Project Community: Asian Americans say COVID-19, political rhetoric added fuel to racist fire
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Updated: 7:55 PM EDT Apr 27, 2021
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Updated: 7:55 PM EDT Apr 27, 2021
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MORE THAN A YEAR AGO, ON MARCH 12, 2020, ASIAN AMERICAN LEADERS STOOD ON THE STEPS OF THE MASSACHUSETTS STATE HOUSE TO SOUND AN ALARM. >> WE DON’T TOLERATE ANY KIND OF BIGOTRY, TARGETED AT ANYONE BECAUSE OF THIS INFECTION. ANTOINETTE: THEY WARNED OF WHAT COULD COME, OF THE USE OF RACIALLY CHARGED TERMS FOR COVID-19. BUT NO ONE KNEW HOW BAD IT WOULD GET. ASIAN AMERICANS ARE UNDER ATTACK ACROSS THE COUNTRY RIGHT NOW. BUT MANY WILL TELL YOU THIS RACISM IS NOTHING NEW. >> I THINK IT IS JUST THE REST OF AMERICA WAKING UP TO THE REALITY OF IT AND HEARING OUR CRIES. ANTOINETTE: SAM HUMAN IS THE CHAIRPERSON OF MASSACHUSETTS ASIAN AMERICAN COMMISSION. >> WE TOLD EVERYBODY WHO WOULD LISTEN THAT THIS WAS GOING TO LEAD TO A DISASTER AND IT DID. ANTOINETTE: FROM MICRO AGGRESSIONS TO VERBAL HARASSMENT, SOME CASES TURNING VIOLENT, ASIANS HAVE BEEN BEATEN, KNOCKED TO THE GROUND, EVEN KILLED. >>>> HE NEVER WOKE UP AGAIN. I NEVER SEE HIM AGAIN. ANTOINETTE: THE SPA SHOOTINGS IN ATLANTA THAT LEFT EIGHT PEOPLE DEAD, INCLUDING SIX ASIAN WOMEN, A BOILING POINT FOR ASIAN AMERICANS. >> I DO BELIEVE THAT SOCIETY HAS FAILED ASIAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY. ANTOINETTE: MANY ASKING HOW DID WE GET HERE AND HOW DO WE STOP ASIAN HATE? >> STOP ASIAN HATE! ANTOINETTE: FIRST, WE HAVE TO RECOGNIZE THAT IT IS HAPPENING. 14-YEAR-OLD DENNY SAYS SHE WAS TARGETED WHILE WALKING DOWN THE STREET AND HER NEIGHBORHOOD OUTSIDE BOSTON. >> A CAR PULLED UP NEXT TO ME AND THE PASSENGER WINDOW OPENED, AND THE PERSON, THEY SPIT ON ME AND THEY DROVE AWAY. ANTOINETTE: THAT SHOCKING ATTACK HAS FORCED THE EIGHTH-GRADER TO CHANGE THE WAY SHE LIVES HER LIFE, TO TRY AND PROTECT HERSELF. >> NOW I HAVE TO BE VERY CAUTIOUS ABOUT MY SURROUNDINGS WITH THE PEOPLE WHO I TALK TO. IF I’M BY MYSELF, I USUALLY AM ON THE PHONE WITH SOMEONE, OR I’M HOLDING MY KEYS REALLY TIGHTLY IN MY HANDS. IN CHINESE, WE CALL AMERICA MAE GUA. WE ALWAYS THOUGHT AMERICA IS A BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY. AS I HAVE GROWN, I THINK -- I HAD SEEN MORE OF THE UGLY SIDE OF AMERICA, WITH RACISM. >> SOMEONE ROUNDED THE CORNER, ACCIDENTALLY MADE EYE CONTACT WITH MY DAUGHTER AND SAID, WHAT ARE YOU -- LOOKING AT? HE IS TELLING ME, GO BACK TO CHINA. I WAS BORN HERE. WHAT DO YOU MEAN GO BACK TO CHINA? HE GRABBED A CHAIR AND PICKED IT UP TO SWING AT ME. ANTOINETTE: SHARON MANN SAYS SHE WAS THE TARGET OF TWO RACES INCIDENTS DAYS APART, ONE IN FEBRUARY IN NEW YORK CITY, THE OTHERIN BOSTON’S CHINATOWN. >> DOES EXIST HERE IN MASSACHUSETTS. I’M IN LINE GETTING CHINESE FOOD, HE IS IN LINE GETTING CHINESE FOOD. . BUT THEN HE WENT ON WITH, I HATE CHINESE PEOPLE. ANTOINETTE: MANN AND OTHERS BILLY FORMER PRESIDENT TRUMP’S RHETORIC ADDED FUEL TO AN ALREADY BLAZING FIRE OF RACISM. PRESIDENT TRUMP: CHINESE VIRUS. ANTOINETTE: THE FIRST YEAR OF THE PANDEMIC, 3800 HATE INCIDENTS TARGETING ASIAN AMERICANS WERE REPORTED ACROSS THE COUNTRY. ACCORDING TO THE DATA FROM STOP AAPI HATE, 96 CASES WERE IN MASSACHUSETTS. WHEN YOU SPEAK TO OTHER PEOPLE IN THE COMMUNITY, ARE THERE PEOPLE THAT ARE LIVING IN FEAR RIGHT NOW? >> YEAH. THERE ARE. I THINK THERE IS LOTS OF FEAR. LOTS OF UNCERTAINTIES. WHAT HAPPENED WAS NOT JUST HAPPENING IN THE LAST FEW WEEKS, WE KNEW THAT. WE KNEW IT HAD BEEN HAPPENING FOR A LONG, LONG TIME. ANTOINETTE: AT THE DATA DOES NOT HELP DEPICT THAT PAINFUL HISTORY. TAX ARE GROSSLY UNDERREPORTED FOR A NUMBER OF REASONS. LANGUAGE BARRIERS, GOVERNMENT MISTRUST, AND CULTURAL REASONS. >> WE GREW UP LEARNING TO BE INVISIBLE. PARENTS AND FAMILY TAUGHT SILENCE IS GOLDEN. JUST SWALLOW THE PRIDE. DON’T VOICE YOUR OPINION. ANTOINETTE: PHILIP CHON IS THE PRESIDENT AND CEO OF QUINCY ASIAN RESOURCES, A NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION THAT PROVIDES SOCIAL SERVICES TO IMMIGRANTS, LOCATED IN THE CITY WITH THE LARGEST POPULATION OF ASIAN AMERICANS PER CAPITA IN MASSACHUSETTS. AS AN ASIAN, I NEVER THOUGHT ABOUT BEING A MAJORITY. -- MINORITY. THAT INSPIRED ME IN TERMS OF WHAT I CAN DO. REPORTER: HEAD OF A RECENT PUBLIC FORM ON ANTI-ASIAN VIOLENCE, HE RECEIVED ABOUT 100 REPORTS OF RACIST ACTS IN THE QUINCY COMMUNITY ALONE. WHAT DID THE EMAIL SITE? >> ASIAN INVASION. YOU ARE BAD. YOU STOLE OUR JOB. YOU RUINED OUR COMMUNITY. YOU JACK UP THE HOUSE PRICING. ANTOINETTE: BEING ASIAN AMERICAN IN THIS COUNTRY IS A UNIQUE AND COMPLEX EXPERIENCE. MANY, MYSELF INCLUDED, WILL TELL YOU THAT AT TIMES, WE FEEL LIKE A FOREIGNER RIGHT HERE IN OUR OWN COUNTRY. FORGOTTEN, THE INVISIBLE MINORITY. AND THOSE FEELINGS HAVE NOW TURNED INTO FEAR OVER THIS PAST YEAR WITH THE RISE IN ANTI-ASIAN SENTIMENT. ONE OF ASIAN AMERICANS WILL TELL YOU NOW IS THE TIME TO FIGHT BACK AND THAT FIGHT INCLUDES SPEAKING UP, AND MAKING SURE OTHERS DO THE SAME. >> WHEN YOU SEE SOMETHING, YOU SHOULD SAY SOMETHING. . A GUY CAME IN AT THE EXIT OF THE PLACE WE WERE BUYING FOOD FROM AND HE SAID, I HAD YOUR BACK THE WHOLE TIME. IT WAS SO NICE BECAUSE I DIDN’T FEEL ALONE. >> DEFINITELY SPEAK UP. THAT IS A REALLY IMPORTANT THING. BECAUSE BY SPEAKING UP, YOU ARE RAISING AWARENESS OF THIS ISSUE. >> I WOULD SAY FOR OTHER COMMUNITIES THAT ARE NOT PART OF THE ASIAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY, TO LISTEN TO US. HERE ARE STORIES. TO NOT BUY INTO THE STEREOTYPES THAT YOU HAVE BEEN FED BY THE MODEL MINORITY MYTH. NOT JUST GO EAT OUR FOOD. NOT EMBRACE OUR CULTURE. NOT JUST LISTEN TO OUR MUSIC. BUT ACTUALLY HAVE THAT CONVERSATION WITH US. >> IT IS A LONG JOURNEY. IF WE DON’T DO IT RIGHT NOW, IT IS GOING TO HAPPEN AGAIN. I’VE SEEN THE MARK WE HAVE MOVED SO FAR, COMPARED TO 20 YEARS AGO, 30 YEARS AGO, OR THE LONG HISTORY. WE NEED TO KEEP GOING. ED: THAT IS VERY POWERFUL, ANTOINETTE. THIS HATE WAS ESSENTIALLY HIDDEN ACROSS HISTORY. SO, WHAT’S CHANGED NOW TO FINALLY BRING THE ATTENTION THIS DESERVES? ANTOINETTE: THAT IS A REALLY GOOD QUESTION. THERE’S REALLY NO SIMPLE ANSWER TO THAT QUESTION. A LOT OF PEOPLE BELEIVE THE ANTI-ASIAN RHETORIC SOME POLITICAL LEADERS HAVE USED TO DESCRIBE COVID HAS TAPPED INTO THIS COUNTRY’S HISTORY OF RACISM, EXCLUSION AND OTHERING OF ASIAN AMERICANS BUT AS YOU JUST HEARD A LOT OF US HAVE BEEN EXPERIENCING THIS SINCE BEFORE COVID. I THINK WE ARE HEARING ABOUT THE HARRASSMENT AND VIOLENCE BECAUSE OF A MOVEMENT HAPPENING RIGHT NOW, LARGELY ON SOCIAL MEDIA. I FOLLOW SEVERAL ACCOUNTS DEDICATED TO ASIAN AMERICAN NEWS AND I SEE THE VIOLENCE HAPPENING ALMOST EVERY DAY ACROSS THIS COUNTRY. WHICH MEANS MORE PEOPLE ARE STANDING UP AND SPEAKING OUT, AND THE MORE PEOPLE WHO SPEAK OUT, THE MORE PEOPLE WHETHER IT BE TO JOURNALISTS OR TO POLICE.