Anti-Asian racism must stop
There is a long history of Anti-Chinese racism in the U.S. and recent violent events against Asian Americans urge us to consider policy interventions to address discrimination and inequality.
This briefing is by Chunhong Chen (CC), a graduate student at the Max Bell School of Public Policy. Chunhong is from China and aims to address inequality. Write us at newsletterthebell@gmail.com
ON TUESDAY, A WHITE SUPREMACIST KILLED 8 PEOPLE IN A MASS SHOOTING in Atlanta, and six of them were Asian American women. They were daughters, sisters and mothers of people who look like us. With at least 20 violent attacks on elderly Asian Americans in the San Francisco Bay Area in recent weeks, the community is on high alert.
Because of the rise of confirmed cases and death toll of COVID-19 in the U.S., the dramatic increase in attacks against Asian Americans continues and brings with it a long history of discrimination and racism against Chinese Americans. Although commonly viewed as a “model minority,” immigration laws have historically scapegoated anti-Chinese sentiment, and now socioeconomic implications and the COVID-19 pandemic have exacerbated the discrimination.
Since the economic depression in the last decades of the nineteenth century, prejudice against Chinese immigrants from American society subjected them and their businesses to violent physical attacks and abuse. The anti-Chinese movement came to its peak when the Chinese Exclusion Act was signed by President Chester Arthur in 1882.
Anti-Chinese sentiment abated during World War II, when over 13,000 Chinese Americans served in all branches of the Army Ground Forces and Army Air Forces, raised $18,000 for the Red Cross, and bought $30,000 in war bonds in 1942. In 1943, President Roosevelt backed the compromise and signed the Immigration Act of 1943, which repealed all Chinese exclusion laws that had been passed since 1882. However, the Chinese immigrant quota designated by the American government was still quite low, which was only 0.167% of the number of the Chinese in the United States in 1920 as determined by the census of that year.
The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 signed by President Johnson and the resumption of China-U.S. diplomatic relations in 1979 established by Nixon lifted the quota restrictions and began the second wave of Chinese migration to the United States. The population of Chinese immigrants in the United States has now reached nearly 2.5 million (and has likely increased since the 2018 figure), and China is now considered the top source of immigrants.
U.S. President Nixon shakes hands with Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai.
Thirty-seven percent of Asians in the United States still experience discrimination interpersonally and institutionally in many domains. Over one quarter of Asian adults reported personally experiencing discrimination in employment, where 27 percent when applying to jobs and 25 percent in obtaining equal pay or promotions. In addition, about one in six Asian adults have reported experiencing discrimination when applying to or while attending college.
Moreover, Chinese stereotypes have been largely and collectively internalized by American society and are often portrayed in the mainstream media, literature and other forms of creative expression in American culture and society. For example, Fu Manchu, created by Sax Rohmer and Earl Biggers, is a significant and well-known fictional East Asian character in America's cultural history. According to Rohmer, Fu Manchu is a sardonic, intelligent, yet evil Chinese murderer with plots of world domination. Soon, the evil of Fu Manchu was reinforced as representative of all East Asian people.
COVID has only lifted the veil on a deep undercurrent of anti-Asian racism that had existed for centuries in the U.S., spanning from legislated racism against Chinese to discrimination in the workplace to popularized racism in mainstream media.
Given that the initial outbreak of the novel virus started in China, incidents of racial discrimination against Chinese people, and other Asian minorities, spiked almost immediately. Over 2,120 hate incidents or crimes were reported by Asian Americans between March and June 2020 in the U.S., which is a nearly 845% increase compared to all the reported cases in 2017, 2018 and 2019 combined.
The tone in the country was exacerbated by former President Trump, who referred to the virus as "Kung Flu" or the "Chinese virus". Trump used this gambit to distract the public from his catastrophic mishandling of the pandemic. It was unethical and even dangerous once elected officials associated the coronavirus pandemic with China and Chinese people, since it led to widespread discriminatory and racist acts against Asian Americans in the United States.
The discrimination against Chinese Americans began with the Chinese Exclusion Act and stereotypes created in literature and perpetuated by the media. The United States prides itself on being a nation of immigrants and it has gradually eliminated formal discrimination by repealing discriminatory laws. However, some government leaders and senior officials, such as President Trump, have directly or indirectly encouraged hate crimes and racism. This is dangerous and the extent of discrimination currently experienced by Asian Americans across a variety of domains and interpersonal interactions carry severe economic, social, and health consequences.
Fortunately, President Biden is embracing racial diversity and on January 26, signed an executive order in an effort to more accurately track hate crimes and harassment of Asian Americans. Moreover, President Biden has tasked federal agencies to examine whether there were racist references in policies and public guidelines from the Trump administration, and to eliminate them if found.
Though task forces and memos are good first steps, it is not enough to eliminate structural, systematic, and historical racism in the U.S., and politicians and officials should take more explicit and concrete action to address anti-Asian hate. Real change can only be made and facilitated by education. Schools should teach racism as an idea rather than as a trait or personality attitude, thus influencing people’s perspectives on racism.
Indeed, ethnic studies classes that have recognized racial injustices and have been slowly gaining traction in K-12 education.In 2016, California legislators passed a bill that encouraged all high schools to offer ethnic studies, highlighting the contributions of minorities in the development of California and the United States. Most recently, State Senator Lewis for Massachusetts, together with Senator Eldridge, filed a bill to address anti-racism, equity, and justice in education. These are great steps to develop the value of equity and inclusiveness, and eliminate unconscious bias.
U.S. society does not always treat Asian-Americans as people of colour who experience racist violence and discrimination.While anti-Asian discrimination continues to surge amid the COVID-19 pandemic, it harkens back to decades of systematic and structural discrimination. It continues to be a challenge for Asian Americans to be recognized as an indispensable part of the U.S. community. Elected officials should condemn anti-Asian racism publicly and reform the hate crime law. Most importantly, investing in educational programs focused on anti-Asian racism can be a lasting effort to develop a sense of equity and inclusiveness. (CC)
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The Bell is edited by Emily Nickerson, Mariel Aramburu, and Andrew Potter of the Max Bell School of Public Policy at McGill University. If you have any feedback or would like to contribute to this newsletter, please send an email to the editors at newsletterthebell@gmail.com