You've probably heard about anti-AAPI (Asian-American/Pacific Islander) hate crimes, either in the news, social media, or you may have overheard it from a conversation. Many of these hate crimes started at the beginning of the pandemic in the spring of 2020, and have increased. This all started when a virus from Wuhuan, China spread around the world infecting many people. Former president Trump addressed the matter as “The China Virus," targeting and blaming China, which led to the targeting of Chinese people. This isn't the first time people have targeted the AAPI community. It must stop.

When people first think about “Americans,” Asians aren't usually referred to, despite their long history in the country. And many people all over the world don't even try to distinguish between Asian ethnicities. The term “Asian or Asian-American,” refers to people from countries such as China, Korea, Japan, Mongolia, Thailand, Myanmar (Burma), Laos, Cambodia, The Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Middle East, India, and so on. But, it is usually referred to as people of East or Southeast Asian or Pacific Islander descent.

Anti-AAPI hate crimes go back 100 years when the first Chinese immigrants came to America during the 1800s. It's crazy to think that this is still happening to this day! The Chinese were the first Asian people to come to America and were fleeing from poverty because of the economic chaos in China. They mostly settled in the western United States. They were first stereotyped as “dirty” or “unclean” because they worked as builders for infrastructure― railroads, buildings, etc.― and they were not given the same salary as European/Caucasian immigrants. They were also depicted as having “evil-looking eyes'' and wearing their hair in a long braid. These exaggerated features emphasized how the new immigrants didn't quite look like other White people.

Have you ever heard of the term Yellow Peril? This racist-color term is used to refer to people of Asian descent as dangerous to Americans. This fear started the first Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882. This prevented Chinese people from entering certain places of the U.S. because of who they are and how they look. This Yellow Peril boiled over from racism into violence.

On October 31st, 1880 in Denver’s Chinatown, an angry mob rallied and attacked all Chinese residents and businesses and killed one resident. This is only one out of 150 Anti-Asian hate crimes that happened during the 1870-1880s in the West. And this is only the beginning.

In 1942, two months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, 120,000 people of Japanese descent were rounded up and were taken into incarceration camps, where they would be kept for more than three years. They were incarcerated just because Japan was an enemy of the United States during World War II. This also happened with people of Vietnamese descent. In 1981 the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) set fire to Vietnamese refugees’ houses and boats in Texas after the Vietnam war.

In 1982, Japanese car companies were succeeding while there was a Detroit auto workers crisis. Vincent Chin, 28, a Chinese-American was beaten to death by two White autoworkers (Ronald Ebens and Michael Nitz); who assumed that he was Japanese. Although, if Vincent Chin were to be Japanese, it is still not right to take your anger out with violence! The two men were charged with only three years of probation and a $3,000 fine, even though these two men beat a man to death out of anger.

Still, the violence continued. Ten years later in 1992, Korean businesses in Los Angeles were looted and destroyed during the protests and riots following the police beating of Rodney King. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001, there were over 300 cases of violence and discrimination against Sikh Americans in the first month after the attack.

And this is still happening to this day. This year, in 2021, a White man opened fire at three spas around Atlanta, Georgia, killing eight people, including six women of Asian descent. This is just one of the many cases of harassment against the AAPI community around the country.

Ending these racial hate crimes is not an easy thing to do after centuries of hate, discrimination, violence, and oppression. President Biden calls these crimes “un-American,” even though racism runs deep in American history. We should acknowledge, recognize, and learn from the dark past that brought us here to this day.

Sources: Try Guys - We Need To Talk About Anti-Asian Hate (Youtube), Silent No More (Cady Lang)