#StopAAPIHate
The Atlanta shootings at three Georgia SPAs left eight people dead. Six of them were Asian women. The terrorist is a white, cisgender, christian man. He's still alive. He killed eight people and he was arrested alive. Breonna Taylor was killed by police while she was sleeping. Just saying...
But this is just the latest of a long series of events that have been taking place in America. Of course, the previous administration had done nothing about them:
Types of Discrimination
● Verbal harassment (68.1%) and shunning (20.5%) (i.e., the deliberate avoidance
of Asian Americans) make up the two largest proportions of the total incidents
reported.
● Physical assault (11.1%) comprises the third largest category of the total
incidents.
● Civil rights violations — e.g., workplace discrimination, refusal of service, and
being barred from transportation — account for 8.5% of the total incidents.
● Online harassment makes up 6.8% of the total incidents.
National Trends
● Women report hate incidents 2.3 times more than men.
● Youths (0 to 17 years old) report 12.6% of incidents and seniors (60 years old
and older) report 6.2% of the total incidents.
● Chinese are the largest ethnic group (42.2%) that report experiencing hate,
followed by Koreans (14.8%), Vietnamese (8.5%), and Filipinos (7.9%).
● Incident reports come from all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
● Businesses are the primary site of discrimination (35.4%), followed by public
streets (25.3%), and public parks (9.8%). Online incidents account for 10.8% of
the total incidents.
This trend has been escalating and the night those women were shot, IMPOTUS2 went on Fox News and repeated his use of 'China Virus'. A slur he has used many, many times since the pandemic started. Talk about words having power. Many people disregard language as the driver of violence. They disregard that racist, demeaning, inflammatory language promotes verbal assaults that degenerate into physical attacks that turn into murder. Cheeto has called COVID-19 the China Virus and Kung Flu many, many times. The Right Wing ecosystem in which he thrives amplified these slurs. Now we have a man killing Asian women because he can. How long before they add 'he heard that' to the 'he was having a bad day' excuse?
Trump even used an anti-Chinese slur during his interview this evening on Fox, just before news trickled out of a mass shooting in the Atlanta area that apparently targeted Asians and left 8 people dead pic.twitter.com/UY56F9WWxY
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 17, 2021
But this is not the first time there's been anti-Asian sentiment in America. It's been here for awhile. Please note:
This is not the first time this has happened in America. This is not the first time that Asian people have suffered racism in America. America has a long story of bigotry and racism against 'others', especially those who are not white.
But there's things that can be done:
We're asking for the mainstream media (CNN, MSNBC, FOX NEWS, WASHPOST, LA TIMES, NYT) to step up and give this national issue some visibility and coverage. We cannot keep this to the AAPI community only, we need this to be a movement and issue ALL Americans are aware of to help prevent these crimes.
Our communities stand united against racism. Hate against Asian American Pacific Islander communities has risen during the COVID-19 pandemic. Together, we can stop it.
On the other hand, may I suggest some reading material for your Spring Break so you understand the Asian experience better? Here you go:
Also, remember to support your local Asian-American owned business, check on your AAPI friends and family, watch Asian movies and even order takeout from your local Asian food restaurant. Make Asians feel like they're part of your community. What happened in Atlanta can happen again at any time. We can't say we were not warned.
XOXO
The worst thing about the rise of Trump is that it has encouraged and emboldened every racist piece of shit to crawl out from under their rocks and act out. We need to condemn them in no uncertain terms and also explain why they are wrong, which apparently is a mystery to many people.
ReplyDeletePandora's Box
DeleteThat is so true!
DeletePandora's Box, as Jimmy puts it. I think that racism and white supremacy have always been part of American Culture, but the raise of IMPUTS2 brought it all to the surface. What we should not forget is that they need to be shamed and shunned.
XOXO
The most disgusting art is the police officer who told a gathering of news folk that the murderer had a bad day.
ReplyDeleteThis is a Hate Crime. This murderer needs to be locked up.
as does the sheriff's spokesperson for being a MAGAt hate-monger.
DeleteActually, reading about those comments is what made me write this post. I was BEYOND incensed with the open display of injustice, gaslighting and privilege. And these are the people in charge of policing the country.
DeleteXOXO
As one pundit put it, it is very difficult to prove a hate crime against Asians in this instance. BUT, she said, the GA hate crimes law also covers women in general terms. So the POS that did this and tried to say it wasn't because they were Asian, that it was about a "sex addiction" can still be charged with a hate crime.
ReplyDeleteThe sheriff who said the the perp "had a bad day" is now off the case. He tried to walk it back but his social media posts caught up with him.
Oh, then there is Rep Chip Roy of TX who said he feels the "bad guys, the ChiComs" should be hung with a rope form a tall oak tree. Then - just like his hero, DJT - doubled down with "I meant it."
Aren't we just so lucky to have so many disgusting people in government?
XOXO
So true, Big.
DeleteI read about the hate crimes against women, too. I hope they throw the book at this idiot. Sex addiction my ass. White supremacy: he saw Asian women as sex objects ready to fulfill his needs and he killed them because he had de-personlized them. They were not people, just objects of his lust. Talk about entitlement.
XOXO
This is a very complicated situation. While Loser #45 threw gasoline on the fire, the real resentment against Asian Americans really took off after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. It's the reason a generation had no problem with Dr. Seuss using Asian stereotypes. Because the distrust in Asian Americans is so ingrained in many of the population, this is not something that is going to be resolved quickly or easily.
ReplyDeleteOh, Americans have always 'othered' other races and ethnicities because it's convenient: you use them for labor or pleasure and then demonize them for being. Asian women are hypersexualized as submissive and available. Asian men are infantilized. Asian customs are appropriated. It's the American way.
DeleteXOXO
Again, the orange ogre opened the floodgates and basically gave racists everywhere to let it all hang out. Well... it's time to cut it off at the root. Fox News is dangerous. They have nothing on Biden, so they resort to stirring the pot with the most divisive of propaganda. Fox News IS a hate crime and has been for a long time. I watched a report on NBC news re: I believe it was the senate was talking about violence against Asian Americans... and the repugs want to make this a free speech issue. THIS is the mountain they choose to die on? PRO VIOLENCE against those who are not white privileged pcs. of crap. F 'Em The Repugs are a hate crime in progress. A senator who is Asian spoke and I teared up hearing the terror in her voice. I am through with white males who have not evolved and want power for power's sake. Empathy needs to be taught in our school system... because obviously all these a-holes managed to become late-middle age azzhats and never learned that lesson. We may not be able to resolve this overnight... but if we do not call attention to it, label it what it is, and do so LOUDLY? Then it will never get resolved.
ReplyDeleteYep.
DeleteTwitler made it admissible to be racist. Now his followers are openly racist without fearing consequences. Racists should be called racist to their faces. That's what I do.
But you know that empathy is considered a lesser emotion? Talibangelists are against it because of course they are. Othering people is their favorite way of making money.
XOXO
Midnight Magpie a reader of mine emailed last week and said it's beyond me why anyone would want to move to the US.
ReplyDeleteI starting to ask myself that same question. Its just getting worst.
Maddie, I've asked that question myself. I've also asked why anyone would want to remain here if it was possible to leave. As soon as it is possible, we will.
DeleteOh, it's something I asked someone who told me the United States was the best country in the world. They tried to straw man me into the old 'but other countries...'. Fuck that. The United States has never been one of the 'best countries'. It's a good country is you are white, cisgender and xtianist. All the privileges are bestowed on you that way. The image people abroad have of the United States is a lie. Perpetuated by the media.
DeleteXOXO
I did not imagine all this racism in USA and all these racist crimes.
ReplyDeleteIt's terrible, Xersex.
DeleteAfter Cheetolinini, the 'othering' of some races and ethnicities has gotten way worse. It's always been there, but now it's blatant.
XOXO
So let me tell you something: in the hours that I was reading and writing my comment, a news and a video (with encrypted faces) emerged on the network in which a boy was beaten in a Roman subway, just because he had given a kiss to the his boyfriend. So, as you can see, you don't have a whole monopoly on homophobia.
DeleteOh, that happens here too. Especially with Transgender people. But the shootings were racially motivated, they did not have to do with gender orientation. Bigotry and racism. They're everywhere.
DeleteXOXO
This is nothing new. As you pointed out there is a long list of anti-Asian incidents, some perpetrated by the government. Even George Takei in his youth was subjected to the Japanese interment during WW II.
ReplyDeleteThe land of the free is now a myth. We are all prisoners of hate and suspicion of “others.” The “good guy” with a gun trope is hogwash. It takes very little for someone to snap and go on a rampage.
We do need to call it out, loud and clear. And the MSM needs to amplify it. And fuck Faux “News.”
XOXO 👨❤️💋👨
I am beyond over the racists getting away with murder.
DeleteLiterally. The Land of the Free is for the White, Cisgender and Religulous. It's always been and it will be until there's a change.
XOXO