From xxxxxx <[email protected]>
Subject Anti-Asian Violence and the U.S. Role in Asia
Date May 11, 2021 12:05 AM
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[What are fundamental causes resulting in thousands of documented
acts of anti-Asian hatred and violence, in many instances directed at
Asian American women and elders? This analysis must include the long
history of U.S. global anti-Asian animus. ] [[link removed]]

ANTI-ASIAN VIOLENCE AND THE U.S. ROLE IN ASIA  
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Kent Wong and Stewart Kwoh
May 10, 2021
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_ What are fundamental causes resulting in thousands of documented
acts of anti-Asian hatred and violence, in many instances directed at
Asian American women and elders? This analysis must include the long
history of U.S. global anti-Asian animus. _

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The outcry against anti-Asian violence triggered by the mass killings
in Atlanta on March 16, when six Asian American women lost their
lives, has ignited protests throughout the country. As we join
together to denounce violence and to create a better future, we must
also turn to the past to evaluate the fundamental causes that
have resulted in the thousands of documented acts of anti-Asian hatred
and violence, in many instances directed at Asian American women and
elders. This analysis must include the long history of U.S. anti-Asian
animus in the global arena.

Although Asian Americans have been an integral part of the United
States since the 1850s, we have consistently been viewed as
foreigners. Even Asian Americans like us, with deep, multigenerational
roots in this country, are inevitably asked, “Where are you from?”
We have lost count of the many times we
have been complemented on speaking English without an accent, although
English is our first language.

During World War II, 110,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry were
forcibly removed from their homes and placed in U.S. concentration
camps. No similar acts were taken against German or Italian Americans,
although the United States was also at war with Germany and Italy.
Even after returning to their homes and communities, Japanese
Americans were subjected to racial hatred and discrimination.

The long, tragic legacy of anti-Asian violence in the United States is
directly related to U.S. foreign policy in Asia. During the Vietnam
War, Asian people were dehumanized. The brutal massacre of Vietnamese
women and children in My Lai, Vietnam, was conducted by U.S. soldiers
who viewed the Vietnamese people as less than human. The U.S. military
used napalm, Agent Orange, antipersonnel weapons and massive bombings
to target and kill millions of civilians, all justified through the
lens of white supremacy and anti-communism.

The dehumanization of Asian people has had tragic results for Asian
Americans. In 1989, five Vietnamese and Cambodian schoolchildren were
shot and killed in a schoolyard in Stockton, Calif., and more than 30
people were wounded, including a teacher. The white gunman expressed
hatred toward Asian immigrants and blamed them for taking jobs from
native-born Americans.

In the 1980s, Japan was blamed for the demise of the U.S. auto
industry. Auto workers gathered in union parking lots to smash
Japanese-made automobiles, venting their anger based on the misguided
belief that Japan, not U.S. corporations, was responsible for their
factories shutting down. In 1982, two unemployed white auto workers in
Detroit killed Chinese American Vincent Chin with a baseball bat,
mistakenly believing he was Japanese. The two killers were sentenced
to probation and a $3,000 fine.

Today, China has emerged on the world stage as the main economic
competitor of the United States, but too many see China as the enemy.
We are witnessing a new Cold War perpetrated by leaders of both
Democrat and Republican Parties and by U.S. corporations. This new
Cold War has been exacerbated during the
COVID-19 pandemic. More than half a million people in the United
States have died from COVID-19, more than in any other country.

The former administration refused to accept responsibility for the
disgraceful failure to contain the pandemic and instead chose to blame
China and Asian people. The president referred to COVID-19 as the
“China Virus” and “Kung Flu” and promoted the lie that Asians
were spreading the virus in the United States. This racist
messaging had a direct impact on the spike in anti-Asian violence. The
organization Stop AAPI Hate has documented nearly 3,800 anti-Asian
incidents since the beginning of the pandemic.

The demonization of the people of Asia by the U.S. government and U.S.
military has had a direct impact on the rise in anti-Asian violence
throughout the country. Today’s crisis is an opportunity for Asian
Americans to stand with people of conscience to demand a multi-racial
democracy that the United States has never fully
embraced. Asian Americans have joined in the massive protests for
Black lives. We mobilized at the airport to oppose the Muslim ban and
have traveled to the border to protest the separating of families. And
Asian Americans are opposing new Jim Crow voting policies in Georgia
and other states and defending affirmative
action.

It is time to confront the history of white supremacy in this country.
The United States has never confronted the legacy of slavery,
lynching, mass incarceration and police violence directed against
Black people. Racism is at the core of the separation of families and
the caging of children at the U.S.-Mexico border, and the Muslim ban
introduced by the last administration. The current attacks on voting
rights are also motivated by white supremacy and intended to
disenfranchise people of color. It is time to build a true multiracial
democracy that represents the hopes and aspirations of the vast
majority of people in this country.

_Kent Wong is director of the UCLA Labor Center and the founding
president of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO._

_Stewart Kwoh is the founder and president emeritus of Asian Americans
Advancing Justice and a civil rights attorney._

_This article has also been posted _on the American Federation of
Teachers blog.

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