“Many Asian Americans feel exposed by a torrent of dangerous and racially motivated rhetoric by national figures on a cultural crusade. Most prominently that includes ex-President Donald Trump, who presided over four years of rising racial tensions and often used division as a tool of personal power.
“Campaigners talk of a perfect storm of prejudice targeting the Asian American and Pacific Islander community that stirred latent hatreds as Covid-19 first arrived in the US, and was exacerbated by Trump's relish in flinging around terms like 'China virus.'"
– Stephen Collinson, CNN White House reporter
Asian Americans are traumatized by a rising tide of hate, violence, and rhetoric in America. Anti-Asian hate crimes are up 150% during the pandemic, according to the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino.
Research released by reporting forum Stop AAPI Hate on February 28, 2021, revealed nearly 3,800 incidents were reported over the course of roughly a year during the pandemic. It’s a significantly higher number than last year's count of about 2,800 hate incidents nationwide over the span of five months. Women made up a far higher share of the reports, at 68 percent, compared to men, who made up 29 percent of respondents. The nonprofit does not report incidents to police.
(Russell Jeung Ph.D., Aggie Yellow Horse, Ph.D., Tara Popovic, and Richard Lim. Stop AAPI Hate Nation Report. 3/19/20 – 2/28/21)
In Georgia on March 16, the murders of eight people, including six Asian women, among them four South Koreans, further disoriented and horrified a community already unfairly stigmatized by racial association during a pandemic that originated in China. And they laid bare for the rest of the country the agony of yet another minority group left to question its place in America, at a time of rising attacks and harassment amid cresting White nationalism and domestic extremism.
(Stephen Collinson. “White supremacy and hate are haunting Asian Americans.” CNN. March 18, 2021.)
Georgia state Rep. Bee Nguyen told CNN's Erin Burnett on Wednesday. "There is a lot of history of Asian American violence in this country -- and many of our parents or grandparents and ancestors experienced that."
Vivien Tsou, national field director for the National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum, argued that Asian Americans did not face distinct peril but were targeted by the same forces of hate endured by Black Americans and that were evident in the insurrection against the US Capitol on January 6.
"While the focus is on anti-Asian hate, it all stems from White supremacy and anyone can be a scapegoat at any moment," Tsou said.
Scapegoating Asians – A Long History
Asian Americans have been systematically targeted during periods of tension or crisis -- a pattern that's being repeated again today.
In the late 1800s, Chinese laborers were scapegoated for a declining economy and banned from immigrating to the US. During World War II, Japanese Americans were painted as disloyal and rounded up into concentration camps.
"From the moment that the first Chinese arrived in the 1850s until today, Asian Americans have been considered not White but also considered not Black," says Claire Jean Kim, a professor of political science and Asian American studies at the University of California, Irvine.
(Harmeet Kaur. “The history of attacks against Asian Americans is complicated. Addressing it will be, too.” CNN. March 04, 2021.)
In many ways, that status has worked to their advantage, Kim said.
Yet, the notion which suggests that Asian Americans are outsiders who don't face disadvantages, make it possible for them to be seen as acceptable targets – and contribute to the spate of violence seen over the past year, Tung Nguyen, chair of AAPI Progressive Action and director of the Asian American Research Center on Health, said.
Nguyen says Asian Americans "suffer from the racism of being made invisible."
"It's easier to hurt someone when they're invisible," he said. "Our invisibility is all over the place."
(Harmeet Kaur. “The history of attacks against Asian Americans is complicated. Addressing it will be, too.” CNN. March 04, 2021.)
And, even though Trump is no longer in office, much of the Republican Party can't shake its relish for raising the specter of outsiders -- often people of color -- while hinting that they threaten majority White American culture.
UC Berkeley Asian American studies associate professor Lok Siu – an expert in Asian diasporas and transnationalism – explains …
“Anti-Asian racism in this country just gets a new face-lift from time to time. The continual and persistent reinvocation of the deeply ingrained notion that Asian Americans are ‘outsiders’ and therefore (don’t belong) in the U.S., fuels anti-Asian sentiments and attacks during moments of social crisis or disruption.”
(Ivan Natividad. “Berkeley expert: In times of crisis, anti-Asian violence is an American tradition.” Berkeley News. March 17, 2021)
“It is easier to scapegoat and direct anger and rage against an easily identifiable culprit, rather than to understand the problem in its full complexity”
–Lok Siu
How Does Stereotyping and Scapegoating Lead to Persecution?
It's a question that has been studied for decades. Answers may be found in papers focusing on genocide. The logical progression is horrifying.
Research by Dr. Gregory H. Stanton shows that there are ten documented stages of how it is possible for genocide to occur. “Ten Stages of Genocide” was a document developed by Stanton, a professor at Mary Washington University and the Vice President of the International Association of Genocide Scholars (2006). Stanton also leads Genocide Watch, a non-profit organization dedicated to the fight against genocide.
“Ten Stages of Genocide” is a formula for how a society can engage in genocide. Genocide cannot be committed by an individual or small group; rather, it takes the cooperation of a large number of people and the state. The genocidal process starts with prejudice that continues to grow. By knowing the stages of genocide, citizens are better equipped to identify the warning signs and stop the process from continuing.
The “Ten Stages of Genocide” are: Classification, Symbolization, Discrimination, Dehumanization, Organization, Polarization, Preparation, Persecution, Extermination, and Denial.
Classification.
This stage is defined by separating groups of people by categories such as race, religion, or nationality, in order to create a mentality of “us and them.”
Symbolization.
In this stage, symbols are given to the “other” to accompany the classifications of ethnicity, race, religion, or nationality. When combined with hatred, symbols may be forced upon unwilling members of minority groups: the yellow star for Jews under Nazi rule, the blue scarf for people from the Eastern Zone in Khmer Rouge Cambodia.
Discrimination.
During this stage, the dominant group uses laws, customs, and political power to deny the rights of the minority. These groups are not given their full civil rights and often times are even stripped of their citizenship.
Dehumanization.
In this stage, the dominant group treats the “other” group as second-class citizens. Those in the prosecuted group may be compared to animals, parasites, insects or diseases. When a group of people is thought of as “less than human” it is easier for the group in control to murder them.
Organization.
Genocide is always organized, usually by the state, though sometimes informally or by terrorist groups. During this stage, plans for genocidal killings are made and armies or militias are armed and trained.
Polarization.
In this stage, the dominant group broadcasts propaganda that reinforces already established prejudice and hate. Laws may forbid intermarriage or social interaction between the groups. Extremist terrorism targets moderates, and intimidates them so that they are silent.
Preparation.
National or perpetrator group leaders plan the “Final Solution” to the Jewish, Armenian, Tutsi or other targeted group “question.” They often use euphemisms to cloak their intentions, such as referring to their goals as “ethnic cleansing,” “purification,” or “counter-terrorism.”
Persecution.
Victims are identified and separated out because of their ethnic or religious identity. Death lists are drawn up. In state sponsored genocide, members of victim groups may be forced to wear identifying symbols.
Extermination.
Extermination begins, and quickly becomes the mass killing legally called "genocide." It is "extermination" to the killers because they do not believe their victims to be fully human (see dehumanization).
Denial.
Denial is the tenth stage that always follows genocide. It is among the surest indicators of further genocidal massacres. The perpetrators of genocide dig up the mass graves, burn the bodies, try to cover up the evidence and intimidate the witnesses. They deny that they committed any crimes, and often blame what happened on the victims.
(Gregory H. Stanton. “Ten Stages of Genocide.” 2006)
“In Midland, Texas, on March 14, 2021, an Asian family, including a two-year-old and six-year-old, were stabbed in a supermarket. An FBI report obtained by ABC news said that 'the suspect indicated that he stabbed the family because he thought the family was Chinese, and infecting people with the coronavirus.' The family was Southeast Asian.”
– Josh Margolin, ABC News
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