On Tuesday, March 16, a series of shootings occurred at a massage parlour and two spas in Cherokee County, approximately a 40-mile drive from Atlanta, Georgia. A 21-year-old man, Robert Aaron Long, was later arrested and now behind bars. During investigations, police officers realized that six of the eight total victims from the shooting were Asian women.
This led other members in authority positions to try to identify the man’s motive, but many people on social media realized what it was:
Anti-Asian Racism.
Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic began, attacks against Asians have been occurring around the world. Some world leaders, including former US President Donald Trump, have labelled the virus as the “China Virus,” which not only feeds off false information, but targets the Chinese and the Asian community as a whole.
As an Asian Canadian, I’ve personally witnessed micro-aggressions as soon as the pandemic started. I remember the day when my school closed down and I was making a trip to a local Walmart store. As soon as I entered, I was greeted by employees with the sentence: “Hey, Coronavirus, Hey.” I not only feel offended, but shocked that I was the target of an overarching problem existing around the world.
As I open the news today, it is heartbreaking for me to see how other people, with whom I share my culture and beliefs with, have faced physical violence as they were unjustly targeted. Unfortunately, many racist events have preceded the shooting.
Across the United States and Canada, plenty of videos have surfaced showing members of the Asian diaspora, especially those who are elderly, who were attacked, shoved, or pushed to the ground by others. Before the shooting in Georgia occurred, an 84-year-old Thai man was knocked to the ground while walking in his neighbourhood in California. And throughout the past month to now, there have been more than 20 attacks in Oakland’s Chinatown which primarily targeted the Asian-American populations.
To respond to these attacks, members who are part or not part of the Asian community are starting to react and speak up about the attack. The hashtag #stopasianhate and #AsianLivesMatter is going viral. Moreover, people are sharing their thoughts and prayers with the Asian community.
However, sharing thoughts on solidarity and unity with Asian-Americans and the Asian diaspora around the world is only one part of solving the problem. In the past, racism against Asians have continuously been brushed off, as Asians were viewed as the “model minority.” This not only created a disparity between Asians and other marginalized or POC communities, but neglected the microaggressions that Asian-Americans face on a daily basis.
Sure, we have seen some changes being made on the political level, such as U.S President Joe Biden signing a memorandum to denounce Trump and his administration’s negative statements towards the Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community. But on a community level, there are plenty of ways to approach this through community-led programs, education, and other non-profit projects.
Moreover, when a member of the Asian community is speaking to you about the racism they faced, please listen carefully and attentively about their experience. Do not pass the information along to anyone and keep it confidential. At the same time, educate yourself on the situation and spend time learning about the biases and stereotypes which the Asian Diaspora has witnessed and is still facing.
After all, as members in a culturally-diverse generation, we should never neglect our peers and try to understand them as much as possible. Never target someone based on the race, as we can together, work towards a more-inclusive world. We can support #BlackLivesMatter while being allies to the Asian community throughout the other pandemic, and other POCs as well.
Here are some resources linked below:
Websites:
Podcasts:
Documentaries/YouTube Videos:
- Asian American Documentary Network
- America’s Anti-Asian Pandemic
- Anti-Asian Racism Increases in America Amid COVID-19
Organizations:
- Oakland Chinatown Coalition
- Asian Americans Advancing Justice
- Stop AAPI Hate
- Send Chinatown Love
- Asian Mental Health Collective
Photo by Ehimetalor Akhere Unuabona on Unsplash
