Protestors hold signs that read “hate is a virus” and “stop Asian hate” at the End The Violence Towards Asians rally in Washington Square Park on February 20, 2021 in New York City. (Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)
On the evening of March 16th, eight people were killed in three massage parlours in Atlanta; most of them were Asian American women. The killer, a 21-year-old white male from Georgia with the name of Robert Aaron Long, was arrested on Wednesday morning. Authorities didn’t immediately know the reasons behind the murders; but, suspect that these were no other than hate crimes against Asian Americans. Long claims that the reasoning behind his actions is due to his alleged “sexual addiction” and that the shooting was to eliminate the “temptation”. But, police officers have found no evidence to support these affirmations. This could be yet another example of the several crimes against the Asian American community, which have increased in number since the beginning of the global pandemic.
In the past year, there have been more than 3,800 hateful, disrespectful, and sometimes even violent acts committed against the Asian American community in the United States. According to the "Stop AAPI Hate" organization, from March to December of last year, 2,808 complaints of racist acts against Asian Americans were reported, from which 71% involved verbal aggression and 8.7% involved physical violence. These cases of harassment against Asian Americans frequently targeted older citizens and most of them were women.
Many believe that the cause of these racist acts, that have increased since the beginning of the pandemic, is ex-president of the United States Donald Trump and his anti-immigrant demagogy as well as him referring to Covid 19 as “The Chinese Virus” and several other names such as “Wuhan Virus” “China plague” “kung flu” etc. According to Asian American studies professor Russell Jeung, Trump’s language “racialised the virus...with deadly consequences”. This wave of racist crimes have raised a great fear in the Asian American community since they are an attacked minority in the country and it makes them “afraid” to be who they are. But at the same time, an angry response , has led thousands of activists speaking out against these racist actions.
This whole situation has made many people from all over the world wonder: Who’s the real threat here? Coronavirus itself? Or all the hate and violence it has provoked? Shaming Asians and making them feel responsible for the pandemic is only generating more conflict. Instead of blaming others and rather than spreading more and more hate, we should focus on ending this issue. Getting as many people as possible vaccinated, continue taking safety measurements, working together as a big community to keep moving forward and once and for all end this issue.
Martina
Bibliography
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