‘IT’S HORRIFIC’
Ga. slays cap tough year for Asian-Americans
Anasia Antonius used to take her time getting from her car to the Seattle church where she works as an office manager. The Indonesian mother would often stand leisurely outside the vehicle while grabbing her belongings and unbuckling her child from the car seat before dropping him off at the church-run day care.
But a series of disturbing anti-Asian incidents outside the church, which has been targeted by racist graffiti four times this year, has forced her to change her routine.
“To tell you the truth, I just run from the parking lot to the building now,” she told the Daily News.
The minor change in Antonius’ daily life is just one example of how Asian-Americans are shifting their behavior in light of a disturbing rise of anti-Asian harassment and violence across the country, with many of Asians staying away from public areas to avoid becoming targets..
The growing crisis made national headlines last week when a gunman stormed three Atlanta-area massage parlors on Tuesday and shot eight people to death, including six Asian women. Although authorities have not labeled the shooting spree a hate crime, Asian-American leaders say the rampage was the culmination of decades of discrimination against their community fueled by national figures who blamed the community for the coronavirus pandemic.
The racist rhetoric — frequently spouted by former President Donald Trump, who insisted on calling COVID-19 the “Chinese virus” or “Kung Flu” — helped stoke hate and embolden intolerance across the country, experts and advocates said.
“He was very deliberate in his choice of words to intentionally scapegoat and cast blame, and really hold Asian-Americans essentially responsible for the pandemic to distract from his own lack of responsibility and leadership,” said Jennifer Sun, co-executive director at Asian Americans for Equality.
The racist language has had tragic consequences. Police statistics reveal that anti-Asian hate crimes went up by nearly 150% last year in 16 of America’s largest cities, according to the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, which studied law enforcement data.
A separate study by the group Stop AAPI Hate found that about 3,800 racially motivated attacks against Asian-Americans were reported nationwide since March 2020, with most of them targeting women. The report noted that the figure is “just a fraction” of the actual number since many victim don’t report the attacks.
New York hasn’t escaped the backlash. Just days ago, a man cursed and spat at an Asian woman who was walking her dog in lower Manhattan.
“You stupid c—-k b—-h! Go back to your country,” he screamed, cops said. On Tuesday, another Asian woman in Midtown was doused with an unknown liquid by a racist attacker who snarled, “Go back to China,” police said.
The harm goes beyond the physical. Sun noted that many Asian women who lost their jobs, or were widowed during the pandemic are feeling “very fearful” about reentering the workforce because of the risk of being attacked during their commute.
“They’re choosing not to go out, so they’re much more isolated now as a result of this,” Sun said. “There’s a fear about going out to buy groceries, running their everyday errands. Some of them are choosing not to get vaccinated because they’re scared of going outside to vaccination sites.”
Antonius, who works at Seattle’s International Full Gospel Fellowship Church, said some of the teachers at the day care there are Chinese women and most are “terrified and scared” by what’s happening across the nation and outside their own workplace.
A mysterious bigot spelled out “F—k China” and “You will pay” in hay across the church parking lot. Officials have since hired a security staff and are in the process of installing a surveillance video system.
Joo Han, deputy director at the New York-based Asian American Federation, described Tuesday’s shooting as the “confirmation of the worst of our fears.”
“It’s a year of trauma in the making. It’s a year of grieving in the making. And I think it’s going to take a long time for people to feel safe again,” Han told The News.
“For a year, we’ve had so many verbal assaults and physical assaults, but to have it culminate in this senseless act of violence where six members of the Asian community had their lives taken for being at a place where they thought was safe, it’s horrific,” she said.
Melissa Borja, a professor at the University of Michigan’s Asian/ Pacific Islander American Studies program, has been documenting incidents of anti-Asian racism since last year, but is still gutted by the attack in Georgia.
“We all have a knot in our throats. It’s nauseating and it’s profoundly upsetting,” she said. “We’re grieving not just the loss of life, but the loss of freedom that we felt we had and the sense of security that has been lost in this rise of anti-Asian hate.”
Studies show that most of the harassment against Asian-Americans happens in businesses and in the streets, with many victims being attacked while performing everyday tasks, like buying groceries or riding a bike.
Borja said many of her friends are telling their parents not go out alone as many of the attacks have taken place in public areas. Her own mother recently chose not to go for a walk after reading about a 74-year-old Filipino man who was attacked and killed at a Kentucky Fried Chicken parking lot in Arizona.
Antonius said the rise in anti-Asian racism during the pandemic has also taken a mental health toll, with many of her friends feeling depressed and unable to control their emotions. For now, though, Antonius is encouraged by the outpouring of support in her community and across the country.
“I feel better now,” she said. “Our church has been praying together, and we have a security guard patrolling our property as well.”