Anti-Asian hate calls for a societal response
Horrific attacks against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have prompted marches and rallies nationwide, criminal prosecutions and now a response from the White House.
On Tuesday the Biden administration announced the revival of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, new funding for Asian American survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault, and a renewed commitment to improve health outcomes for Pacific Islanders. I
These steps are certainly welcome, and yet much more will be needed, as the scope of the bias and xenophobia routinely faced by Asian Americans comes into closer view.
Ten percent of Asian American and Pacific Islander adults have experienced hate crimes or hate incidents this year, according to survey results released Tuesday by Survey Monkey and AAPI Data, a repository of demographic information and policy research. Conducted online March 18-25, the survey also revealed that more than one-quarter of Asian Americans report having been victims of such crimes at some point in their lives. Asian Americans normally report lower levels of hate crimes than Black Americans, but this year the two groups are on par.
The survey also confirmed the microaggressions that Asian Americans routinely face: being asked where they are from, with the assumption that they are foreign-born; being encouraged to Americanize or “whiten” their names; having their names intentionally mispronounced; and even being spit or coughed upon.
That last form of abuse is telling, as the recent wave of attacks has been linked to the xenophobia stirred up by former President Donald Trump early on in the COVID-19 crisis. His use of hate-inducing, finger-pointing language like “the China virus” and “kung flu” — without bothering to distinguish between the policies of the Chinese government and the innocent lives of Asian Americans, many of whom aren’t even of Chinese descent — stirred up this ugly surge.
But the anti-Asian bias has endured even with Trump gone from Twitter and the White House. In New York City alone this week, footage emerged first of an Asian American man beaten and choked on a subway train, then of a 65-year-old Filipino American churchgoer kicked repeatedly in the head and upper body in front of a residential building, whose staff did nothing. Both episodes are being investigated as hate crimes.
Beyond what President Biden announced Tuesday, there are many other steps the federal and state governments should consider, including victims’ compensation funds, better tracking of anti-Asian crimes, more language resources on 211 and 311 hotlines and improved police-community relations. Perhaps, if the pandemic eases, so will the surge of attacks. But the larger sickness is societal.