tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/stop-asian-hate-102588/articlesStop Asian Hate – The Conversation2022-07-01T12:16:26Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1852782022-07-01T12:16:26Z2022-07-01T12:16:26ZPoll reveals white Americans see an increase in discrimination against other white people and less against other racial groups<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/470668/original/file-20220623-52151-owiixr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=432%2C129%2C3310%2C2990&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Polling suggests that white and Black Americans are coming from different positions on discrimination.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/illustration/two-businessmen-stand-at-the-edge-of-the-royalty-free-illustration/1315707013?adppopup=true">DigitalVision Vector/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Despite largely holding the <a href="https://wholeads.us/research/system-failure-2020-primary-elections/">political</a>, <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2020/02/27/examining-the-black-white-wealth-gap/">economic</a> and <a href="https://nmaahc.si.edu/learn/talking-about-race/topics/whiteness">social</a> levers of power, nearly a third of white Americans say they have seen “a lot more” discrimination against white people in the past five years – and more than half of them say they have not seen a rise in discrimination against Black and Latino Americans.</p>
<p><a href="https://criticalissues.umd.edu/sites/criticalissues.umd.edu/files/American%20Attitudes%20on%20Race%20and%20Ethnicity.pdf">A May 2022 University of Maryland Critical Issues Poll</a> further found that a majority of white Americans do not believe that there has been a rise in discrimination against minority groups.</p>
<p>In stark contrast, the poll found a large majority of Black Americans believe they have been on the receiving end of discrimination.</p>
<p>That many white Americans, the dominant racial group in U.S. society, see more discrimination against other white people than those who have historically endured this treatment is troubling.</p>
<p><a href="https://gvpt.umd.edu/facultyprofile/telhami/shibley">In our view</a> as <a href="https://gvpt.umd.edu/facultyprofile/rouse/stella">scholars of public opinion and identity politics</a>, these grievances have been at the heart of conservative GOP politics and at their extreme have played a role in mass shootings such as the one in Buffalo <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/05/19/1099997281/the-white-man-accused-of-killing-10-black-people-in-buffalo-will-be-back-in-cour">in which 10 Black people were killed</a>, allegedly by an 18-year-old white supremacist, or the <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/01/05/racisms-prominent-role-january-6-us-capitol-attack">violent assault that occurred on Jan. 6, 2021</a>, at the U.S. Capitol. </p>
<h2>Empathy gaps among racial groups</h2>
<p>The poll was conducted between May 6 and May 16, 2022, by polling firm Nielsen Scarborough from a nationally representative sample of 2,091 respondents, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.14. </p>
<p>The poll asked questions on how much more discrimination exists now than in the past against different minority groups, and whether different minority groups weaken or strengthen American society.</p>
<p>The results are striking.</p>
<p>There is a clear empathy gap across racial and ethnic groups.</p>
<p>While white Americans say they have seen an increase in discrimination against other whites, they say at the same time that other groups, including Black and Latino Americans, have been less discriminated against. </p>
<p>In stark contrast, Black and Latino Americans say their groups have been discriminated against while also saying that other groups have also been highly discriminated against.</p>
<p>In the case of Latino Americans, they believe that Asians have been discriminated against even more than their own group. </p>
<p>The empathy gap is even larger when viewed through political partisanship, especially among white and Latino Americans.</p>
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<h2>Assessing racial experiences</h2>
<p>We examined responses among white, Black and Latino people to the following question: “Compared to five years ago, and based on your own experience, including interactions with others, how much racial/ethnic/religious discrimination, if any, would you say exists against each of the following groups?” </p>
<p>We found that 3 in 10 white respondents – 30.1% – say that white Americans experienced “a lot more” discrimination in the past five years. </p>
<p>In comparison, 28.9% of white respondents said Asian Americans experience “a lot more” discrimination, 21.7% said the same of Jewish Americans, 20.4% about Black Americans, 19.7% about Muslim Americans and 14.7% about Latino Americans. </p>
<p>But over half of Black Americans – 53.2% – say that their group has encountered “a lot more” discrimination in the past five years, compared with 38.9% of Black respondents who said the same about Asian Americans, 33.3% about Latino Americans, 29.3% about Muslim Americans, 23.7% about Jewish Americans and 13% about white Americans.</p>
<p>More Latino people say they saw “a lot more” discrimination against Asian people than against other groups. Nearly 2 in 5 – 38.7% – of Latino respondents said that “a lot more” discrimination exists against Asian Americans than five years ago. That number compares with 41.2% who said the same about Black Americans, 34.5% about Latino Americans, 33.5% about Muslim Americans and 20% about Jewish Americans. </p>
<p>Notably, and unlike white and Black people, Latino Americans say that both Black and Asian people have endured “a lot more” discrimination in the past five years than their own group.</p>
<h2>Perceptions of contributions to American society</h2>
<p>We also gauged people’s opinions about whether they thought Black Americans, Asian Americans, Latino Americans, Muslim Americans and Jewish Americans strengthened or weakened American society. </p>
<p>The findings show that a majority of white, Black and Latino people believe that all these groups strengthen American society, with one exception. </p>
<p>Only 40.1% of white Americans believe that Muslim Americans strengthen American society. </p>
<p>Slightly more than 20% of white people say that Muslim Americans weaken traditional American values and customs, the highest expression of this negative sentiment for any group. </p>
<p>A lower percentage of white people view Black Americans – 12.4% – and Latino Americans – 9.8% – as weakening American values and customs in comparison with these attitudes about Muslim Americans.</p>
<p>Both Black Americans – 67% – and Latino Americans – 74.1% – view their groups as having the greatest effect in strengthening American society. </p>
<p>Notably, 54.6% of Black Americans view Latinos as strengthening American society, and 61.1% of Latino Americans say the same about Blacks. </p>
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<h2>Impact of partisanship</h2>
<p>Americans are deeply divided along partisan lines, and this division can be seen on most issues. </p>
<p>But does this divide also affect racial and ethnic groups’ attitudes? </p>
<p>To be sure, there are significant overlaps. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2016/09/13/2-party-affiliation-among-voters-1992-2016/">Most Black and Latino Americans are Democrats</a>, and far more white Americans identify as Republicans than as Democrats.</p>
<p>But while Black Americans overwhelmingly identify as Democrats, about <a href="https://news.gallup.com/opinion/polling-matters/389093/hispanic-americans-party-updated-analysis.aspx">a quarter of Latinos identify as Republicans</a>, and <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/160373/democrats-racially-diverse-republicans-mostly-white.aspx">the Republican Party mostly comprises white voters</a>. </p>
<p>We examined the extent to which partisanship helps explain racial and ethnic identity on attitudes about other groups. </p>
<p>The findings were revealing. White Democrats are closer in their views on race to Black and Latino Democrats than they are to white Republicans. </p>
<p>White Democrats are more likely to perceive greater discrimination against other groups than they did five years ago. </p>
<p>Latino Republicans are closer to white Republicans than they are to Latino Democrats. </p>
<p>About two-thirds of Black Republicans – 65% – and a third of Latino Republican respondents – 33% – perceive “a lot more” discrimination against white Americans than five years ago. However, we are careful not to draw strong conclusions from our Black Republican sample, as it is relatively small in our survey.</p>
<p>Partisanship also plays an important role in accounting for differences in the perceived value of minority groups in society among white, Latino and Black Americans. </p>
<p>In contrast, over two-thirds of white Democrats say that all five groups strengthen American society. White Republicans are much less likely to say any of the five minority groups strengthen American society.</p>
<p>A higher percentage of Latino Republicans view minority groups as strengthening America than do white Republicans. But this view among Latino Republicans lags in comparison with Latino Democrats.</p>
<p>The Black Republicans who did respond expressed strong sentiments about the idea that minority groups strengthen American society – a view that goes against trends among white Republicans.</p>
<p>Black Republican responses look more similar to those of Black Democrats.</p>
<p>This finding requires further investigation with a larger sample of Black Republicans. </p>
<h2>Democratic values</h2>
<p>It is worth acknowledging that party affiliation has become partly a reflection of one’s identity and comfort with certain positions, especially about one’s place in American society.</p>
<p>In other words, <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-identity-not-issues-explains-the-partisan-divide/">partisanship has become an identity</a> in and of itself. </p>
<p>Our findings may point to the difficulty in having conversations about race relations that start from a common perspective, and engaging in meaningful action that will strengthen American democracy. </p>
<p>A notable result from our poll is the empathy exhibited by groups who have historically experienced high degrees of discrimination.</p>
<p>Black and Latino Americans have similar perceptions about discrimination. </p>
<p>More importantly, they support the idea that a democratic America embraces all its constituents and view all minority groups as being a strength rather than a weakness – a view not as strongly shared by white Americans.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185278/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stella Rouse receives funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and has previously received funding from the Russell Sage Foundation.
Stella Rouse is a board member for the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI). PRRI is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that conducts research on and writes about the intersection of religion and politics. She serves on the board in a volunteer capacity and do not receive compensation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shibley Telhami does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Researchers found political partisanship is a significant factor in determining perceptions of discrimination against different racial groups.Stella Rouse, Professor of Government and Politics and Director of the Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement, University of MarylandShibley Telhami, Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development, University of MarylandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1743852022-01-31T15:51:15Z2022-01-31T15:51:15ZYear of the Tiger: An opportunity for bold changes in combatting anti-Asian racism<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443040/original/file-20220127-4399-1mqraac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C0%2C3489%2C2331&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">This year, Lunar New Year falls on Feb. 1 and welcomes in the year of the water tiger.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 175px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/year-of-the-tiger--an-opportunity-for-bold-changes-in-combatting-anti-asian-racism" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p><a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama-health-forum/fullarticle/2784490">Anti-Asian racism is a public health emergency</a>. Since the pandemic began, Asian people have been experiencing <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/04/21/one-third-of-asian-americans-fear-threats-physical-attacks-and-most-say-violence-against-them-is-rising/">record amounts of denigration, hatred and racism</a>. </p>
<p>Feb. 1, 2022, marks the Lunar New Year, welcoming the year of the <a href="https://foreverconscious.com/chinese-astrology-year-of-the-water-tiger-2022">Water Tiger</a>. Like the tiger, we are fierce, tenacious and courageous in our continued fight against anti-Asian hate and racism — <a href="https://brill.com/view/journals/bire/3/2/article-p187_187.xml">one of COVID-19’s shadow pandemics</a>. </p>
<p>As an Asian woman, I’ve thought more about my Asian ancestry, identity and <a href="https://theconversation.com/asian-heritage-month-gold-ribbons-show-hope-and-solidarity-amid-anti-asian-violence-157664">childhood experiences of racism</a> this past year than I ever have before. Exposure to stories of <a href="https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/61-year-old-asian-man-head-stomped-in-brutal-nyc-attack-dies-8-months-later/3486154/">Asians being beaten to death</a>, <a href="https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/woman-killed-after-being-pushed-onto-tracks-at-times-square-subway-station/3497589/">pushed in front of trains</a> and <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/10/13/1045746655/1-in-4-asian-americans-recently-feared-their-household-being-targeted-poll-finds">continuously targeted</a> knowing these only represent <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/cap0000305">10 per cent</a> of actual accounts, takes a heavy toll. </p>
<p>Racist and insensitive comments like being told we are “<a href="https://www.cnn.com/videos/business/2022/01/04/viewer-complains-korean-anchor-very-asian-mc-mh-orig.cnn">too Asian</a>” or that the pandemic is “<a href="https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/asian-man-berated-in-montreal-grocery-store-by-woman-angry-about-covid-19-1.5728844">because of you Chinese people</a>,” only adds to this heavy toll, increasing vicarious trauma and the experience of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0011000006292033">race-based traumatic stress</a>.</p>
<p>Almost a year ago, <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-atlanta-attacks-were-not-just-racist-and-misogynist-they-painfully-reflect-the-society-we-live-in-157389">after the Atlanta attacks</a>, our news feeds were flooded with stories addressing anti-Asian racism. There were <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/03/26/stop-asian-hate-asian-americans-across-us-demand-reforms/6990150002/">protests and cries of support</a> from community members and allies. Those protests and cries haven’t stopped, nor have our our communities’ suffering, but media has seemingly stopped caring. </p>
<p>We need to take this opportunity, as we ring in the Lunar New Year to boost Asian pride, remind ourselves of our strength, increase access to culturally relevant mental health services and demand bold changes.</p>
<h2>Prevalence of anti-Asian racism</h2>
<p>Data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reveals that <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/anti-asian-hate-crimes-rose-73-last-year-updated-fbi-data-says-rcna3741">hate crimes against Asian Americans rose 73 per cent in 2020</a> compared to 2019. And an Angus Reid poll shows <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7932426/anti-asian-discrimination-canada-poll/">71 per cent of Asian Canadians surveyed felt that anti-Asian racism worsened</a> in 2021. </p>
<p>Canada, in fact, has the more incidents of anti-Asian racism per capita than the United States — more than <a href="https://www.project1907.org/reportingcentre">double the number of those reported in the U.S</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.project1907.org/reportingcentre">Vancouver has the greatest number of anti-Asian</a> attacks in North America. And according to the World Health Organization, Canadian women of <a href="https://www.vawlearningnetwork.ca/our-work/backgrounders/examining_the_intersections_of_antiasian_racism_and_genderbased_violence_in_canada_/Examining-the-Intersections-of-Anti-Asian-Racism-and-Gender-Based-Violence-in-Canada.pdf">East Asian descent were responsible for 72 per cent of filed reports</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://projectprotech.ca/addressing-racism/asian-americans-who-experienced-covid-related-racism-report-increased-levels-of-anxiety-depression-and-ptsd/">Seventy-two per cent of Asian Americans who reported a hate crime</a> said discrimination was more stressful than the pandemic. A sense of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0011000019891992">interpersonal shame</a> <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/tra0000821">and stigma</a> can <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/tra0000821">also adversely affect health</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman and a child play on a tiger decoration they are both crouched, pretending to claw and growl at each other." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442584/original/file-20220125-15-s8jeat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442584/original/file-20220125-15-s8jeat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442584/original/file-20220125-15-s8jeat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442584/original/file-20220125-15-s8jeat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442584/original/file-20220125-15-s8jeat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442584/original/file-20220125-15-s8jeat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442584/original/file-20220125-15-s8jeat.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A woman and a child play on a tiger decoration, a Chinese zodiac which marks the year 2022, at a shopping mall in Beijing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Andy Wong)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We need <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/opinion-fighting-anti-asian-racism-requires-bold-action-not-passive-endurance/ar-AASTJAg?ocid=uxbndlbing">bold action</a> to incite longstanding and fundamental changes so the <a href="https://angusreid.org/anti-asian-discrimination/">next generation</a> will thrive, not just survive. We must demand investment in our Asian communities — the current narrative needs to be interrupted through radical action. </p>
<p>I am an Asian psychologist and professor who researches the impact of anti-Asian racism on the mental health of Asian Canadians. I direct an Asian mental health research team at my university and developed <a href="https://youtu.be/-HdPp0-laAY">a model for interrupting discrimination in education</a>. I founded the <a href="https://asiangoldribbon.com/">Asian Gold Ribbon campaign</a> that promotes <a href="https://news.athabascau.ca/faculty/faculty-of-health-disciplines/aus-dr-gina-wong-ft-on-ctv-morning-live-calgary-on-asian-gold-ribbon-day/">visible solidarity against anti-Asian racism</a> and contributes to a 21st-century Asian movement. With two young daughters, I was compelled to pave a way for new generations of Asian people to feel pride in who they are. </p>
<h2>Disproportionately served</h2>
<p>Asian people are disproportionately served when it comes to mental health supports. They are also <a href="https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2006.098541">the least likely to seek psychological help</a> and symptoms tend to be more pronounced when help is finally sought. </p>
<p>Research from the United States suggests there is an alarming shortage of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmmh.2021.100006">language-specific, culturally appropriate and sexuality-affirming mental health services for Asian people</a>. And culturally practised survival strategies tend to be insensitively misdiagnosed and pathologized. The <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1363461509351374">landscape in Canada is similar</a>. </p>
<figure>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The Asian Gold Ribbon campaign’s Lunar New Year educational video.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But there are supports that exist. <a href="https://successbc.ca/counselling-crisis-support/">SUCCESS Chinese Helpline</a>, ensures Mandarin and Cantonese speaking therapists are available in British Columbia. The <a href="https://hongfook.ca/association/">Hong Fook Mental Health Association</a> in Ontario and <a href="https://www.theprojectlotus.org/about-1">Project Locus</a> are tackling <a href="https://time.com/5859206/anti-asian-racism-america/">the model minority stereotype</a>. The <a href="https://www.asianmhc.org/">Asian Mental Health Collective</a> is one of the most integrated organizations serving Asian people across the U.S. — it also publishes a directory for <a href="https://www.asianmhc.org/therapists-can/">Asian Canadian therapists</a>. </p>
<p>There’s a profound need for a systemic-cultural shift that makes way for accessible and affordable Asian mental health services across Canada. <a href="https://www.uvic.ca/news/topics/2022+expert-qa-anti-asian-racism+expert-advisory">Government leaders must support community-based organizations, outreach services</a> and develop clear and transparent policies. A task force for Asian Canadian mental health training and strategic allocation will ensure systems are built to provide viable resources to effectively support Asian communities. </p>
<p>Tigers are <a href="http://en.chinaculture.org/focus/focus/2010spring/2010-01/26/content_367583.htm">natural born leaders, loyal and tenacious</a> — so is the Asian community. Like tigers, we are brave and never back down. This Lunar New Year, let’s celebrate our Asian culture, our strength and be confident that actionable changes are coming.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/174385/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gina Wong does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As we ring in Lunar New Year, we need to celebrate Asian communities, their fierceness and courage; and demand bold changes for combatting anti-Asian racism and supporting well-being.Gina Wong, Professor, Psychologist, Athabasca UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1667202021-09-13T12:15:09Z2021-09-13T12:15:09ZBlack, Hispanic and Asian American donors give more to social and racial justice causes as well as strangers in need – new survey<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418499/original/file-20210830-27-1u22yon.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=71%2C71%2C8006%2C4482&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">People of color tend to give differently than white donors.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/group-analysis-of-digital-data-royalty-free-image/954307646">FatCamera/E+ via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>More than a year after protesters around the world responded to the tragic deaths of <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/05/23/what-george-floyd-changed-490199">George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor</a> and other people of color, U.S. donors of all backgrounds are still responding to calls for an end to deep-rooted racial inequities.</p>
<p>To learn more about these giving patterns, the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy teamed up with the nonpartisan
research organization NORC at the University of Chicago to survey 1,535 Americans from Sept. 14 to Oct. 6, 2020. Our survey, which has a margin of sampling error for all respondents of plus or minus 5 percentage points, indicates that <a href="https://philanthropy.iupui.edu/news-events/news-item/study:-philanthropic-landscape-shifting-as-everyday-donors-of-color-increasingly-shape-giving-.html?id=365">giving to racial and social justice is on the rise</a> – especially among donors of color.</p>
<p>We <a href="https://philanthropy.iupui.edu/news-events/news-item/study:-philanthropic-landscape-shifting-as-everyday-donors-of-color-increasingly-shape-giving-.html?id=365">highlighted these findings</a> in a recent report that also draws on insights from focus groups convened with diverse donors across the country and prior research.</p>
<h2>Diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds</h2>
<p>Giving to <a href="https://theconversation.com/racial-justice-giving-is-booming-4-trends-145526">social and racial justice causes</a> including groups tied to the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/black-lives-matter-90-million-finances-8a80cad199f54c0c4b9e74283d27366f">Black Lives Matter movement</a>, the <a href="https://latino.si.edu/latino-center">Smithsonian’s Latino Center</a> and other cultural and arts institutions and <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/05/01/992480703/nations-largest-hbcu-sees-record-breaking-donations">colleges and universities primarily attended by Black</a>, <a href="https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/college-beat-higher-education/2021/08/california-tribal-colleges/">Indigenous</a> and <a href="https://www.hacu.net/assnfe/CompanyDirectory.asp?STYLE=2&COMPANY_TYPE=1%2C5">other students</a> <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/programs/aanapi/awards.html">of color</a> has grown in recent years. The share of Americans who said they are doing this <a href="https://scholarworks.iupui.edu/bitstream/handle/1805/26496/donors-color-report.pdf">rose from 12.6% in 2019 to 15.7% in 2020</a>.</p>
<p>Even larger shares of people within communities of color support these causes: 30.7% of Asian Americans, 19.3% of African Americans and 13.9% of Hispanic Americans donate to social and racial justice causes, compared with 12.6% of white people.</p>
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<p>In addition, we found that donors to social and racial justice causes are more likely to be single and young and less likely to attend religious services frequently compared with donors overall. </p>
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<h2>Informal giving</h2>
<p>Donors of color who fund charitable organizations also <a href="http://hdl.handle.net/1805/26496">tend to give informally</a>. For example, they were more likely to say that they give money and goods to their relatives and friends than were typical white donors. </p>
<p>In addition, many Asian and Black people said they had donated more goods to others rather than money. Notably, from our research, we also see that African Americans are the most likely to give to strangers of all racial and ethnic groups, holding other variables constant.</p>
<p>These findings <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2013.848288">reinforce earlier research</a> regarding how <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0899764012448235">donors of color</a> often give directly to members of their communities, including people outside their families and circles of friends.</p>
<p><iframe id="Tci5U" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/Tci5U/4/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>Fighting against oppression</h2>
<p>U.S. philanthropists from marginalized groups have used giving as a means of self-help for people of color to fight racial oppression <a href="https://theconversation.com/400-years-of-black-giving-from-the-days-of-slavery-to-the-2019-morehouse-graduation-121402">for centuries</a>. For example, the African American entrepreneur <a href="https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/people-african-american-history/pleasant-mary-ellen-1814-1904/">Mary Ellen Pleasant</a> helped finance the Underground Railroad.</p>
<p>With the <a href="https://theconversation.com/white-supremacy-is-the-root-of-all-race-related-violence-in-the-us-157566">spike in anti-Asian racism</a> that began when the <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/asian-american-hate-crimes-up-150-percent-us/">COVID-19 pandemic</a> arose, the Asian American community has started to give more to causes that tackle the root causes of discrimination and xenophobia. Many Asians are turning to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/02/us/gofundme-nyc-asian-hate-crime-victim/index.html">crowdfunding sites like GoFundMe</a> and to <a href="https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=content.view&cpid=8608">established charities</a> to fund these efforts to stop hate crimes.</p>
<p>One notable result: the <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hate-crime-surge-asian-american-foundation-launch/">2021 launch of the Asian American Foundation</a>, which advocates on behalf of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. By mid-2021 the new foundation said its funding had <a href="https://www.taaf.org/pages/statement-and-rapid-response-toolkit-in-advance-of-covid-19-origins-report-from-the-white-house">exceeded $1 billion</a>.</p>
<p>[<em>Understand new developments in science, health and technology, each week.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/science-editors-picks-71/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=science-understand">Subscribe to The Conversation’s science newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/166720/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Una Osili receives funding from The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Wendy Chen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Larger shares of Asian, Black and Hispanic people are donating to these nonprofits, compared with white donors. They are also more likely to give to others through less formal channels.Wendy Chen, Assistant Professor of Public Administration, Texas Tech UniversityUna Osili, Professor of Economics and Philanthropic Studies; Associate Dean for Research and International Programs, Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, IUPUILicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1587572021-05-30T11:17:50Z2021-05-30T11:17:50ZIn music and film, a new Korean wave is challenging Asian stereotypes<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398781/original/file-20210505-21-1hqb16v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=21%2C32%2C3573%2C1622&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Members of BTS at the 61st Grammy Awards in Los Angeles.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>At this year’s Oscars, Chloé Zhao became the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/apr/26/chloe-zhao-wins-best-director-oscar-nomadland">first woman of colour to win the award for best director</a> for <em>Nomadland</em>. Youn Yuh-jung also became the <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/live-updates-oscars-2021/2021/04/25/989638064/youn-yuh-jung-is-first-korean-to-win-oscar-for-best-supporting-actress">first Korean actress to win an Oscar</a> for her role in <em>Minari</em>.</p>
<p>After decades of being excluded from, and stereotyped by Hollywood, East Asians are finally being recognized in the film industry. This degree of recognition is a cause for celebration, but there is still a long way to go.</p>
<p>For decades, the predominantly white western film industry has <a href="https://www.indiewire.com/2018/10/steven-yeun-walking-dead-glenn-asian-stereotype-short-round-1202015250/">confined Asian actors to stereotypical</a> roles and even <a href="https://www.teenvogue.com/story/yellowface-whitewashing-history">cast white actors to play Asian characters</a>. But the recent success of Asians in the film industry begins to open the door to more prominent Asian roles in this field. </p>
<p>A new Korean wave is helping to significantly break down barriers and deconstruct the representation of Asians in western media. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/chinese-american-actresses-soo-yong-and-anna-may-wong-contrasting-struggles-for-recognition-in-hollywood-159174">Chinese American actresses Soo Yong and Anna May Wong: Contrasting struggles for recognition in Hollywood</a>
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<h2>The power of representation</h2>
<p>I grew up watching Hollywood cinema in South Korea and was especially fond of Katharine Hepburn. Her role in <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036777/">the 1944 film <em>Dragon Seed</em></a> left a lasting impression.</p>
<p>In the movie, Hepburn plays a Chinese woman with awkward makeup. When I first saw the film I was only eight years old and had never been to China, but I knew what a Chinese person looked like and it was not that. I wondered whether this casting choice was because there were no Asians in America, or because Asian women weren’t as pretty as Hepburn. I was gaslighted into believing Asian women couldn’t be the central character because we aren’t attractive.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398041/original/file-20210430-19-tt4s22.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Youn Yuh-jung poses in the press room at the Oscars." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398041/original/file-20210430-19-tt4s22.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398041/original/file-20210430-19-tt4s22.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=860&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398041/original/file-20210430-19-tt4s22.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=860&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398041/original/file-20210430-19-tt4s22.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=860&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398041/original/file-20210430-19-tt4s22.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1081&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398041/original/file-20210430-19-tt4s22.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1081&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398041/original/file-20210430-19-tt4s22.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1081&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Youn Yuh-jung won the Oscar for best supporting actress for her role in <em>Minari</em>.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, Pool)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Despite <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/multiculturalism">almost 50 years of Canadian multiculturalism</a>, Asian people are still facing discrimination and stereotyping around <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-model-minority-myth-hides-the-racist-and-sexist-violence-experienced-by-asian-women-157667">being a model minority</a>.</p>
<p>With the <a href="https://theconversation.com/anti-asian-racism-during-coronavirus-how-the-language-of-disease-produces-hate-and-violence-134496">rise in anti-Asian racism during the pandemic</a> and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56218684">recent violent attacks in the United States and Canada</a>, Asian people are increasingly becoming fearful about their place in North American society.</p>
<p>As a Korean language instructor at Carleton University, my classes are made up of students from multiple cultural and ethnic backgrounds. During one of my classes, I decided to show a <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/12/entertainment/bts-kpop-album-persona-soul-who-is-trnd/index.html">music video by the K-pop band BTS</a> to engage students in contemporary Korean culture. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-model-minority-myth-hides-the-racist-and-sexist-violence-experienced-by-asian-women-157667">The model minority myth hides the racist and sexist violence experienced by Asian women</a>
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<p>After playing <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBdVXkSdhwU"><em>DNA</em> by BTS</a>, I was surprised to see how it was able to break down cultural and language barriers. Students who had not yet spoken began chatting like they had known each other for a long time. <a href="https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/four_ways_music_strengthens_social_bonds">Research shows that music brings people together</a>.</p>
<p>East Asian students continue to see <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/radio/tapestry/healing-power-of-k-pop-pandemic-playtime-music-for-the-soul-1.5600104/how-k-pop-band-bts-is-helping-fans-a-world-away-navigate-identity-and-hardship-1.5600109">the accomplishments of K-pop artists as their own</a>. One of my students, a second-generation immigrant from Vietnam said: “I feel indebted to BTS. I am wounded because I am underrepresented in a society where I should belong, but I feel healed by them.” </p>
<p>In the long history of Western pop-culture, non-western cultures have too often been portrayed as <a href="https://thirdcoastreview.com/2019/06/20/the-unbearable-whiteness-of-hollywood-thoughts-on-asian-american-representation-in-pop-culture/">tacky subcultures or disparaged racial minorities</a>. The rise of K-pop is helping reset these stereotypes and, within Asian communities in North America, has become a remedy for those who are perpetually made to feel like foreigners in their own country.</p>
<h2>The Korean wave</h2>
<p>From BTS to <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/korean-esports-gaming-class-culture/">video game competitions</a> and the noteworthy 2016 K-drama, <a href="https://otakukart.com/403428/guardian-the-lonely-and-great-god/"><em>Goblin</em></a>, the Korean wave is taking western audiences by storm.</p>
<p>Netflix is planning to invest <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/25/netflix-nflx-to-spend-500-million-in-south-korea-in-2021.html">$500 million this year</a> in South Korean films and TV series. Korean movies and dramas like <em>Parasite</em>, <em>Train to Busan</em> and the <a href="https://www.indiewire.com/2017/05/bong-joon-ho-the-host-best-monster-movie-21st-century-korea-song-kang-ho-bae-doona-trump-1201813051/">2006 cult classic <em>The Host</em></a> have received critical acclaim globally and in North America. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403180/original/file-20210527-13-k8ehaj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man in a tuxedo waves and carries an award." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403180/original/file-20210527-13-k8ehaj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403180/original/file-20210527-13-k8ehaj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=901&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403180/original/file-20210527-13-k8ehaj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=901&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403180/original/file-20210527-13-k8ehaj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=901&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403180/original/file-20210527-13-k8ehaj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1133&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403180/original/file-20210527-13-k8ehaj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1133&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403180/original/file-20210527-13-k8ehaj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1133&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bong Joon-ho, director of <em>Parasite</em> and <em>The Host</em>, at the 2019 Palme d'Or Awards in Cannes, France.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Korean dramas consistently provide solid performances through impeccable storytelling. One example is the Korean drama <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6611916/"><em>Kingdom</em>, Netflix’s first original Korean series</a>.</p>
<p>Kingdom is more than just a cliché zombie show. With its spectacular landscapes and complex characters, <em>Kingdom</em> holds its own in the competitive streaming space. This challenges the sentiment that <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2021/03/minari-and-the-invisible-stars-of-asian-led-movies/618169/">mainstream content with Asian actors as leads is inferior</a>.</p>
<p>The influx of Korean content can do a great deal to reduce racist attitudes and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-0899-5">alter perceptions of East Asians by normalizing the presence of Asian people</a> on screen, in magazines, on the radio and in broader society.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/an-oscar-for-parasite-the-global-rise-of-south-korean-film-128595">An Oscar for Parasite? The global rise of South Korean film</a>
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<p>As a Korean, I feel fulfilled when I watch series and films filled with faces like mine, portraying complex characters and telling stories not restricted by Western stereotypes.</p>
<p>There are still major hurdles to overcome that prevent Asians from getting into the mainstream. However, Korean content is a powerful way of providing healthy Asian representation and transcending racist stereotypes.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/158757/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hyounjeong Yoo does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A new wave of Korean music and cinema can play a powerful role in changing perceptions and stereotypes of Asian people.Hyounjeong Yoo, Instructor, School of Linguistics and Language Studies, Carleton UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1576642021-05-02T12:41:37Z2021-05-02T12:41:37ZAsian Heritage Month: Gold ribbons show hope and solidarity amid anti-Asian violence<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397644/original/file-20210428-23-hckl07.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4495%2C2987&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The recent rise in anti-Asian racism, subsequent protests and increased activism has sounded alarm bells.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><blockquote>
<p>And when I get excited<br>
My little China girl says<br>
Oh baby, just you shut your mouth<br>
She says … shhhh<br>
She says … shhhh </p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YC3sTbAPcU">David Bowie</a>’s <em>China Girl</em> did not make my life any easier growing up. </p>
<p>From being spit on to hit on and reduced to “China girl,” my experiences of anti-Asian racism marred my youth and adolescence, giving way to internalized oppression. <a href="http://www.aclrc.com/forms-of-racism">Individual, institutional and systemic racism</a> have longstanding and pervasive psychological damage. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-atlanta-attacks-were-not-just-racist-and-misogynist-they-painfully-reflect-the-society-we-live-in-157389">targeted killing earlier this year of eight people in Atlanta</a>, six of them Asian women, was a catalyst sparking public outcry and rage, prompting Asians to speak out.</p>
<p>With an increase in <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7785233/anti-asian-hate-crimes-racism/">anti-racist mobilization</a>, emphasis on <a href="https://medium.com/national-center-for-institutional-diversity/asian-americans-and-racial-justice-racial-exclusion-and-the-im-possibilities-of-developing-our-cb5d9186995c">racial justice</a>, recognition of <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228391480_Asian_American_Perceived_Racism_Acculturation_Racial_Identity_Social_Context_and_Sociopolitical_Awareness_as_Predictors_of_Asian_American_Perceived_Racism">sociopolitical factors</a> and <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41386-020-0784-y">inclusivity and equity education</a> alongside emphasis on <a href="https://www.today.com/popculture/best-asian-pride-moments-oscars-t216454">Asian cultural pride</a>, opportunity can emerge out of crisis.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/as-asian-canadian-scholars-we-must-stopasianhate-by-fighting-all-forms-of-racism-157743">As Asian Canadian scholars, we must #StopAsianHate by fighting all forms of racism</a>
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<p>As we celebrate Asian Heritage Month, the time is now to collectively centre dialogue against anti-Asian racism, with an optimistic view for a global reset. I am a psychologist and professor comfortable in her academic bubble. But as an Asian woman who endured racism growing up, and with daughters who deserve a better future, I felt compelled to start <a href="https://asiangoldribbon.com/">a campaign</a> and contribute to an Asian movement fighting racial intolerance. </p>
<h2>Present turmoil provides opportunity</h2>
<p>The recent rise in anti-Asian racism, subsequent protests and increased activism has sounded alarm bells for what’s reminiscent of legislated racism endured by Asian people in North America in the 19th century. </p>
<p>There was the internment of <a href="https://www.nps.gov/articles/japanese-american-internment-archeology.htm">American</a> and <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/japanese-internment-banished-and-beyond-tears-feature">Canadian</a> Japanese people during the Second World War. A <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/chinese-head-tax-in-canada">head tax that was levied against Chinese immigrants in 1885</a>; over the 38 years it was in place, nearly $23 million was collected from 82,000 Chinese immigrants. The <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/chinese-immigration-act">Chinese Immigration Act, also known as the Chinese Exclusion Act</a> of 1921 and other structural impediments, infringed upon human rights and normalized <a href="https://www.anewseducation.com/post/guide-sinophobia">sinophobic rhetoric</a> — the fear and disdain of Chinese people. </p>
<p>COVID-19 makes visible this century-old racism and has revived it into present day. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/history-of-asian-activism-tells-us-to-share-the-burden-of-responsibility-in-fighting-racism-158732">History of Asian activism tells us to share the burden of responsibility in fighting racism</a>
</strong>
</em>
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<hr>
<p>April saw progress with <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/articles/2021-04-14/illinois-house-passes-bill-mandating-asian-american-history-in-schools">Illinois passing a bill mandating</a> Asian American history be taught in schools, the <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7782167/us-senate-asian-hate-crimes-bill/">U.S. Senate overwhelmingly passed a bill</a> that would help combat the rise of hate crimes against Asian Americans, and Canada’s federal budget announced <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/budget-systemic-racism-1.5999023">$11 million over two years to expand the activities of the Canadian Race Relations Foundation</a>. But much more is needed. </p>
<p>Anti-Asian racism is taking a heavy mental and emotional toll on Asian communities globally. Recognizing the psychological impact faced by these communities can help with progress. It allows for the development of specific mental health programs and interventions targeting the negative health effects of racism among marginalized people which can improve the lives of Asian people globally. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Men sit crowded around table" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397416/original/file-20210427-19-13bc3yf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397416/original/file-20210427-19-13bc3yf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397416/original/file-20210427-19-13bc3yf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397416/original/file-20210427-19-13bc3yf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397416/original/file-20210427-19-13bc3yf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397416/original/file-20210427-19-13bc3yf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397416/original/file-20210427-19-13bc3yf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Royal Canadian Mounted Police constable checks documents of Japanese Canadian evacuees in Slocan City, B.C. in 1942.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lac-bac/37102683784/in/album-72157688230790083/">(Tak Toyota Library and Archives Canada, C-047387)</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Psychological impact of anti-Asian hate, racism</h2>
<p>With over <a href="https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/">150 million confirmed cases of COVID-19</a>, worldwide and more than three million deaths, incalculable changes have upended every facet of life. </p>
<p>Pandemic suffering of collective trauma is exacerbated for those experiencing race-based marginalization and discrimination. This can include heightened <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annepidem.2020.08.032">fear, unease, indecisiveness, anxiety, confusion</a>, depression, deep mistrust, post-traumatic stress disorder, internalized racism, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-60327-437-1_8">suicidality and substance abuse</a>. </p>
<p>Race-related traumatic stress has been shown to increase cortisol levels, leading to <a href="https://www.bu.edu/articles/2020/experiencing-racism-may-damage-memory-cognition/">poor health, cognitive and mental health decline</a> and <a href="https://newsroom.heart.org/news/structural-racism-causes-poor-health-premature-death-from-heart-disease-and-stroke">earlier death</a>. Exposure to racial microaggressions such as being shunned, treated rudely and unfairly, hassled or made to feel inferior <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/713667453">can have long-term effects</a> on mental health. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-words-matter-the-negative-impacts-of-racial-microaggressions-on-indigenous-and-other-racialized-people-157637">Why words matter: The negative impacts of racial microaggressions on Indigenous and other racialized people</a>
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<p>It is also important to recognize that anti-Asian racism has disproportionately affected the elderly, women and youth. Women make up nearly 70 per cent <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/there-were-3-800-anti-asian-racist-incidents-mostly-against-n1261257">of the reported 3,800 anti-Asian hate incidents in the U.S.</a> and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/asian-racism-hate-canada-pandemic-1.5959788">more than 60 per cent of the reported 1,150 cases in Canada</a>.</p>
<p>Instilling <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352827318302362">positive ethnic identification</a> through family, school and peer support is ideal for buffering affects of discrimination and racism. Learning and <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/how-asian-immigrant-traumas-lead-to-mental-health-issues-we-shouldnt-be-ashamed-of_b_59284670e4b0065b20b632b4">speaking about historical trauma</a> from a place of compassion sets the stage for healing, and makes way for genesis of cultural pride and feelings of greater safety. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Woman stands holding protest sign" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397417/original/file-20210427-23-1vnroio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397417/original/file-20210427-23-1vnroio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397417/original/file-20210427-23-1vnroio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397417/original/file-20210427-23-1vnroio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397417/original/file-20210427-23-1vnroio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397417/original/file-20210427-23-1vnroio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397417/original/file-20210427-23-1vnroio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A woman holds a sign saying ‘NOT A FETISH, NOT INVISIBLE’ at a rally opposing discrimination against Asian people, in Toronto on March 28, 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young</span></span>
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<h2>Supporting Asian solidarity and allyship</h2>
<p>The rise of anti-Asian racism has increased mobilized efforts to address longstanding discrimination. </p>
<p>Efforts made through organizations around the world such as <a href="https://asianaustralianalliance.net/">Asian Australian Alliance</a>, <a href="https://www.covidracism.ca/">Fight COVID-19 Racism</a>, <a href="https://act2endracism.ca/">ACT2End Racism</a>, <a href="https://stopaapihate.org/">Stop AAPI Hate</a>, <a href="https://www.washthehate.com/">Wash the Hate</a>, <a href="https://www.stophateuk.org/">Stop Hate UK</a> and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-51294305">#IAmNotAVirus</a> have all helped increase visibility of anti-Asian racism. Through their work, and the work of individuals globally, we’ve been able to encourage reporting and increase efforts to directly highlight harmful Asian stereotypes. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-model-minority-myth-hides-the-racist-and-sexist-violence-experienced-by-asian-women-157667">The model minority myth hides the racist and sexist violence experienced by Asian women</a>
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<p>Asian people <a href="https://truthout.org/articles/non-black-people-of-color-are-mobilizing-to-end-complicity-in-black-death/">joined forces to protest anti-Black racism</a> following the death of George Floyd, which demonstrated cross-racial coalitions to combat <a href="https://civilrights.org/heres-10-things-you-can-do-to-stop-white-supremacy/">white supremacy</a>. This defies how <a href="http://doi.org/10.1177/0032329299027001005">Asians are often racially triangulated</a> in relation to Black and white people.</p>
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<img alt="Man holding protest sign" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397645/original/file-20210428-21-23rvig.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397645/original/file-20210428-21-23rvig.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397645/original/file-20210428-21-23rvig.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397645/original/file-20210428-21-23rvig.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397645/original/file-20210428-21-23rvig.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397645/original/file-20210428-21-23rvig.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397645/original/file-20210428-21-23rvig.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Asian people joined forces to protest anti-Black racism.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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<h2>The Asian Gold Ribbon campaign</h2>
<p>In the spirit of hope and optimism, I founded the <a href="https://asiangoldribbon.com/">Asian Gold Ribbon campaign</a> because I decided I could no longer stay invisible, <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-model-minority-myth-hides-the-racist-and-sexist-violence-experienced-by-asian-women-157667">meek and voiceless</a>. </p>
<p>The Asian Gold Ribbon campaign compels individuals, organizations and communities to demonstrate solidarity against anti-Asian racism and recognize its profound psychological impact. It calls for people to support healing, amplify Asian voices and educate to raise awareness. It inspires an ongoing commitment for an Asian movement and involves community outreach, a visibility campaign and <a href="https://fundly.com/the-asian-gold-ribbon-campaign">funds collected</a> to increase Asian mental health services.</p>
<p>During the month of May, we are calling for people around the world to wear gold ribbons to celebrate Asian Heritage Month. The inaugural Asian Gold Ribbon Day is Thurs., May 20, 2021. </p>
<p>The campaign aims to compel social change and contribute to the momentum of a sustained 21st-century Asian movement. As racial justice for one vulnerable group reflects justice for others, <a href="https://theconversation.com/as-asian-canadian-scholars-we-must-stopasianhate-by-fighting-all-forms-of-racism-157743">we must work together to eliminate racism and inspire visible acts of solidarity together</a> at this pivotal moment in time. </p>
<p>Support <a href="https://asiangoldribbon.com/portfolio_page/asian-gold-ribbon-day/">the campaign</a> by <a href="https://youtu.be/_zHraalWrgY">wearing a gold ribbon</a> on May 20.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/157664/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gina Wong is affiliated with the Asian Gold Ribbon campaign</span></em></p>As we celebrate Asian Heritage Month, the time is now to collectively centre dialogue against anti-Asian racism, with an optimistic view for a global reset.Gina Wong, Professor, Program Director, Psychologist, Athabasca UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1587322021-04-25T14:08:04Z2021-04-25T14:08:04ZHistory of Asian activism tells us to share the burden of responsibility in fighting racism<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394644/original/file-20210412-21-1bn1xsy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4493%2C3002&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Although we would like to think there is a big difference between racialized curiosity and physical violence, there is not. Rather, it is a spectrum of violence that hinges on the very assumptions behind a seemingly innocent question. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 2003, I was standing at a bus stop in Toronto when someone first asked me, “Where are you from?” </p>
<p>At the time, I attributed the question to idle curiosity but my perception of this question has changed over the years. This has been partly as a result of my work as a historian of migration and because of the ways I have listened to students talk about their experiences with race.</p>
<p>For citizens and newcomers alike, <a href="https://hbr.org/2020/10/whats-wrong-with-asking-where-are-you-from">the question of “Where are you from?”</a> is jarring because of the assumptions behind it. The questioner assumes difference, infers otherness and ignores deep histories of place and experience. </p>
<p>The rise in <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/reports-of-anti-asian-hate-crimes-are-surging-in-canada-during-the-covid-19-pandemic-1.5351481">anti-Asian violence</a> highlights the dangers of assuming that people are different. People are targeted because they are perceived as foreign rather than as fellow human beings and citizens. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/as-asian-canadian-scholars-we-must-stopasianhate-by-fighting-all-forms-of-racism-157743">As Asian Canadian scholars, we must #StopAsianHate by fighting all forms of racism</a>
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<p>Although we would like to think there is a big difference between racialized curiosity and physical violence, there is not. Rather, these two acts fall along a spectrum of violence that hinges on the very assumptions behind a seemingly innocent question. </p>
<p>In March, a 65-year-old Filipino woman was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/30/nyregion/asian-attack-nyc.html">violently attacked in Times Square</a>, New York, by a man who yelled “you do not belong here,” while a security guard and bystanders stood by and did nothing. This inaction was jarring, and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/30/nyregion/asian-attack-nyc.html">provoked public outrage</a>, but in some ways it was not surprising. </p>
<p>The burden of responsibility for responding, and changing the situation has always rested disproportionately with those immediately affected. </p>
<h2>History of exclusion</h2>
<p>When bystanders do nothing, they are channelling a historic phenomenon in which the victims of racism and prejudice must speak out and advocate on behalf of themselves. </p>
<p>This is as true of the racist immigration legislation that denied American citizenship to <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/americans-in-waiting-9780195336085">non-whites in 1790</a>, and governed <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691176215/the-good-immigrants">Chinese migration</a> to the United States and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199733132.001.0001">Canada</a>. Exclusionary laws facilitated the exploitation of labourers and denied the possibility for families to be reunited. </p>
<p>When American and Canadian governments eventually modified their racist immigration laws in the <a href="https://www.ubcpress.ca/the-triumph-of-citizenship">1960s</a>, they did not do so because they suddenly became enlightened. </p>
<p>They did so because people fought hard for justice and equality. </p>
<h2>History of activism</h2>
<p>Activism takes many shapes and forms. The <a href="https://www.asahibaseball.com/history.html">Vancouver Asahi Team</a> is a prime example of this, playing exemplary baseball from 1914 to 1941 in the face of racist treatment on and off the field. </p>
<p>Canadian soldiers such as <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/masumi-mitsui">Masumi Mitsui</a> who served in the First World War and then lobbied the B.C. government to grant Japanese Canadian veterans the right to vote, and <a href="http://www.ccmms.ca/veteran-stories/army/victor-j-y-louie/">Victor Louie</a> who lived through the <a href="https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/WorldWar2/manchuria.htm">Japanese attack on Manchuria</a> in 1937 and then served in the Canadian Army, were also activists — through their service but also by simply persisting. </p>
<p>In the U.S., 23-year-old Fred Korematsu <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/fred-korematsu-fought-against-japanese-internment-supreme-court-and-lost-180961967/">fought Japanese American exclusion orders</a> all the way to the Supreme Court, which heard his case and ruled against him in 1944. </p>
<p>After the Second World War, Asian people continued to fight for equality in the face of racist immigration laws. <a href="https://www.pc.gc.ca/apps/dfhd/page_nhs_eng.aspx?id=11991">Wong Foon Sien</a> of the <a href="http://www.chinatownsocieties.org/society/chinese-benevolent-association/">Chinese Benevolent Association in Vancouver</a> made a pilgrimage to Ottawa every year for over a decade, simply to ask, as he said, “for equality and nothing more.” </p>
<p>The governments of the U.S. and Canada did not simply decide that the internment of <a href="https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/japanese-relocation">120,000 Japanese Americans</a> and almost <a href="https://humanrights.ca/story/japanese-canadian-internment-and-the-struggle-for-redress">22,000 Japanese Canadians</a> during the Second World War was wrong and then choose to apologize. Rather, Japanese Americans and Japanese Canadians, along with their supporters, protested and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/japanese-canadian-internment-refusing-to-comply">resisted</a> the original internment orders, challenged the conditions of the camps throughout 1942 and 1943 (as historian <a href="https://uofmpress.ca/books/detail/civilian-internment-in-canada">Mikhail Bjorge</a> has carefully documented through his study of riots and protests in this period) and fought hard for <a href="http://najc.ca/history/">redress</a> after the war, and continue to fight in different arenas. </p>
<p>More recently, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Kitagawa">Mary Kitagawa</a> tirelessly lobbied the University of British Columbia to secure “a <a href="https://japanese-canadian-student-tribute.ubc.ca/">degree of justice</a>,” decades after the expulsion of Japanese Canadian students in 1942.</p>
<p>Activists faced considerable resistance and decades worth of work in their fight for recognition and reparations. And some of this resistance came from former <a href="http://torontonajc.ca/torontostory/chapter7.html">Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau</a>, who did not believe in apologizing for past mistakes.</p>
<p>As Japanese Canadian activist Roy Miki <a href="http://services.raincoast.com/scripts/b2b.wsc/featured?hh_isbn=9781597144988&ht_orig_from=raincoast">observed</a>, “seeking the full rights of citizenship, including the right to seek redress, had always been a large part of what ‘Japanese Canadian’ meant.”</p>
<h2>Role of advocacy and empathy</h2>
<p>To insist on the work that victims have done to secure justice, equality and redress is not to deny or overlook the important work by supporters and advocates (like that <a href="https://www.ubcpress.ca/voices-raised-in-protest">documented by historian Stephanie Bangarth</a>). Nor is it to suggest that this work has been entirely benign, or that it has not caused other forms of damage. This has been most notable in terms of settler colonialism and the continued marginalization of Black communities.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-model-minority-myth-hides-the-racist-and-sexist-violence-experienced-by-asian-women-157667">The model minority myth hides the racist and sexist violence experienced by Asian women</a>
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<p>It is, however, to underscore that the burden of responsibility for effecting change has always rested with those most impacted by violence and injustice in North America, whether it be Indigenous, Black, Latinx, Asian or other racialized people. And because this dynamic continues to be perpetuated, the possibility of doing nothing persists.</p>
<p>This dynamic results from different understandings and connections to historical and contemporary injustices. Solidarity and advocacy were possible historically when people perceived a common cause, or had a sense that larger ideals were at stake.</p>
<p>Recent statements of condemnation by political and civic leaders about anti-Asian violence are important and necessary. As are statements by <a href="https://www.iehs.org/statement-of-solidarity-with-professor-mae-ngai-and-all-aapi-survivors-of-racist-hate/">leading scholars</a> who can highlight injustices and speak to the broader issues. </p>
<p>Equally important is understanding how and where the impetus for change has come from historically and why it is important to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/22/us/afraid-cnn-special-report-asian-americans/index.html">listen when people say they are scared</a>. The burden of responsibility should not include convincing others that historical experiences, and present-day fears, are real and viscerally felt.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/158732/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laura Madokoro receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p>To remove the burden of responsibility, everyone must take over some of the work that diverse communities have been doing to combat prejudice and fear for decades.Laura Madokoro, Associate Professor, Department of History, Carleton UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1577432021-04-15T14:06:15Z2021-04-15T14:06:15ZAs Asian Canadian scholars, we must #StopAsianHate by fighting all forms of racism<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 250px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/as-asian-canadian-scholars-we-must-hashtag-stop-asian-hate" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Anti-Asian racism has been <a href="https://theconversation.com/works-written-130-years-ago-show-were-dealing-with-the-same-anti-asian-racism-158281">present in Canada for centuries</a>. It is deeply rooted in the historical formation of Canada through the <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/chinese-head-tax-in-canada">Chinese head tax</a>, <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/japanese-internment-banished-and-beyond-tears-feature">Japanese internment camps</a>, the <em>Electoral Franchise Act</em>, which <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/franchise">explicitly denied Chinese Canadians the right to vote</a>, and <a href="https://www.toronto.com/news-story/10349793-timeline-this-is-canada-s-history-of-anti-asian-racism-that-covid-19-has-amplified/">more</a>. It is embedded within the minds of Canadians. </p>
<p>In a recent interview, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attributed the rise of anti-Asian racism during COVID-19 partly to “<a href="https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/pandemic-and-more-aggressive-china-contributing-to-rise-in-anti-asian-racism-trudeau-says">a more assertive and aggressive China on the world stage, combined with a global pandemic that had its origins in China</a>.” By citing the pandemic and China’s foreign policy as causes of anti-Asian attacks, Trudeau is reinforcing this racist bias rather than fighting against it.</p>
<p>Contemporary anti-Asian racism stems from a history of systemic racism and racial profiling. It can be traced back to the “yellow peril” discourse that depicts Asians as a threat.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-the-yellow-peril-revisited-134115">Coronavirus: The 'yellow peril' revisited</a>
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<p>The pandemic serves as an opportunity for established, underlying currents of anti-Asian, and other forms of racism, to surface.</p>
<p>Anti-Asian racism affects us as Asian Canadians in our daily lives and in our careers. It is for this reason that we, a group of Asian Canadian scholars, have recently come together to discuss the structural roots of anti-Asian racism and the road ahead. </p>
<h2>Settler colonialism</h2>
<p>Canada is a <a href="https://globalsocialtheory.org/concepts/settler-colonialism/">settler colonial state</a>. This means the country was built on and still operates under colonial rule — settler colonialism is a process of foreign intrusion and domination where <a href="https://www.historians.org/publications-and-directories/perspectives-on-history/october-2015/a-typology-of-colonialism">large numbers of settlers claimed the land and power over it and its residents</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/not-in-the-past-colonialism-is-rooted-in-the-present-157395">Not in the past: Colonialism is rooted in the present</a>
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<p>This process involves <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv111jhvq">the decimation of Indigenous populations</a> by the state to make Canada “white.” It also involves immigrant exploitation and racial exclusion to keep Canada “white.”</p>
<p>Despite Asians (for example, early Chinese immigrants) <a href="https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/immigration/history-ethnic-cultural/early-chinese-canadians/Pages/history.aspx">arriving in Canada before</a> it became a nation, Asian people have never been fully accepted as Canadians.</p>
<p>Instead, from as early as the era of <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/railway-history">transcontinental railroad building</a>, which relied on the cheap labour of Chinese workers, Asians have been a vulnerable labour force whose existence was purposefully controlled at the border.</p>
<h2>A look at history</h2>
<p>Limiting Asian immigration began in 1885 with the imposition of <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/chinese-head-tax-in-canada">a head tax on Chinese migrants</a>. The Komagata Maru incident, that <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/komagata-maru">excluded immigrants from India</a>, illustrates the agenda to build Canada as “a white man’s country.”</p>
<p>Between 1895 and 1950, there were more than <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/british-columbia/article-weekend-rallies-planned-to-condemn-rise-in-anti-asian-racism/">175 anti-Asian laws</a> in Canada. They were created to assure white domination.</p>
<p>Today, Canada’s immigration policies continue to exploit Asian Canadians and immigrants all under the interests of white (re)settlement by forcing migrants to settle in particular parts of the country. Years ago, special <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/quebec-immigrant-investor-program-civil-servants-1.4830231">immigration incentives</a> were enacted to attract selected, privileged groups such as wealthy migrants and those with foreign capital investment.</p>
<p>The racialized temporary migrant labour programs such as migrant <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/work-canada/hire-permanent-foreign/caregiver-program.html">live-in caregiver program</a> (predominantly Filipina women), admit migrant workers into the country to perform labour deemed unattractive, yet necessary, for the well-being of Canadians. These migrant workers <a href="https://www.tungohan.com/publications/from-migrant-to-citizen-the-labour-market-integration-of-former-live-in-caregivers-in-canada/">often remain within a few, lower-skilled occupations</a> when they switch jobs, even after receiving legal permanent resident status. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-canada-stigmatizes-jeopardizes-essential-migrant-workers-138879">Coronavirus: Canada stigmatizes, jeopardizes essential migrant workers</a>
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<h2>The limits of multiculturalism</h2>
<p>The policy and practice of <a href="https://lop.parl.ca/sites/PublicWebsite/default/en_CA/ResearchPublications/200920E">multiculturalism</a> has largely failed to address widespread racial and ethnic disparities in Canada. Thus far, it has only served to maintain the status quo, <a href="https://doi.org/10.3138/9781442678972">preserving the cultural hegemony</a> of the dominant group. </p>
<p>After half a century of this policy being in place, racialized people are still invisible in many of Canada’s institutions. As education scholar Carl E. James has noted <a href="https://doi.org/10.3138/9781442678385-005">English Canadians, and to a lesser extent, French Canadians have continued to play a central role in defining Canadian society and culture</a>. </p>
<p>Canada’s “management” of ethno-cultural diversity through multiculturalism has <a href="https://doi.org/10.22230/cjc.2002v27n2a1297">also failed to control racism</a> against these communities. Instead, despite its pretence, Canadian multiculturalism provides a tacit basis for discrimination and racial violence.</p>
<p>Promoting multiculturalism as Canada’s national identity has <a href="https://www.yorku.ca/fhenry/colourofdemocracy.htm">allowed Canadians to ignore</a> the harsh lived reality of many minorities, and <a href="https://www.yorku.ca/fhenry/colourofdemocracy.htm">to refute the claim </a>that racism is alive and well in Canada. Denying <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/buy/2020-45459-001">its existence allows racism</a> to fester and persist. </p>
<p>This contributes not only to the rise of anti-Asian racism during COVID-19, but also to the fact that racism against Asians isn’t part of the discussion. Canada’s recent <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/campaigns/anti-racism-engagement/anti-racism-strategy.html">Anti-Racism Strategy</a> failed to mention long standing racial violence against Asians at all.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13639080.2011.630657">In accepting but not embracing</a> cultural difference, multiculturalism serves as an institutional mechanism that protects whites from social interaction with visible minorities. It has contributed to the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10714413.2011.597637">creation of segregated racial</a> and ethno-cultural enclaves.
Anti-Asian racism is integrally tied to the fact that Asian Canadians continue to be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10714413.2011.597637">segregated socially, economically and politically</a> in Canada.</p>
<p>By portraying Asians <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2008/03/07/ford_refuses_to_apologize_for_asian_comments.html">as hard-working</a>, independent, intelligent and economically prosperous, the model minority stereotype was created to support the view that systemic racism against Asians does not exist since they have “succeeded” in Canada. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-model-minority-myth-hides-the-racist-and-sexist-violence-experienced-by-asian-women-157667">The model minority myth hides the racist and sexist violence experienced by Asian women</a>
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<p>This myth denies the socio-economic, political and educational challenges faced by many working-class Asian Canadians. It also ignores the <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/45-28-0001/2020001/article/00042-eng.htm">tremendous heterogeneity and diversity within the broader Asian</a> Canadian population – which in reality, is made up of a multitude of ethnicities, cultures, languages, class and immigration experiences.</p>
<h2>Road ahead</h2>
<p>Anti-Asian racism is more widespread than we think. Solutions cannot be limited to educating people about Asian history in Canada and globally, or to the harms of anti-Asian racism. We need greater visibility of Asians and members of all racialized groups across sectors, as decision-makers and we must recognize their contributions throughout history and to contemporary society.</p>
<p>To fight anti-Asian racism means to <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2021/04/02/recommendations-stopping-anti-asian-racism-campuses-opinion">fight against any form of racism</a>. We must come together to do so and not forget what got us here.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/157743/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cary Wu receives funding from Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carol Liao receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), JW McConnell Foundation, Ivey Foundation, Trottier Foundation, Jarislowsky Foundation, and North Family Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span> Guida Man receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Min Zhou receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>S. Harris Ali receives funding from CIHR. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Weiguo Zhang receives funding from Canadian Institutes
of Health Research. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Abidin Kusno, Ann H. Kim, Dennis Kao, Hae Yeon Choo, Jing Zhao, Muyang Li, Sibo Chen, Sida Liu, and Zhifan Luo do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Fifteen Asian academics discuss the roots of anti-Asian racism and limits of multiculturalism in Canada while charting a path forward.Cary Wu, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, York University, CanadaAbidin Kusno, Professor, Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University, CanadaAnn H. Kim, Associate Professor, Sociology, York University, CanadaCarol Liao, Associate Professor, Allard School of Law, University of British ColumbiaDennis Kao, Associate Professor of Social Work, Carleton UniversityGuida Man, Associate Professor, Sociology, York University, CanadaHae Yeon Choo, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of TorontoJing Zhao, Research Associate, York Centre for Asian Research, University of British ColumbiaMin Zhou, Associate Professor, Sociology, University of VictoriaMuyang Li, Assistant Professor, Sociology, York University, CanadaS. Harris Ali, Professor, Sociology, York University, CanadaSibo Chen, Assistant Professor, School of Professional Communication, Toronto Metropolitan UniversitySida Liu, Associate Professor, Sociology, University of TorontoWeiguo Zhang, Associate Professor, Sociology, University of TorontoZhifan Luo, Research Associate at York Centre for Asian Research, University at Albany, State University of New YorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1582812021-04-11T11:47:51Z2021-04-11T11:47:51ZWriting from 130 years ago shows we’re still dealing with the same anti-Asian racism<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393621/original/file-20210406-21-1r2zfi1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C201%2C4183%2C2443&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Community members gather for a vigil in memory of the victims of the Atlanta shootings and to rally against anti-Asian racism in Ottawa.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In March, when a white man <a href="https://www.thecut.com/2021/03/8-people-killed-in-atlanta-rampage-6-of-them-asian-women.html">targeted and killed eight women in Atlanta, six of whom were Asian</a>, mainstream media and police initially <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-atlanta-attacks-were-not-just-racist-and-misogynist-they-painfully-reflect-the-society-we-live-in-157389">refused to categorize it as a racially motivated hate crime</a>. But for Asian people, across North America and globally, this tragedy was one more episode in a long history of anti-Asian violence. </p>
<p>Over 150 years ago, <a href="https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11825013">white settlers in the United States rounded up Chinese merchants and miners</a> and <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520256941/driven-out">put them onto burning barges, threw them into railway cars and even lynched them</a>. But this story is not limited to the U.S. — early Chinese immigrants were not welcome in Canada either. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/asian-americans-top-target-for-threats-and-harassment-during-pandemic-158011">Asian Americans top target for threats and harassment during pandemic</a>
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<p>This is documented in the life and works of Chinese-Canadian author and journalist <a href="http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/eaton_edith_maud_14E.html">Edith Eaton</a> (1865-1914). While researching <a href="https://www.mqup.ca/becoming-sui-sin-far-products-9780773547223.php"><em>Becoming Sui Sin Far: Early Fiction, Journalism, and Travel Writing by Edith Maude Eaton</em></a>, I discovered numerous accounts of early Canadian anti-Chinese racism in her work.</p>
<h2>Memoirs from the past show similar hatred</h2>
<p>In Eaton’s memoir <a href="http://essays.quotidiana.org/far/leaves_mental_portfolio/"><em>Leaves from the Mental Portfolio of an Eurasian</em></a>, she recalls being called “Chinky, Chinky, Chinaman, yellow-face, pig-tail, rat-eater,” after moving to North America with her family — a white father, Chinese mother and five siblings — in 1872.</p>
<p>Soon after the family’s arrival in Montréal, locals would call out “Chinese!” “Chinoise!” as they walked down the street. Classmates would pull Eaton’s hair, pinch her and refuse to sit beside her.</p>
<p>These taunts and torments were felt deeply by Eaton throughout her life. She wrote: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I have come from a race on my mother’s side which is said to be the most stolid and insensible to feeling of all races. Yet I look back over the years and see myself so keenly alive to every shade of sorrow and suffering that it is almost a pain to live.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Eaton published <a href="https://broadviewpress.com/product/mrs-spring-fragrance/#tab-description">a book of short stories depicting Chinese immigrants’ encounters with racism</a> under the pseudonym “Sui Sin Far” (Cantonese for narcissus). And her advocacy was appreciated by Chinese people in Montréal <a href="https://winnifredeatonarchive.org/timeline.html">who erected a memorial beside her grave</a> with the inscription “Yi bu wang hua,” which means “The righteous one does not forget China.” </p>
<p>Since the Atlanta shootings, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/30/nyregion/asian-attack-nyc.html">Asian women have been assaulted and even killed</a>. Asian people have been accused of causing <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2021/03/26/980480882/why-pandemics-give-birth-to-hate-from-black-death-to-covid-19">COVID-19</a>, <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2021/04/03/sery-kim-texas/">stealing intellectual property</a> and more. What Eaton described in her fiction and memoir continues to happen today.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="1896 newspaper article titled 'The Chinese Defended'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393620/original/file-20210406-13-18nfy9y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393620/original/file-20210406-13-18nfy9y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393620/original/file-20210406-13-18nfy9y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393620/original/file-20210406-13-18nfy9y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393620/original/file-20210406-13-18nfy9y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393620/original/file-20210406-13-18nfy9y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393620/original/file-20210406-13-18nfy9y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">In a signed letter to the editor, Edith Eaton defends Chinese people in Montréal who have been the target of hate.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Montréal Daily Star</span></span>
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<h2>1890s headlines interchangeable with today’s</h2>
<p>Eaton also documented anti-Chinese violence and championed the rights of Chinese immigrants in stories published in the <em>Montréal Star</em> and the <em>Montréal Witness</em> throughout the 1890s. </p>
<p>At the time, <a href="https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/immigration/history-ethnic-cultural/early-chinese-canadians/Pages/history.aspx#rac3">white men were convinced that Chinese immigrants were taking their jobs away</a> and that Chinese men — many of whom lived alone behind their shops (because of the <a href="https://humanrights.ca/story/the-chinese-head-tax-and-the-chinese-exclusion-act">Head Tax</a> — had an unfair advantage over white men with families. </p>
<p>In the <em>Montréal Star</em>, Eaton published <a href="https://issuu.com/reillyreads/docs/a_plea_for_the_chinaman?backgroundColor=%2523222222">A Plea for the Chinaman</a>, in which she called out politicians for mistreating Chinese men in Canada: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Every just person must feel his or her sense of justice outraged by the attacks which are being made by public men upon the Chinese who come to this country.… It makes one’s cheeks burn to read about men of high office standing up and abusing a lot of poor foreigners behind their backs and calling them all the bad names their tongues can utter.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Anti-Chinese violence was so common in 1890s Montréal that Chinese men carried police whistles in their pockets. In an <a href="https://www.mqup.ca/becoming-sui-sin-far-products-9780773547223.php">1895 article, titled Beaten to Death, Eaton noted</a> that even when they blew their whistles, no one would come to Chinese men’s aid. Bystanders often refused to identify their assailants and police told the men who had been assaulted that they should be arrested for bothering them.</p>
<p>The recent reports of a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/30/nyregion/asian-attack-nyc.html">security guard’s refusal to act when a Filipino woman was brutally beaten</a> uncannily recall the anti-Asian violence Eaton documented 125 years ago.</p>
<p>My research leads me to suspect that Eaton published other <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/image/419804834/?terms=Chinese%2Blaundries">unsigned articles documenting anti-Chinese racism</a> in Montreal newspapers at this time. She may have written a <em>Gazette</em> article reporting on youth who would gather nightly in Montreal’s Chinatown to <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/image/419785179/?terms=Chinese%2Bwindows">throw stones at passing Chinese men and through the plate glass windows of their businesses</a>, or those describing Chinese men being <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/image/419785179/?terms=Chinese%2Bwindows">punched, kicked or beaten to death</a>.</p>
<h2>What was written when?</h2>
<p>Looking at literature and journalism of the past such as Eaton’s can help illuminate the challenges of today. Her observations about people’s motivations — ignorance, jealousy, suspicion, competition — invite us to reflect on the motivations of today’s perpetrators of anti-Asian violence and conclude that not much has changed.</p>
<p>The anti-Asian racism recorded in Eaton’s work and journalism across Montreal persists today. Recent reports of <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/new-report-details-disturbing-rise-in-anti-asian-hate-crimes-in-canada-1.5358955">racist violence</a>, <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7734109/anti-asian-racism-canada-what-to-do/">hate crimes</a>, <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7726666/guelph-woman-anti-asian-slurs/">verbal harassment</a>, <a href="https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/opaque-policing-two-deaths-other-attacks-loom-as-asian-montrealers-fear-unrecognized-hate-crimes-1.5353647">opaque policing</a> and <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/04/03/983406365/in-response-to-anti-asian-hate-incidents-groups-step-up-trainings-for-bystanders">passive bystanders</a> could have been written more than a century ago. </p>
<p>We have a long way to go and a lot of work to do to make up for over a century of treating Asian people like they do not belong.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/158281/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mary Chapman receives funding from SSHRC and UBC's Faculty of Arts. </span></em></p>Chinese-Canadian journalist Edith Eaton documented anti-Asian racism in Canada in the late 19th and early 20th century. Over 100 years later, not much has changed.Mary Chapman, Professor of English and Academic Director of the Public Humanities Hub, University of British ColumbiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1578242021-04-04T12:00:50Z2021-04-04T12:00:50ZAnti-Asian violence: Mental health check-ins on your friends isn’t enough<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/392373/original/file-20210329-23-2c9n98.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=16%2C16%2C5447%2C3620&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">While mental health check-ins are important, there is more we can do. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Recently, my friend and I were talking over the phone about <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-03-26/racist-attacks-inspire-asian-americans-to-fight-back">the anti-Asian violence that has been taking place in the United States</a>. As a first-generation Filipino Canadian woman, my friend was particularly worried for elders and women in her community who are seen as <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/there-were-3-800-anti-asian-racist-incidents-mostly-against-n1261257">easy targets for violent racist attacks</a>. </p>
<p>But that’s not the only thing she was worried about:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I am dreading the messages and phone calls that are bound to come in any minute. The mental health check-ins, asking me if I am OK after what happened in Atlanta. I mean the violence did affect me as a person, but it did not affect me <em>personally</em>.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>She went on to explain how her co-worker, who happened to be a Black Canadian woman, had received similar check-in messages and calls after what happened to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/breonna-taylor-police.html">Breonna Taylor</a> and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52861726">George Floyd</a>. </p>
<p>People who she had gone to school with, people she had not talked to in years were sending messages asking if she was OK. And while <a href="https://idontmind.com/journal/just-checking-in-ten-minutes-ten-questions">we both agree that mental health check-ins are important</a>, there have to be other things people can do to be responsible citizens. </p>
<p>As a researcher engaged in work related to gender studies and criminal law, with an interest in governance and regulation, I wonder how mental health discourses are employed in the aftermath of racist violence. </p>
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<img alt="Group of girls sit hugging each other at protest" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/392387/original/file-20210329-23-108u6lc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/392387/original/file-20210329-23-108u6lc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392387/original/file-20210329-23-108u6lc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392387/original/file-20210329-23-108u6lc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392387/original/file-20210329-23-108u6lc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392387/original/file-20210329-23-108u6lc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392387/original/file-20210329-23-108u6lc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The #StopAsianHate movement is about more than a mass shooting, it is about demanding accountability in the face of white supremacy and hatred.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)</span></span>
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<h2>An exercise in governmentality</h2>
<p>These mental health check-ins are an exercise in <a href="https://criticallegalthinking.com/2014/12/02/governmentality-notes-thought-michel-foucault/">governmentality</a>. Governmentality is what French philosopher <a href="https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/The-Foucault-Effect%3A-Studies-in-Governmentality-Burchell-Gordon/c2322f53910e4fb9eba57a6c2232fc0f493edae5?p2df">Michel Foucault compared to the “art of government”</a>: it acknowledges that governance is not limited to the acts or decisions of a government alone, and that as a population, we govern each other as well. </p>
<p>An example of governmentality can be something as mundane as a professional dress code. If you were to show up at a formal event wearing ripped jeans and a tank top, other guests would likely give you a disapproving look. And while you have not broken the law, you have broken some code of conduct. It would not come as a surprise if you were asked to change into formal wear and come back. </p>
<p>There are three things that happened in the above example: there are rules you must follow; if you don’t follow the rules, you have done something wrong; the people who follow the rules are keeping you in line by ensuring you do as they do. </p>
<p>These elements can be applied to mental health check-ins as well. </p>
<h2>Governmentality and mental health check-ins</h2>
<p>As a South Asian woman, I can put myself in the shoes of a well-meaning ally and check in on my friends. I have seen the <a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2021-03-17/atlanta-shooting-stop-asian-hate-celebrity-reactions">numerous posts on social media</a> about how we <em>must</em> do mental health check-ins. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1372063887554539524"}"></div></p>
<p>So I listen, scroll through my contacts, friend lists and send <em>the</em> text: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Hey, I heard about what happened in Atlanta. I am so sorry. If you need to talk to someone about it, I’m here, OK?” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>My work as a good ally is done, I go about my day with a sense of accomplishment — but should I?</p>
<p>This is governance. We do what we tell each other we are <em>supposed</em> to do. And this is where most people think their work as a good ally and responsible citizen is over, but it isn’t. </p>
<h2>Striking a balance between mental health and justice</h2>
<p>The U.S., like many colonial-era countries, has a long <a href="https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2021/03/a-long-history-of-bigotry-against-asian-americans/">history of racial violence against Asian people</a>. The <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/politicians-businesses-advocates-speak-out-virtual-stopasianhate-day-n1262193">#StopAsianHate movement</a> is about more than a mass shooting; it is about demanding accountability in the face of white supremacy and hatred. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/power-in-numbers-making-visible-the-violence-against-racialized-women-157749">Power in numbers: Making visible the violence against racialized women</a>
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<img alt="Protesters stand holding signs in support of Stop Asian Hate" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/392385/original/file-20210329-23-1prem1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/392385/original/file-20210329-23-1prem1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392385/original/file-20210329-23-1prem1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392385/original/file-20210329-23-1prem1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392385/original/file-20210329-23-1prem1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392385/original/file-20210329-23-1prem1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392385/original/file-20210329-23-1prem1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Political leaders and entertainment media have contributed to the anti-Asian violence we’re seeing today.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Steven Senne)</span></span>
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<p>Thanks to political leaders like former U.S. president Donald Trump, who <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Health/trumps-chinese-virus-tweet-helped-lead-rise-racist/story?id=76530148">racialized COVID-19</a>, Asian people have been attacked, abused and murdered. The <a href="https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2021/03/22/objectifying-asian-women-racism">objectification of Asian women</a> in entertainment media has also contributed to the anti-Asian violence we’re witnessing today. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-model-minority-myth-hides-the-racist-and-sexist-violence-experienced-by-asian-women-157667">The model minority myth hides the racist and sexist violence experienced by Asian women</a>
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<p>Studies suggest that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/713667453">poor mental health among racial minorities is closely linked with their negative experiences related to racism</a>. Saying that we need to talk about mental health without addressing systemic racism and white supremacy is futile. </p>
<h2>Check in and demand better</h2>
<p>So what can one do if mental health check-ins are not enough? </p>
<p>Agitate and demand better policies. Facilitate healing for Asian communities without interjecting yourself in the process. Donate to, or volunteer with <a href="https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/politics/a35862857/stop-asian-hate-organizations-to-support/">organizations that are working on the ground</a> to help those affected.</p>
<p>Keeping in mind that you can always do more, do check in with your Asian friends. Because mental health is important, and so is justice.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/157824/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Diksha Kale does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In the wake of anti-Asian violence in North America, we need to demand accountability and not just stop after performing mental health check-ins.Diksha Kale, PhD Candidate (Legal Studies), Carleton UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.