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WASHINGTON, United States – As the Covid-19 pandemic devastated the United States, Esther Lim became increasingly concerned about the well-being of her parents and her own, not only for their health, but also for their safety in the face of the increasing attacks on Asians. Americans.
When her friend was injured in a hit-and-run accident, in what she firmly believes was a hateful attack, she decided to take action.
“I wanted to do something more proactive instead of wallowing in fear,” Lim, who is Korean-American, told AFP.
So Lim, 32, bought pepper spray for his mother, started learning judo from his father, and wrote “How to Report a Hate Crime,” an informational booklet with tips on dealing with the police and phrases written in English. to show passersby. ask for help.
Starting this year, Lim has started printing the brochure in six languages: Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Thai and Vietnamese, with more on the way, including Tagalog and Khmer. He distributes them to Asian friends and community centers in Los Angeles.
She feels that her work is more important than ever.
Reports of attacks, mainly targeting elderly Asian Americans, have skyrocketed in recent months, fueled, activists believe, by talks about the “Chinese virus” by former President Donald Trump and others.
In an address to the nation Thursday, President Joe Biden strongly condemned what he called “vicious hate crimes against Asian Americans who have been attacked, harassed, blamed and made scapegoats.”
“It’s wrong. It’s anti-American. And it must end,” he said.
Documented incidents range from the looting of Asian-owned businesses, the vandalism of houses and cars with insults, to violent and sometimes fatal attacks on the streets.
People of Filipino, Thai, Japanese, Laotian, Korean and Chinese descent have been targeted.
While racial motivation can be difficult to establish, a study from the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at CSU San Bernardino found that reported hate crimes against Asians nearly tripled from 49 to 122 cases last year in 16 major cities in the United States, including New York. and Los Angeles, even as overall hate crimes fell seven percent.
The report analyzed events categorized as criminal in nature and showing evidence of ethnic or racial bias, using preliminary data from local police.
‘Protect the community’
Just days into his presidency, Biden signed an executive order on January 26 condemning racism towards the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) community during the pandemic.
States are doing the same, with California and New York allocating more resources to combat anti-Asian racism and bills in the pipeline in New York.
But “I don’t think it’s going to get there fast,” Lim said.
So like her, community members are taking matters into their own hands: campaigning online, raising funds for groups like Stop AAPI Hate, and raising awareness through hashtags like #NotYourModelMinority.
Across California, groups of volunteers have begun escorting older Asian citizens around the city.
Jimmy Bounphensy founded one such group called Asians With Attitudes to patrol the Chinatown neighborhood in Oakland, California, after a series of violent attacks and robberies.
At first alone, he was soon joined by other volunteers.
“If I can save a person, then I am happy,” he told AFP while on patrol.
“My presence and our presence is to let other people know that we are really here trying to protect the community at all costs, to make sure everyone goes home safely.
“I think we made an impact.”
‘Those days are over’
While the absolute number of hate crimes remains relatively small, Cynthia Choi, co-executive director of Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA), which co-founded advocacy group Stop AAPI Hate, says there are likely to be many more low-level incidents. that are not detected. .
Stop AAPI Hate found that more than 2,800 incidents of racism and discrimination, including non-physical forms, targeting Asian Americans were reported online across the United States between March and December.
“The recent increase has to do with the fact that China is blamed” for Covid-19, Choi told AFP. “And then combine it with the racist rhetoric of the former president … and other elected officials.”
Beyond the rhetoric linked to the pandemic, the crime wave has unleashed a kind of reckoning on anti-Asian sentiment in the United States, whose roots go back “since Asians came to the United States,” in the words of Liz. Kleinrock. an anti-bias, anti-racist educator and writer.
Examples range from mass lynchings of Chinese workers in the late 1800s, to the Chinese Exclusion Act, the only U.S. immigration law that excludes an entire ethnic group, to the mass internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. World.
Stereotypes related to the AAPI community include what is known as the model minority myth, which portrays the diverse Asian diaspora as monolithic and “white adjacent.”
That, activists argue, had the effect of erasing a mixed history and portraying the community as immune to racism, meaning that Asians are often left out of racial recognition.
“Whatever kind of acceptance … that Asians have in America has always been conditional,” says Kleinrock, who is Korean-American.
It implies that “Asians are only respected and valued when we keep our heads down … and line up,” he said.
“Well those days are over.” – French Media Agency
