This past Tuesday, a shooter motivated by anti-Asian racism opened fire on multiple Asians and Asian Americans in Atlanta, Georgia, killing eight people. This vicious hate crime is only the most recent in what has become an epidemic of violence against Asians and Asian Americans, resulting from the racist rhetoric that has flown regarding the origins of COVID-19. Recent violence is a continuation of anti-Asian sentiments originating in the early 1800’s.
According to the organization Stop AAPI Hate, almost 3,800 anti-Asian bias incidents were reported across the last year of the pandemic. These attacks are over twice as likely to be directed at women than men, which was exactly what happened in Tuesday’s shooting. Over 500 incidents have taken place in the first months of 2021 alone, showing that this trend isn’t slowing down. Hate crimes against the Asian and Asian American community spiked by 150% in 2020 as Asians and Asian Americans, often Asian women and non-binary people, were targeted on the street.
Assailants have been doing things like attempting to drive over Asian families with their cars or throwing acid on the face of Asian women. When these crimes have taken place, the perpetrators often return to the anti-Asian rhetoric that many high-profile figures have used when discussing COVID-19, and the alleged role of China in the global health crisis. Because many federal agencies are not required to report hate crime data, these figures are only a snapshot of what has become a national emergency of bias violence.
The murders were also the result of years of violence against sex workers, particularly Asian sex workers, who face both mass incarceration and attacks as a regular part of their lives. By ignoring the lived experiences of sex workers, the dignity of these people has been ignored as legislation, moral panics, and misogynistic targeting continues to proliferate. The killer in this case cast blame on the alleged sex workers in question, building on a long history of demonization to justify his bigoted rage. This type of violence really connects to the fetishization of Asian women which is deeply entrenched in the militarization and neocolonization of their home countries, and this intersecting story of oppression is one that we cannot look away from.
This violence is not an anomaly, but just the most recent in the United States’ long history of anti-Asian racism, including historic precedents like the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and Japanese Internment during World War II. Oregon itself had its own history of anti-Asian violence, such as riots attacking Asian railroad workers and efforts to stop Asian employment in the early 20th Century. Like many communities of color, the Asian community faces markedly higher rates of discrimination on the job, poorer health outcomes, and face police violence at markedly higher rates. There is also a long-standing racist trope that fetishizes and hyper-sexualizes Asian women and non-binary people, creating an added dimension to the focus that this attacker had on sex workers. These lived experiences extend all the way to Asian and Asian American members of our union, who have often reported being the target of fetishized treatment. These attacks are also part of the frightening rise in white supremacist violence, fueled by nativist rhetoric over the past several years and responsible for a lethal cocktail of anti-immigrant radicalism. This is a piece of American history and we must acknowledge and confront it so we can undo this legacy.
We have a responsibility to support marginalized communities against this very real threat, including confronting those responsible for creating this climate of anti-Asian bigotry. As healthcare professionals who have been on the front lines fighting COVID-19, we know that the spurious attempts to blame Asian communities for the virus plays into centuries-old racist stereotypes and is an attempt to divert blame from those in power who have refused to take a strong stance on strong stance of promoting health equity and inclusion that has a direct impact on public health. By singling out minority groups we rob ourselves of the most powerful tool we have to survive a healthcare crisis: our solidarity. We are in a shared struggle to stay healthy, to fight for healthcare and workplace justice, and to come out of this pandemic stronger than we came in.
We are a 5,800 member strong union that believes progressive change is only possible when it happens at the hands of those working to build our communities. For us to achieve our goals as a union, to make our healthcare system work for both staff and patients, it requires us to stand in unwavering solidarity with marginalized communities who are the target of white supremacist violence. We must be vocal about our position on anti-hate and remain committed to that fight because we know that our liberation is bound up in one another, and the only way we create a better world is when we build it together.
In memory of:
Soon Chung Park, age 74
Hyun Jung Grant, age 51
Suncha Kim, age 69
Yong Yue, age 63
Delaina Ashley Yaun, age 33
Paul Andre Michels, age 54
Xiaojie Tan, age 49
Daoyou Feng, age 44
-OFNHP Social Justice Committee