Written By Mariza Liaw 

ASIAN HATE MUST BE STOPPED! The conspiracy of COVID-19 being originated from Asians eating bats has been the catalyst for the uprising of Asian hate in North America. The only illnesses bats can give off are Rabies, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), Ebola, Histoplasmosis, Nipah, and Hendra disease, which isn’t related to the pandemic at all.  This rumour has caused life-long damage and violence towards Asian people. 

Asian hate has been adapted into history, from the years when the Asians built the railroad to now. During the railroad days, people would treat Asians like complete animals, but today, discrimination is based on stereotypes, myths, and assumptions that take hits on many Asian communities. Poking fun of the size of their eyes, the assumption of Asians consume dogs as their diet, believing the model minority myth, and using “Ching Chong” as a way to mimic Asians speaking their native languages shows the normaliztion of casual asian discrimination and stereotyping. 

More recently, these cases of prejudice have taken a dark and violent turn amidst the pandemic. These are only a portion of these disgusting, ignorant, and hate-fueled instances. 

  • On March 16, 2021, in Atlanta, Georgia, a 21-year-old white American man, Robert Aaron Long, murdered 8 people and injured one person from firing firearms at three massage parlours. When he was arrested he told police that he did this due to his sexual addiction, but police believed it all happened due to the act of hate of Asians. The reason investigators believed it was over the act of hate was because most of the people who were murdered on that day were innocent, Asian women. The police arrested him before he was able to commit a similar crime. 
  • Back on March 17, 2021, an old woman was casually leaning against a pole in San Francisco. A 39-year-old man physically assaulted and punched this woman directly in the face, for no apparent reason. It is believed that he committed such actions for racist and discriminating reasons. Thankfully, when this situation was going on, she stepped up for herself and fought back and injured the man severely with a wooden stick. She wanted so much more of him, to the point the police had to hold her back. She wasn’t the only victim of this man, but a couple hours before her assault, an 83-year-old man was hurt by him the same way he punched this old woman in the face. 
  • On Apr 28, 2021, a 57-year-old Asian man was left with nine stitches on his forehead after being assaulted by a 58-year-old man named Saul Babilonia. He allegedly punched him in the face after the Asian man denied giving him any money. This led to him getting arrested for felony assault, and aggraviated harrassment, as his actions were found as a hate crime, after he called the innocent man a “Stupid Chino”. 

A lot of Americans have had enough with all the racial slurs and physical pain, given by Anti-Asian Attackers. A lot of protests have been going on throughout the US, to signify that Asians are not the reason for the virus, and to stop the racist hate crimes that have been occurring for the past few months and years. We can also make a change, while learning about the current Asian hate by a couple of strategies such as: 

  • Reporting cyber hate crimes of Asian descent or situations victimized outside.
  • Try learning strategies on what you should do to help Asians of descent from being assaulted.
  • Donate to families who were affected by Atlanta’s shooting.
  • Spreading awareness through social media to make a difference, and causing more equality than hate. 

Now that you understand what has been going on since COVID-19’s introduction to this world, and of how it has created a lot of traumatizing problems, I hope these strategies help, and allow you to open your eyes to see our new vision of change. I hope we can find a way to make a difference and stop this pain that’s been affecting a lot of people. 

Sources: 

Lai, Randy, et al. “Here Is What You Need to Know about Asian Hate – and How You Can Help.” Prestige Online – Hong Kong, 2 Apr. 2021, www.prestigeonline.com/hk/people-events/people/here-is-what-you-need-to-know-about-asian-hate/.  

Jewell, Tim. “Everything You Should Know About the 2019 Coronavirus and COVID-19.” Edited by Cameron White , Healthline, 2 Mar. 2021, www.healthline.com/health/coronavirus-covid-19#risk-factors.  

Mineo, Liz. “A Long History of Bigotry against Asian Americans.” Harvard Gazette, Harvard Gazette, 25 Mar. 2021,  https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2021/03/a-long-history-of-bigotry-against-asian-americans/ 

McLaughlin, Eliott C., et al. “What We Know about Robert Aaron Long, the Suspect in Atlanta Spa Shootings.” CNN, Cable News Network, 18 Mar. 2021, www.cnn.com/2021/03/17/us/robert-aaron-long-suspected-shooter/index.html.  

Moore, Tina, and Craig McCarthy. “Asian Man Left with Nine Stitches after Suspect Slugs Him in Hate Crime: Cops.” New York Post, New York Post, 28 Apr. 2021, https://nypost.com/2021/04/28/asian-man-left-with-nine-stitches-after-hate-crime-in-nyc-cops/ 

“2021 Atlanta Spa Shootings.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 23 May 2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Atlanta_spa_shootings 

“Witnesses: Elderly Asian Woman Assaulted; Fights Off Attacker In San Francisco.” CBS San Francisco, CBS San Francisco, 17 Mar. 2021, https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2021/03/17/elderly-asian-woman-beats-up-man-attacking-her-in-san-francisco/ 

“Elderly Asian Woman Attacked in San Francisco Fights Back, Sends Alleged Attacker to Hospital.” CBS News, CBS Interactive, 18 Mar. 2021, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/asian-woman-attacked-san-francisco-fights-back/  

Ramachandran, Vignesh. “What You Can Do to Fight Violence and Racism against Asian Americans.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, 18 Mar. 2021, www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/what-you-can-do-to-fight-violence-and-racism-against-asian-americans.  

“How to Stop Asian Hate? Outrage over Covid-Era Spike in Racist Incidents.” YouTube, 13 Apr. 2021, https://youtu.be/4HrIMicP98Q 

Photo by Jason Leung on Unsplash, by CC 2.0