How racism fuels hate and sex crimes
Asian women and girls commodified for ages
Published reports immediately after the killings in Atlanta-area massage businesses quoted officials as saying that it was not a hate crime.
Although the victims were predominantly Asian, the official line in the aftermath of the shootings was that it was about sex, not race.
I run an anti-human trafficking organization. Let me be clear: It is impossible to separate race — and racism — from what motivated the shooter to kill eight people on Tuesday night.
Specifically, the shooter suggested that Asian women were tempting his sex addiction. This insidious form of racism has persisted for far longer than the latest wave of hate crimes against Asian Americans fed by the global health crisis.
Human trafficking
Indeed, it might be one of the most lucrative strains of racism that exists, for it has given birth to a unique industry in this country — “massage parlors.”
Those, in turn, have fed a uniquely American form of human trafficking. The very existence of the American concept of “Asian massage parlors” is rooted in anti-Asian racism, built on the idea that Asian women are exotic, submissive and interchangeable.
These stereotypes have been codified through centuries of racist policies and laws that have made it clear implicitly and sometimes explicitly that people of Asian heritage were different from “real” Americans.
Since the mid-1800s, Asian women and girls have been commodified and exploited for sex in the United States as they were brought here to service gold miners, railroad workers and other men who built our nation’s transportation infrastructure.
Dangerous work conditions
Today, these places serve as the punchline for one tired and sad American inside joke. They do massages here. Wink wink.
Everyone knows they really make their money doing “happy endings.”
Our country contains thousands of illicit massage businesses known for commercial sex. The horrific fatal shootings in the Atlanta area highlight the dangers to women who work in these businesses — many of whom face extreme exploitation, abuse and human trafficking.
Some people who work in these establishments do so willingly. Many are just trying to survive — doing what they must to keep a roof over their heads or to take care of their families.
Many others could be victims of sex and labor trafficking, lied to about the nature of the job, working off debts, forced to live inside the businesses that are open 24 hours a day, and rotated across networks of storefronts in various cities for the financial benefit of traffickers.
People often ask our organization, “How did they end up here?” or “How come more isn’t done to crack down on these businesses?”
My question — particularly as we see a growing awareness about racism against Asian Americans — is why are we as a society ignoring the fact that Black, indigenous, women of color and immigrants are exploited for commercial sex by men who think they have a right to our bodies because they pay?
This mindset that some people exist largely for the pleasure or profit of other people is what makes all human trafficking possible, not just trafficking in illicit massage businesses.
‘Sexual addiction’ narrative
In the aftermath of this horrific tragedy, we must not allow law enforcement or the media narrative to dismiss these crimes as simply a “sexual addiction” gone awry. The women targeted by the killer were mothers, daughters, wives, aunties and sisters. Their lives mattered, and their stories matter.
We cannot settle for a narrative that continues to reinforce the stereotype that people of Asian descent in America are disposable. Nor can we rest by posting a #StopAsianHate hashtag and absolving ourselves of more action.
To truly begin to dismantle the racial, gender and economic inequity that enables sex and labor trafficking to flourish in America, we must start by understanding how human trafficking truly works, addressing the root causes of economic insecurity in our communities, and holding accountable the businesses and buyers who exploit women through the commercial sex trade.