Explainer
Anti-Asian violence is on the rise in the U.S. and Canada. Here’s what you need to know
The pandemic has been a dangerous time for people of East Asian descent in North America, and this week’s deadly shootings in Georgia has raised concerns even more
Published March 17, 2021
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Before Tuesday’s shootings in the Atlanta area that left eight people dead – six of them of East Asian descent – the past year had already been a dangerous one for Asian-Americans. Incidents of hate, from street harassment to vandalism, have measurably increased since the pandemic began. U.S. politicians, past and present, are coming under greater scrutiny for the way rhetoric about the “Wuhan virus” has made matters worse, and their Canadian counterparts are also facing public demands to do more. Here’s a primer on the situation so far.