EMBRACE
(Encourage and Mobilize as we Battle Racial Discrimination Amidst Covid-19 Existence)
Racial discrimination is one of the major issues around the world. This became worse amidst this
pandemic. In recent years, the United States has seen a much higher rate of hate crimes against Asian
Americans than in previous years. Between mid-March and early August of 2020, Asian Americans
endured 2600 hate crimes, according to data from Stop AAPI Hate, an organization dedicated to raising
awareness about violence against Asian American Pacific Islander communities. Anti-Asian American
sentiment has risen 1,900 percent in the last year, according to the NYPD. The facts of this article are not
surprising, given the harmful discourse surrounding the coronavirus in the United States. Because of
racial views regarding the origins of the coronavirus outbreak, Asian Americans have been particularly
exposed to persecution throughout the last year. Several people used blatantly anti-Asian language
when the coronavirus first began to spread globally, blaming Asian countries for the outbreak. Asian
Americans suffered as a result of boycotts and public attacks on their companies. The coronavirus has
also been dubbed the "China virus" and "Kung flu," descriptions popularized by politicians such as
Donald Trump and conservative media. Even well-known news organizations like The Washington Post
would routinely print editorial pieces outright blaming China for the coronavirus's spread. Media
publications incorrectly linked Asian Americans to the outbreak by blaming China.
While all of these articles were being published and racist statements went unchallenged, Asian
Americans were confronting historic levels of violence with little to no response, according to new
statistics. Following the release of these new figures, several activists have taken to raising awareness
about the concerns and urging people to see how dangerous this type of rhetoric can be. The latest
public outcry stems mostly from activist Amanda Nguyen's viral Instagram post, in which she urged
people to speak out against the violence. Though the majority of this advocacy has focused on ending
violence against Asian Americans, certain activists have drawn criticism for their approach to the
problem. Some of the anti-Asian racism activity, in particular, has been dangerously anti-Black. While
many activists aren't saying anything openly racist, many are contrasting Asian Americans' lack of
visibility to Black people's "hypervisibility" and movements like Black Lives Matter. People are
portraying the prominence of Black anti-racist groups, especially the spike in Black Lives Matter activism,
as a type of privilege that Asian Americans do not enjoy. For various reasons, this form of comparison
has been strongly critiqued as improper. This terminology not only appears to attack Black activists and
organizations, but it also obscures the efforts of grassroots organizers who helped build movements like
Black Lives Matter. For decades, Black civil rights leaders were the sole advocates for their cause. It also
ignores the fact that the work of Black activists has benefited virtually every disenfranchised population
in the United States.
It's critical to raise awareness about the growing persecution of Asian Americans, but such
campaigning must avoid anti-Black traps. This type of activism, rather than bringing about true change,
just puts minorities against one another. Importantly, anti-Black racism does not exist in Asian
communities in isolation. Asian Americans are typically presented as white-adjacent in the United
States, a repressive and monolithic stereotype promoted by myths like the model minority myth. As a
result, Asian American groups have long struggled with widespread anti-Black sentiments, which
frequently emerge as a colorist, capitalist ideologies. This kind of contentious activism serves only to
widen the divide between Asian and Black communities. Hate crimes against Asian Americans are on the
rise, and they are emblematic of the brazen, unapologetic xenophobia that has been cultivated in recent
years. Given that the pandemic is far from ended, these attacks are unlikely to abate anytime soon,
making it critical that we all use our voices to speak out against the violence. It's just as crucial, however,
that we have these necessary conversations without making parallels between Asian Americans' and
Black people's visibility. There is no reason for portraying Black activists as hurdles to Asian Americans'
social justice when they have historically been nothing but devoted partners. Anti-racism activities by
African-Americans and Asian-Americans are not separate movements. Rather, they are intertwined
initiatives aimed at dismantling our society's destructive ideals of white supremacy. In anti-racist
advocacy, solidarity, not division, will always be the key.