Racism

The Chinese massacre of 1871, when a mob in Los Angeles’ Chinatown attacked and murdered 19 Chinese residents, including a 15-year-old boy, a reflection of the growing anti-Asian sentiment that came to its climax with the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. The act banned the immigration of Chinese laborers, much as the Page Exclusion Act of 1875, the nation’s first restrictive immigration law, had prohibited the entry of Chinese women.

• 1790 — Naturalization Act: The act barred naturalization of any non-white person.

• 1854 — People vs. Hall: California's Supreme Court ruled an Asian person couldn't testify in court against a white person, setting the stage for anti-Asian violence to go unpunished.

• 1871 — Chinese massacre in Los Angeles: Following the shooting of a white man killed in crossfire of rival Chinese gangs, hundreds of white and Hispanic people attacked L.A.’s Chinese community on Oct. 24, 1871. Nearly 20 Chinese people were lynched or shot dead.

• 1875 — Page Act: Designed to prohibit women who had “lewd and immoral purposes” from entering the U.S., the Page Act was enforced mostly against Chinese women, the majority of whom were attempting to join Chinese men working in the country.

• 1882 — Chinese Exclusion Act: The law banned immigration of Chinese laborers. It wasn’t repealed until 1943.

• 1885 — Rock Springs massacre: White miners in Wyoming Territory attacked Chinese miners, killing 28 and wounding several others.

• 1922-1923 — Supreme Court on citizenship: In separate cases in 1922 and 1923, the Supreme Court ruled that a Japanese-born man and an Indian-born man were not white and ineligible for naturalization.

• 1924 — Johnson Reed Act: The law effectively blocked immigration from Asia and drastically cut the number of immigrants allowed to enter the U.S.

• 1942-1945 — Japanese internment: During World War II, the U.S. forcedover 100,000 people of Japanese descent — the majority of whom were U.S. citizens — into internment camps.

• Late 1970s-early 1980s — KKK attacks: The Ku Klux Klan, claiming the Vietnamese fishermen were stealing American jobs, patrolled the waters off the coast of Texas and attacked the fishermen’s boats.

• 1982 — Murder of Vincent Chin: Two white men in Michigan beat Vincent Chin, a Chinese American man, to death, blaming him for the success of the Japanese auto industry. They served no jail time.

• 2012 — Sikh Temple shooting: A white supremacist fatally shot six people at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin on Aug. 5, 2012, a. A seventh victim died of his injuries last year. The attack came amid a surge of post-9/11 violence against Muslims or anyone perceived to be Muslim, including many South Asians.

• 2020 — Anti-Asian hate crimes surge: Last year saw a surge in anti-Asian hate crimes that many attributed to anti-Asian rhetoric during the coronavirus pandemic.

• 2021 — Georgia shootings: Asian Americans expressed alarm following the March 16 shootings at three spas near Atlanta, Georgia. Eight people were killed, including six Asian women.

A study published in Ethnic and Racial Studies found that Asian Americans who encountered COVID-19-related discrimination experienced higher levels of anxiety and depression. And another review of 121 studies found that youths who experienced discrimination were more likely to develop chronic mental health problems.

The COVID-19 pandemic is linked to a rise in stigma and discrimination against Chinese and other Asians, which is likely to have a negative impact on mental health, especially when combined with additional outbreak-related stressors.

Mental disorders (e.g., depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder) and subclinical stress responses (e.g., fear, sleep disturbances) are common disaster sequelae that can last for months or years. The current pandemic is unique in its enormous impact on morbidity and mortality and the social and economic environment globally. These factors, coupled with increasing anti-Asian rhetoric and actions, risk increasing inequities in mental health outcomes and service use for Asian groups. Racial discrimination such as being treated unfairly, hassled, or made to feel inferior has been linked with worse mental health including general distress, depression, and anxiety. Understanding the intersection of current mental health needs, COVID-related drivers of distress, and anti-Asian stigma is critical to address mental health issues, promote well-being, and achieve community recovery as the pandemic and its consequences continue to unfold.

Australian Psychological Society

To address this generalization of stigma, we must leverage insights from empirically tested strategies. Beyond education, we recommend actively challenging stereotypes by presenting them as “unrepresentative or atypical”, that is, “individuals who look like they are from China are not more likely to spread corona- virus,” and via contact-based approaches—that is, presenting Asian American individuals who disconfirm stereotypes by actively combating spread of the virus, which have shown efficacy for reducing stigma previously. Further, we must harness novel dissemination strategies and promote these messages on social media, which could help counter the misinformation being perpetuated on these platforms.

Evidence already indicates that the pandemic disproportionately affects racial/ethnic minorities including immigrants, who are more likely to have limited health care access, precarious work, and lack of social protections to respond to this anticipated increase in mental health problems, we call on national, state, and local agencies to ensure investments in culturally appropriate mental health services and community-based outreach to Asian communities that may be disproportionately affected. In addition to improving national responses to the growing threat of global pandemics, this presents opportunities to simultaneously mitigate the effects of stigma and psychological trauma in future viral outbreaks.

1. The AAPI Community Fund: Working with trusted AAPI organizations working to rectify the racial inequalities in our society.

2. Hate is a Virus: A nonprofit community of mobilizers and amplifiers that exists to dismantle racism and hate

3. Asian Americans Advancing Justice: Fighting for civil rights and empowering Asian Americans to create a more just America for all.

4. National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum: To build collective power with AAPI women and girls to gain full agency over their lives, families, and communities.

5. Asian Counseling and Referral Service: ACRS provides programs and services in a culturally appropriate setting in order to improve the lives of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, whether immigrant, refugee or native-born.