Introduction
Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, hate crimes against Asians in the United States have increased by more than 150%. Despite the many instances of Asian hate crimes in the past, the salon shootings in Atlanta in March 2021 were the major events that triggered the response of thousands of protesters all over America to fight for Asian lives. Eight people were killed in the shooting spree in Atlanta, Georgia on March 16, 2021. Of the eight dead, six were of Asian descent. The perpetrator was Robert Aaron Long, a 21 year old white man. He was charged with eight counts of murder, but the fact that the majority of the victims were of same ethnicity was not reflected in the charges. This incident sparked massive protest in support of the women killed in shootings. Most of all, it is a call to action for officials and the media to address this incident as what it is: a hate crime against Asian Americans. Why is it considered a hate crime? When understanding hate crimes, it is important to know the distinction between a hate crime and a typical offense by taking into account the motivations and bias of the offender. According to reports, Longs’s motivation was driven by a self proclaimed sex addiction, specifically with regards to his fetish of Asian women, as the majority of his victims were Asian-American women. This indicates a blatant targeting based on their identities as minorities. The local police officials have insisted that these murders were the result of the victims being women, not them specifically being Asian women. As more and more people are starting to see this fight for acknowledgement, the rising concerns about the erasure of racism against the Asian American community are brought to light. Did this come out of nowhere, or does it have origins deeply rooted in America’s history? And how has this problem manifested into more recent examples? The struggles that Asian-Americans have experienced have been downplayed throughout American history. As a result, the fear of being labelled as “other” if they were to speak up has persisted through generations. Although World War II has taken up a large portion of today’s history textbooks, in this author's experience, the treatment of Japanese Americans has been seldom mentioned. When looking back on their experience learning the history of the U.S, I have only heard of the Japanese internment camps once, and it was explained in childish terms through a picture book, barely skimming the surface of the actual horrific treatment of Japanese Americans. And even then, the moral of the story was to search for hope in grim times. It failed to condemn the imprisonment of America’s own citizens. Asian Americans have remained an oppressed minority since their arrival around the time of the Gold Rush, but their struggles are hardly mentioned today, and neither are their achievements. This history of racism has especially led to the rise in the amount and degree of hate crimes happening today that target Asian-Americans. For example, on Wednesday, March 17, an Asian elderly woman was attacked on a busy street in the middle of the day by a white middle-aged man. The woman claims that she was just waiting for the traffic light when the white man came up to her and punched her in the right eye causing her to bleed and swell. However, the attacker did not get away unscathed as the woman fought back in self-defense. As the ambulance arrived, the perpetrator was put on a stretcher and not the victim, who was crying in distress, as she was trying to tell the police officers that, unprovoked, she had been assaulted. Situations like this are not singular events, but instead one of many that encouraged the antagonization of Asian Americans. Former President Donald Trump further fueled recent unrest by calling the Corona virus the “Chinese Virus” or “Kung-Flu”. Our message to you is to recognize that the voices of Asian Americans are being ignored. We ask that you acknowledge the hate and struggles they face, instead of comparing them to the struggles of other minorities. This uptick in violence should not be a surprise, especially not to those who chose to stop and listen to the people who’ve spoken out about their experiences living as a person being alienated in their own country. Being of Asian descent does not make them any less American. We must recognize the importance of what Asian Americans have contributed to the making of what the U.S. is today. Educating ourselves and advocating for the experiences of all citizens of America is a necessity, not just for the ones we pick and choose to recognize or validate. |
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