Through no fault of their own, Asian Americans throughout history have been blamed, scapegoated and ignored. This compelling video captures the past and present events affecting bias and racism towards Asians in America and what this community has had to endure as Americans. Let's heal from the past in order to move forward together.
Content Warning: Contains Graphic Violence.
[Transcript]
We've seen the headlines. We have been here before. Asian Americans being viciously attacked and murdered. Why?
Because they’re accused of being responsible for the coronavirus.
Because China is viewed as a threat.
Because of a deep-seated history of racism.
Asian Americans have been victims of implicit, explicit and systemic racial bias for almost two centuries. And this history and current fear of China as an economic, military and ideological threat to the U.S. deeply affected the way we think, speak and treat them.
Latest attack on an Asian New Yorker, a woman was heading to church when she was kicked to the sidewalk.
Surge of racist attacks against Asian Americans.
He also said you don't belong here and then ran off.
Diseased, disloyal, inscrutable and slanty-eyed.
Crazy rich asians taking over the economy.
Laborers, laundrymen and cooks.
Foreigners, not Americans.
Today, more than 20 million Asian Americans fight and endure these misperceptions and alarmingly the number and intensity of hate incidents continues to skyrocket. This behavior cannot and should not be tolerated in any civil society.
Add to that, the fact that most hate incidents go unreported, multiply that by daily microaggressions and it becomes strikingly obvious that Asian Americans are fighting another pandemic: the pandemic of racism
So why is this going on? First, we need to examine one root cause of this, which we find deep in our own minds: the idea of bias.
Bias can be implicit or unconscious, explicit or conscious. Whether we like it or not, we all carry biases. Some are harmless. Others can be damaging and deadly.
For example, we unknowingly have an immediate reaction to seeing an Asian man or woman. Is it positive or negative? It depends on your upbringing, what your friends think, what memes about Asian Americans you've laughed at, what politicians say, and what you've learned in school...unfortunately precious little.
Where once we were mainly influenced by the immediate group around us, or by mass media controlled mainly by white decision makers -
today our perceptions are also supercharged by thousands of interactions on social media.
Algorithms running on our most popular platforms create giant echo chambers reinforcing existing biases, stereotypes and prejudices and creating new ones. Biases are now explicit. It is in our face every day. Fueled by government rhetoric they have been unleashed as being ok.
This is racism pure and simple and it has led to insults, injuries, and death. All based on ignorance, prejudice, and hate. Where did all the xenophobia come from and why was it unleashed?
In the 1800's, Chinese immigrants were at first welcomed and exploited as a cheap and available workforce for the Transcontinental Railroad. Due to a desperate shortage of laborers to do the back-breaking and dangerous work and the limited job opportunities afforded Chinese immigrants, the Chinese took these jobs but received very little credit for their tremendous contribution. As the economy turned sour, Asians were quickly and relentlessly vilified and portrayed as dirty, diseased, and dangerous.
Riots and massacres of Chinese immigrants ensued culminating in The
Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the first and only law ever to prohibit a specific ethnic group from immigrating to the U.S. This law lasted for 61 years!
Then, in 1942, after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, fears of espionage and disloyalty cause 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry to be forcibly relocated to internment camps and deprived of their liberty.
The U.S. government later admitted that the internment of the Japanese was based on racism.
In the 1950’s, Red-baiting occurred during the McCarthy period … until he was proven to be a fraud. So what do those historical events tell us?
Pieced together, there is no doubt as to what these patterns reveal: False accusations have dire consequences. They show the fundamental underlying perception of Asians as the Yellow Peril,
the racist idea that all Asians pose an existential threat to America. That there is a nebulous, untrustworthy nature about them; that no matter what, Asian Americans will always be foreign.
Not American. Go back to where you came from. To survive and prosper, Asians in America kept quiet and tried not to stand out so they would be left alone. And they were, until they weren't.
In the 1960's, a tinderbox of rage and oppression towards African Americans finally reached a tipping point and the Civil Rights Movement exploded.
Faced with accusations of institutional racism, white, mainstream America, with the government offering unofficial support, scrambled and pointed to the Asians: "See? Look at this minority group doing just fine in American society! They're successful, but more importantly, quiet and compliant. Can't you be like them?
Asian Americans, especially East Asians, were branded the “Model Minority”. They were deceptively held up as the example for other races being discriminated against. They were the American excuse that racism did not exist- that other minorities just had to work harder.
This seeming compliment was actually a divisive weapon that fueled, rather than tempered racism and discrimination, and pitted other minorities against Asian Americans.
The term failed and continues to fail to account for the ever-changing demographics and needs within the diverse Asian community. It has tried to erase the needs of other communities and has created and perpetuated false stereotypes. The labels stuck and anti-asian racism was simmering.
Today, with China becoming an economic and political power the U.S. government's answer has been to play the same card. The U.S. government is profiling Chinese Americans as spies and is demonizing China as a "whole-of-society threat" to mainstream America.
It has purposefully racialized Covid-19 for political purposes resulting in scapegoating and discrimination against Asian Americans.
Yellow Peril never went away. It just laid dormant and now has reemerged due to the current ills in our country and we are witnessing its disturbing and deadly effects.
Fact is, in 2020, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security stated that the biggest internal threat, over any other threats to America, were white supremacy groups!
This toxic stew of hate and racism is now boiling. Asian Americans are being viewed as a proxy for China and easy targets to take out one's fear, anger and frustrations.
Hate and racism has shaped America's past and we must not let it shape our future. Because America is a nation made up of immigrants and their sons and daughters. Hard work and innovation made this country great. Because America stands for a land of opportunity and hope, not of xenophobia and racism.
Where all men and women are created equal, "One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
Today the foundations of American democracy are being shaken due to racism. For the good of the country, we must stand together against hate and racism. For the good of the country, we must rediscover our moral compass. Asian Americans - a term that encompasses more than 20 distinct ethnic groups, each with its own rich history and culture - have the right to participate equitably in our society. Asian Americans - just like every other minority group - are loyal Americans and not foreigners. They make up part of the unique mosaic and strength of the American landscape. Asian Americans have the same rights as all other Americans. This is the foundation of America, the American dream, America's strength. Here's how you can make America stronger:
One: At the most fundamental level, each of us must recognize and examine our own biases, find out where they came from, and whether they need to change. Two: we must all step out of our comfort zones to learn about different cultures, have conversations with different people - in your neighborhood, at work, at play; because familiarity dispels fear and builds friendships. Three: We must no longer be innocent bystanders but get involved in building a stronger community. And four: We must participate in our cherished democratic process of voting for people who will fight for social justice and against systemic racism.
There's plenty of work to be done. Plenty of hate to wash away. So let's step up our efforts because together we have the power to right our own ship. Let's create impact together.