Anti-Asian Racism Across the World and Ways to Help. by: Lydia An
We have all seen the news, listened to stories, even experienced it ourselves. COVID-19 is not the only danger to Asians across the world, but they sadly also have to protect themselves from being blamed, attacked and slandered for being seen as the root of the pandemic affecting millions worldwide. From the Atlanta shooting that killed eight, six who were Asian women in an attempt to erase a sex addiction, to the restaurant owner in London, Ontario putting up racially motivated anti Asian signs and kicking out anybody “Asian” to Asian kids being bullied in their schools and having other kids mock them and pull up their eyes in Europe, they are all considered one thing. Anti-Asian Hate, although all these incidents come from different parts of the world with different severities, they are all undeniably the same thing. Truth to be told, Anti-Asian racism started way before the pandemic came into existence, even in my old high school teachers would subtly announce how the school’s ranking is so high because of the Chinese students or the houses nearby were so expensive because Chinese people were so rich. Other examples include people accusing Asians for taking their jobs or making different micro aggressions and remarks that can be easy to miss. Making offensive stereotypes and even having acts to ban immigration from China in Canada and the US a century ago and Japanese Internment Camps existing. With all being said, how can one prevent the spread of Asian hate as much as possible.
1. Using the hastag #stopasianhate
The Hashtag was created as part of a movement to prevent racism towards Asians and Xenophobia, the more usage it gets the more people are able to see how important this movement is for the wellbeing mentally and physically of Asians worldwide.
2. Be informed/post informative infographics on your social media
I have seen so many informative posts on my social media and it made me understand even more about the history and the current events happening around us, many celebrities have spoken out about it and have done their research to share with their audience. Being informed also includes looking up resources such as: anti-asianviolenceresources.carrd.co
3. Do your part (at a safe distance of course)
I was pleased to see how many people were at the Toronto Asian Lives Matter protest, it did make me glad to see that there are many people who are against hate and violence. If you see someone being attacked you should still try to help as best as you can, calling the police, getting a nearby security guard or attempting to diffuse the situation ONLY if it is safe (making sure there are no weapons nearby).
Although so much is being done already, it is still not enough. As I saw in a post, Asians are not viruses, racism and hate are. This can also be connected to a sense of global citizenship among everyone across the planet having the means to help each other out, similar to the very important Black Lives Matter movement and being against other hostile race-specific actions.