Why should more attention go to stopping the escalating racism against AAPI?

By Peggy Weng, 2025

Published 4/8/22

Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic, hate against the Asian community skyrocketed. In a poll conducted in the pandemic, about 1 in 4 Americans of different races witnessed Asians being held responsible for the spread of COVID. The Chinese were especially blamed because they claimed that the virus initially originated from Wuhan, China. Many reported that they were verbally assaulted, or spit on while casually walking in a public area. Some also were discriminated against.

Bryant Lin, a Chinese-American doctor, experienced this during the pandemic when one of his patients called his clinic to ask if he was from China because of his name, and wanted to cancel the appointment due to the fact that it was a Chinese doctor. In the streets, Asian-Americans were told to “go back where they came from,” because they were “spreading the virus.” Words like “Chinese virus" or "Kung flu” became widespread. Not only the Chinese people were harassed, but Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese and more also felt the surge of racism.

Worse, many Asians were even killed recently. Almost one year ago on March 16, 2021, Robert Aaron Long entered three spas in Atlanta with a gun and shot eight victims dead, six of them were Asian. This posed a great threat to the Asian community in Atlanta as they witnessed a horrible act of intended racism. The families of the victims would never forget this moment. Just a few months ago in January 2022, Michelle Go, 40 years old, was pushed in front of an incoming subway in New York City. In addition, others were followed to their houses and beaten badly.

This needs to be stopped; Asian Americans are getting killed and assaulted for absolutely no reason. The effects of these actions include the mental health damage to those who experienced the discrimination and the emotional pain for those who lost family members from violence. As an Asian-American, I think that minorities like us deserve more respect and a louder voice.