Origins
Ever since the pandemic started, hate crimes and violence towards Asians in America rose at an alarming rate. Newly recorded data by the FBI found that anti-Asian hate crimes went up by more than 73% in 2020. There were 161 reported anti-Asian hate crimes in 2019. In 2020 there were almost double, there were 279 reported anti-Asian hate crimes.
As we all probably know, the coronavirus started in a city in China and it then spread throughout China and now all around the world. Thus making it a pandemic. It has made life hard for many people. So many people lost their jobs, family, way of life and many other things that can be very personal to some people. But the Asian community has had it so bad ever since this pandemic started. Elderly Asian people were getting harassed and even murdered just in the streets. It got so bad that Asian people would start disguising themselves in anything to hide their identity.
There were many cases that anyone can look into from last year but one in particular spiked my interest, it was about a Filipino American man, Noel, whose face got slashed on his way to work. Noel was standing, waiting for his train and another man came up to him and started kicking his bag. Noel thought the other man was going to punch him until he saw the box cutter. He cuts Noel across the face. Noel said to reporters, “I shouted for help, but nobody helped me.” which shows just how normal it is to see harassment or assault and people are afraid to speak out or do anything about it. Noel then goes on to say that if it was just him that experienced this, it would be OK, but since there are Asian Americans that haven’t survived attacks like this, it is not okay. An 84-year-old Thai man was murdered just 2 days after he was shoved to the ground while on his morning walk. An old married couple, Mr. and Mrs.Lee, said they only go out once a month because they are scared of potentially losing their lives or getting hurt out in public. There are tons of other examples and it’s so heartbreaking.
#StopAsianHate
In the summer, the hashtag BlackLivesMatter was trending. It is still a very big and growing movement. But it was a little unsettling that no one was talking about the movement “StopAsianHate” Not many people know about it because it isn’t being talked about.
I have only seen very few media influencers speak about it. The only ones that I have seen speak out about it are the ones that keep up with k-pop or watch anime or Asian’s themselves. It wasn’t until the k-drama “Squid Game” came out that people started treating Asians a bit too well. The Asian community is now getting fetishized because of their almond-shaped eyes and their clear skin. The character Kang Sae-Byeok, from ‘Squid Game” has been “analyzed” because she’s so hot and no one knows why. But it’s really because people can’t accept the fact that someone who isn’t white, can be hot just for the sake of being hot. The actress, HoYeon Jung, is a South Korean model and actress who started her career in 2010. Since she was exposed to the western audience with her starring in Squid Game, people have been analyzing her face to find out why she’s so pretty. But it’s just a cover for Americans’ internalized xenophobia and racism. People just don’t know how to accept that Asians and people of color can be pretty, if not prettier, than white people.
Speaking Out
Even fans of anime, K-pop, and K-dramas wouldn’t speak out about it or even know about all the Asian hate going around. True fans would speak out about it and hold people accountable but a lot of other fans would brush it off to the side as nothing happened. Even the fans that do talk about it, will make things more secret. There is this podcast called, “Daebak show w/ Eric Nam” if you don’t know, Eric Nam is an American K-pop idol, singer-songwriter, and he has a podcast where he will talk about K-pop, and a lot of the time he invites other idols on the show to talk about their new songs or a recent comeback. Eric Nam did an episode where he spoke about #StopAsianHate. In the K-pop community, everyone keeps up with certain groups and shows and that will become a trend. When Eric Nam posted this episode, no one was talking about it. The only thing I saw about Eric Nam was his memes. It was almost like no one cared about this huge event that is going down.
Throughout 2020, Asian people were getting harassed way more than usual because they were getting blamed for bringing over the Coronavirus. In 2021, the Korean drama Squid Game dropped on Netflix and now Asians are getting fetishized. In the past year, the Asian community has been under attack and enough is enough. What’s going on isn’t right, Asians should not have to endure this because they are Asian.
