”, it applies the belief that China and Chinese Americans are sole vectors for the virus that has currently taken over half a million deaths in the US. This translates into societal rules for how we interact with others. In the example of the “China virus”, the societal rule one would follow if they chose to subscribe to the stereotype would range anywhere from dirty looks to murder. With these stereotypes having such deep roots, it’s easy to overlook and distort valuable information. It’s easier to blame a foreign threat than the inabilities of your own government. The macro consequences are at the societal level which justifies or legitimizes racism. This is why the media has been so quiet about the surge of anti-Asian harassment because, ”it doesn’t fit neatly into the standard narrative of race in America” says Cheng.

The main stereotype that Asian Amercians like me face is the idea of the Model Minority. The stereotype of the model minority is the idea that Asain Americans have an inherent blessing of intellect, success, wealth all while being reserved and respectful. This myth was made popular by sociologist William Petersen in 1966 was perpetuated through various news stations and even President Reagan (Cheng; Takaki 1) under the guise that the praise would be well received by everyone, after all, the generalization is a seemingly positive one. These ideas exists despite evidence that claim otherwise, like how, despite Asian Americans having the highest median income, they also have the highest levels of income inequality and how Asian men need more education (17.7 years) and work hours (2,160 hours) to reach the same income as white men (16.8 years of education) (2,120 hours) (Takaki 2). Unfortunately, these stereotypes still act as a hindrance towards Asian Americans on a micro level and on a macro level, increases anti Asian sentiment. The phrase “model minority” itself tells the non white world that there is a hierarchy of superiority and Asian Americans are at the top right by white people, but we’ll never be able to join the club. This myth of white adjacency racializes Asian Americans into thinking that their oppression isn’t comparable to those below them on the racial hierarchy in America. Cheng notes that,”Some Asian-Americans were outraged by the violence and demanded justice, but since the perpetrators in these cases were Black, many others felt deeply uncomfortable with contributing to the criminalization of African-Americans” (Cheng). The myth of the model minority instills in us that our pain isn’t as severe as the pain of other minorities and it instills in the public eye that, since our pain doesn’t fit in the frame of racial oppression in the US, that it’s not as newsworthy.

Despite the illusion of privilege the model minority brings, racism against Asian Americans is real. Racism is seen as both an ideology and practice. According to Cheng, the ideology can be attributed to both the former president’s nonstop talk of the “Chinese virus” and the “kung flu” and the long history of systemic and cultural racism. An example that is often overlooked is the 1882 Chinese exclusion act. This law was the first and only law that prevented Asian from immigrating to the US solely based on race due to rising racial anxieties (“Immigration” 4). This historical fear of the “orient” connects to the third pillar of Andrea Smith’s “Heteronormity and the Three Pillars of White Supremacy”. Orientalism is the “process of the West defining itself as a superior civilization by constructing itself in opposition to an ‘exotic’ but inferior ‘Orient’” (Smith 2). Violence on Asian Americans is justified using orientalism logic after the former president declared China, the foreign threat, to be responsible for how out of hand COVID-19 has gotten. Tensions only rose as Trump contracted the “China virus”. Kelly Loeffler, a republican senator, ominously tweeted in response to news of the president’s contraction, “Remember: China gave this virus to our President… WE MUST HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE” (Loeffler). And so they were. 61 year old Filippino Noel Quintana was held accountable. He was slashed across the face with a box cutter, his face will be a permanent reminder of how the biggest virus in this country is racism (Mendiola).

I write this essay out of anger but also out of fear. After reading about all the violence Asain Americans have faced in the last year, I can’t help but fear that the next headline will read “58 Year Old Filippino Amelia Twede Slashed in the Face”, hoping that she would even receive a headline. All a stranger would know about my mom are the stereotypes she presents, and right now, those stereotypes call for harassment and violence. Ultimately, Cheng’s question still stands: are Asian-Americans injured enough to deserve national attention? Apparently so, but only from the blood, sweat, and tears of Asian American rights activists. There needs to be a lot more than national attention to violence to uproot centuries of deep, deep rooted racism towards Asians. A good first step would be to dismantle the myth of the model minority, then to understand the US’s long history of abuse towards Asians. Being an Asian American shouldn’t make you a target for a virus you couldn’t have prevented.