The Decades of Discrimination Behind Rising Anti-Asian Violence

After witnessing an ‘alarming level’ of Anti-Asian hate incidents in March - December 2020, the US is now enduring a startling escalation of violence. Many of the high-profile incidents have taken place in California and New York; both are states with high Asian American populations. Though these offences appear to be motivated by Coronavirus conspiracy theories, the roots of discrimination go far deeper than Donald Trump’s inflammatory remarks on the “China virus”.

In the early 20th century, Asia (and particularly Japan) represented a growing threat to the West due to its military power. This became known as the “Yellow Peril”, and fuelled racism, paranoia, and the passing of unfair domestic laws. For example, the California Alien Land Law of 1913 prevented immigrant farmers from owning land or signing long-term leases.

White America’s view of Asian Americans was characterised by popular stories about the evil “Dr Fu Manchu”, written by English author Sax Rohmer and published between 1912 and 1959. Fu Manchu was ‘the Yellow Peril incarnate in one man’, who hated the West and desired global domination. The books were popular and generated a series of films starring Christopher Lee (in “yellow face”) as the villain.

In WWII, Americans began to distinguish between “good Asians” and “bad Asians”. Whilst the US was keen to ally with China, it perceived Japanese Americans and immigrants as a threat to national security. After the bombing of Pearl Harbour in December 1941, over 100,000 people of Japanese descent were incarcerated in internment camps. This exacerbated prejudice in local communities, and some Asian Americans began to wear badges saying “Chinese” or “Filipino”.

In 1965, at the height of the Civil Rights Movement, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Immigration and Nationality Act. This ended the preference for white immigrants by abolishing national-origins quotas. The act enabled family reunification by prioritising relatives of US citizens, as well as refugees and skilled workers. In particular, this triggered a wave of immigrants from South-East Asia. When the Vietnam war ended in 1975, a significant number of well-educated and English-speaking Vietnamese nationals fled their country in fear of communist reprisals.

The change of policy in 1965 led to the stereotype of Asian Americans as the “Model Minority”. Until 1977, immigration from mainland China had been almost non-existent. The US suddenly gained many white-collar Chinese and Korean workers, as well as college students, who emigrated for economic opportunity. They often moved to the affluent suburbs, rather than poorer “Chinatown” areas.

A 1966 New York Times article portrayed Japanese Americans as more successful than their white peers, having found economic success despite past hardships. This idea stuck, despite being extremely inaccurate. The earlier immigrants had generally stayed poor, and were unable to realise the “American dream”. On the other hand, the post-1965 immigrants were embraced as the “Model Minority” due to due to their middle-class backgrounds and suburban proximity to white Americans. Similarly, a 1987 edition of Time magazine celebrated ‘Those Asian American Whiz Kids”.

Yet discrimination continued. The rising economic and manufacturing powers in South-East Asia were perceived as a threat to declining US industry. As a result, Asian Americans received blame for local hardship. One Chinese American, Vincent Chin, was killed by two laid-off auto workers in Detroit. Neither served prison time.

Most of all, the “Model Minority” myth is problematic as it treats Asian Americans as a homogenous group. Aside from the obvious plethora of nationalities, cultures, languages and religions, data shows wide disparities in education, income, and standard of living. A 2016 study showed that Asian Americans have the largest income gap of any demographic in the US. The top ten percent of Asians by income distribution earned, on average, $135,529. In comparison, the bottom ten percent lived on just $12,478. Furthermore, this income gap increased 77% from 1977 to 2016 – far more than White, Hispanic, or Black demographics.

In 2015, Donald Trump launched his campaign, and immediately began a crusade of discrimination against Asian Americans and other minority ethnic groups. Highlighting the economic power of South-East Asia, and reigniting old paranoia, he said:

“We owe China $1.3 trillion. We owe Japan more than that. So they come in, they take our jobs, they take our money, and then they loan us back the money, and we pay them in interest, and then the dollar goes up so their deal’s even better. How stupid are our leaders?”

During his presidency, Trump also clashed with Chinese companies, such as Bytedance (owners of TikTok). Through technology and social media, China presents a legitimate threat due to its own widespread collection of data and surveillance on citizens. However, this also made it a convenient target during the Coronavirus pandemic. After all, it was easier to blame US deaths and economic damage on an untrustworthy, distant superpower, than risk damaging Trump’s chances of re-election.

Between March and December 2020, AAPI received 2,808 first-hand accounts of Anti-Asian hate across the US. The most common forms were verbal harassment (70.9%) and shunning/avoidance (21.4%). Victims also experienced physical assault (8.7%), civil rights violations (8%), and coughing/spitting (6.4%). In the words of Manjusha Kulkarni (executive director of the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council, and a leader of Stop AAPI Hate), “Asian-Americans are facing increasing racist and xenophobic attacks, catalysed by rhetoric from the president and other government leadership".

In the aftermath of the 2020 Presidential Election, a number of shocking instances of Anti-Asian hate have been reported. On 28th January 2021, in San Francisco, 84-year-old Thai immigrant Vichi Ratanapakdee died after being shoved to the ground while walking in his neighbourhood. In New York, one elderly Chinese woman was slapped and set on fire, while a 61 year-old Filipino woman was slashed across the face with a box cutter.

President Joe Biden has denounced the Trump administration’s discriminatory language, but activists argue this does not go far enough to address urgent policy concerns. Some suggest that the wide Asian-American label hides important data, such as the high infection and death rates suffered by Pacific Island nationalities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Stop AAPI Hate has also urged the Attorney General to explore civil actions for Anti-Asian incidents. This would put the onus of tackling racism on the Federal Government, instead of victims.