Violence against Asians and Pacific Islanders shows racism is a public health crisis

On Tuesday, eight people, including six of Asian American Pacific Islander descent, were murdered by a white man. Today, the intersections of white supremacy, racism, misogyny and gun violence are on full display.

Since the start of the pandemic, there has been a stark and measurable increase in violence against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. AAPIs have been killed, pushed, spit on and called slurs. The number reported is likely an undercount as many do not feel safe coming forward. Communities have formed their own neighborhood watch groups to protect themselves and their neighbors.

Violence against AAPIs is not new. It’s tied to a long history of exclusion, being “othered” and being discriminated against. From the colonization of Hawaii and other lands, to the Chinese Exclusion Act, to Japanese incarceration, to the murder of Vincent Chin, to state-sanctioned and interpersonal racism and violence, America has a long, ugly and bloody history of racism against the AAPI community. From being labeled “perpetual foreigners” to the “model minority” myth and now the “Chinese virus,” Asian American Pacific Islanders have long been scapegoated and made the enemy.

Let’s be clear: The model minority myth and stereotype are not positive. It assumes that Asians are hardworking, quiet and submissive, and it obscures the huge disparities our communities face in education, mental health and wages. AAPIs have the biggest gap in wealth within their disaggregated groups — meaning the wealth gap between the highest-earning AAPIs and the lowest-earning AAPIs is rapidly growing.

Here in California, our lawmakers have allocated $1.4 million to Stop AAPI Hate in legislation authored by Assemblymember Phil Ting and signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom. Stop AAPI Hate collects data on racist incidents nationwide, provides rapid-response technical assistance and offers multilingual resources for affected community members.

What can we do?

▪ Declare racism a public health crisis. Racism, in all its forms, kills. Communities of color, particularly Black and brown communities, have shorter life spans. Stress, asthma, diabetes and heart attacks kill and so does gun violence.

▪ Disaggregate AAPI data. AAPIs speak over 40 languages and encompass 50 races and ethnicities. We need data that does not group us into a monolith that can help us address disparities in COVID-19 data and beyond.

▪ Fund community programs. Mental health and other resources must be culturally and linguistically competent and offered by trusted community messengers. Specifically, AAPIs face stigma and cultural barriers to accessing mental health programs.

▪ Learn the radical and liberation history of Asian American Pacific Islander activists like Grace Lee Boggs and Yuri Kochiyama who fought alongside the Black panthers. AAPIs have always been fighting for their rights, despite history erasing us.

▪ Speak out against racism and white supremacy in any form when you see it and stand in solidarity with Asian American Pacific Islanders. You can check out and donate to Stop AAPI Hate.

AAPIs are the fastest grown demographic in the nation. We must come together to stop acts of violence, racism, hate and bigotry against them and against all our communities of color.