Since the pandemic, many Asian-Americans were targeted with hate and blame for the COVID-19 outbreak. These spikes in violence seem to be instigated by former President Donald Trump’s insensitive and hate comments referring to COVID-19.
Nicholas Wu from USA Today noted that at a virtual press conference, lawmakers put blame on Trump for normalizing the term ‘China Virus’, which led from hate speech to hate crimes.
Democratic representative of California Judy Chu was quoted in Wu’s article, “What started as dirty looks and verbal assaults” at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic had “escalated to physical attacks and violence against innocent Asian Americans,” Chu said. “Just as many Asian Americans were preparing for the Lunar New Year over the past few weeks, we saw a surge in anti-Asian violence.”
Around Lunar New Year, there was another spike in violence against Asian-Americans. The usual Lunar New Year consists of cash, a common gift given to their people while this celebration goes underway. One of the crime spikes around the recent event happened to be cash robberies.
“And in Oakland, Calif., a 91-year-old man was shoved to the ground in a string of more than 20 robberies and assaults reported to the city’s Chinatown community leaders ahead of the Lunar New Year.” Jennifer Liu wrote on CNBC.
Social Media has become resourceful, bringing attention to the crimes that they have not received justice for in the past. Posts such as this Infographic on Instagram summarize the issue and explain how non-Asian friends can help.
Amanda Nguyen (CEO and founder of Rise, civil rights activist, and more) expressed praise on Instagram to everyone who watched her video, which gained 3 million views in over 24 hours. Everyone who tagged news outlets managed to get the video, the attention of a non-Asian news outlet two weeks ago.
“When I made that video I was tired of living in fear and I wanted to scream,” she told USA TODAY. “It’s so absurd that I have to say ‘Stop killing us.’ … We are literally fearing for our lives as we walk out of our door, and your silence, your silence rings through our heads.” N’dea Yancey-Bragg quoted Nguyen’s response on USA Today.
Word is finally getting out, and people are starting to listen and join on helping one another.
From an email interview with Brad Jenkins (someone who plans to pursue and help out the Asian community), NBC News’ Deepa Shivaram reported his view on today’s increased violence.
“White supremacy has always pitted racial groups against one another,” Jenkins said in an email, “These communities have long fought against violence and hatred while many in the Asian American community have stayed silent in the past. So yes, Asian American leaders do realize that we must find strength in combating this violence — but, we also recognize that our African American brothers and sisters deal with this hatred and violence every single day of our lives.”
In recognition of communities united, the Asian-American and African-American communities are helping one another as racial violence continues to attempt to divide them against each other
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