China News Service, May 28, according to the BBC's Chinese website, before the new coronary pneumonia epidemic, 31-year-old Liu Wen said that he was an East Asian person living in Austin, Texas, and Did not think too much. "To be honest, I didn't really think I was prominent here before," she said.
But the situation is different now. The New Crown Virus killed more than 100,000 people in the United States, and Asian identity may be a disaster here. For many people, including Liu Wenlai, they already feel threatened.
According to Liu Wen, several strangers shouted at a local Korean friend, shoved her at a local supermarket, and asked her to leave the shop. It was all because she was Asian and she was wearing a mask.
In many U.S. states including New York, California and Texas, East Asians have reported spitting, punching and kicking, and even a case of stabbing.
In the United States, prejudice against Asians has skyrocketed, and many of them have begun to think about their place in American society.
"When I first came to the United States five years ago, my goal was to adapt to American culture as soon as possible," Liu Wen said, "but the epidemic made me realize that because I am Asian, because of my appearance or my birthplace I will never be part of them. "
After her friend experienced the supermarket dispute, Liu Wen made up her mind to buy the first gun in her life. "If Austin is at this point, then we may really need to buy a gun," she said.
Police in New York City and Los Angeles say that hate crimes against Asians have increased, and San Francisco State University and various advocacy groups have stated that their joint reporting center has received more than 1,700 cases with the new crown Discrimination reports related to pneumonia.
In 13 states including Texas, Washington, New Jersey, Minnesota and New Mexico, the police received and handled the reported hate incidents.
For many Asian Americans, while encountering prejudice, they feel that their identity as Americans has also been attacked.
How serious is anti-Asian prejudice in the United States?
A large number of Asian Americans and Asians in the United States described their situation here after the outbreak of the New Coronary Pneumonia Outbreak.
Kimberley Ha said she noticed this change in February when she walked her dog in New York and a stranger started shouting at her.
"He shouted: 'I'm not afraid of radiation Chinese people', and then started yelling at me, 'People like you shouldn't be here, get out of this country, I'm not afraid of viruses brought by you.'" Kimberly is a Chinese Canadian and has lived in New York for more than 15 years.
In the next few weeks, she noticed that "about one in ten people" she met in public places seemed angry when she saw her. "I have never felt this level of hostility."
In California, the other end of the United States, 23-year-old Madison Pfrimmer has heard of attacks against Asians, but "does not think it is as common as people say."
In April this year, she helped translate for an elderly Chinese couple in a Los Angeles supermarket. According to her, the couple met an angry woman. The man continued to abuse them with foul language, and threw water and sprayed unknown liquids at them.
"She shouted, 'How dare you come to my family's shopping store, how dare you come to destroy my country. You are the culprit of my family who can't make money'," recalled Falemir, who is half of Chinese descent Road.
Falemir said she tried to argue with the woman, but the other party condemned her for interpreting the couple and threw a bottle of water at her, soaking her legs and feet.
When they lined up at the counter to pay the bill, the woman came over again and sprayed what seemed to be air freshener or disinfectant. She also followed the older couple to their car, taking pictures of them, shouting "This is your fault" and scolding China with swear words.
Afterwards, the woman drove her car and followed Falmir until she moved to a police station.
The "STOP AAPI HATE" database received reports of discrimination against New Coronavirus from 45 states and Washington, DC, the United States. California and New York accounted for most of the cases.
These incidents involve a wide range of types, of which verbal harassment is the most common. However, shoving, physical attacks, workplace discrimination, forbidden places, smashing, etc. are all covered in the database. And women are more likely to be targets than men.
Professor Russell Jeung, who studies Asian-Americans at San Francisco State University, which manages this database, found that in many cases, the client was "coughed and spitting", so he added this category.
Through interviews and analysis of US media reports, the BBC found that there have been more than 100 suspected incidents targeting Asians in the United States since January, and about half of the cases have been reported to the police.
Some incidents have reached the standard of hate crimes. The New York police allege that they have investigated 14 cases of hate crimes related to the new crown virus, including 15 Asian victims.
In California, an old man was attacked by an iron rod, and a teenager was sent to hospital for treatment.
In Texas, an Asian family was stabbed in the supermarket with a knife, including two children aged two and six.
Some Asians reported that due to their ethnic background, hotels, Uber drivers, etc. refused to provide services for them.
Matt (pseudonym) is a Chinese American who is a doctor working in an emergency room in Connecticut. He said that many patients said that there were Asian people coughing around them, so they requested hospitalization.
Matt himself also experienced epidemic-related racial discrimination, when he was trying to treat a patient infected with new coronary pneumonia.
"I wore protective equipment and walked into the room to introduce myself. When they heard my last name, their response was 'Don't touch me, can I see another doctor? Can you stay close to me?'"
"If he looks like a Chinese, he will be attacked"
Racial profiling, also known as racial induction and racial profiling, refers to the determination of a person's crime or suspected behavior according to a person's ethnic characteristics.
Dahyung Oh, a 23-year-old college student from South Korea, remembers that as early as February, before the US CDC suggested wearing cloth masks, she stood on the platform of the New York subway, and a woman next to her stared at her with hostility .
"She started to approach me and pointed at me and said, 'Why don't you wear a mask, you should wear a mask'," Wu Duoxian said.
The woman did not wear a mask herself, Wu Duoxian thought she was "targeted", "because a dozen or twenty people around us did not wear a mask."
"I feel very angry right now. I am targeted because I am Asian, and because of my petite size, I am more likely to be targeted."
Wu Duoxian said that although she did not cause any problems, she had begun to avoid certain areas of New York.
Two unrelated cases occurred in New York in March. Both Asian women were attacked because they were not wearing masks. At the same time, many people were harassed for wearing masks.
Zhang Huayao said that for Asians who suffer from discrimination, masks may cause a dilemma because "if they wear masks, they will be suspected of being infected with the virus, and if they do not wear masks, they will be suspected of being infected and negligent . "
This happened not only in the United States, but also in the United Kingdom and Canada. There have been many attacks against East Asians. Vancouver police said that 20 anti-Asian hate crimes have been accepted so far this year.
Why are Asian Americans still regarded as outsiders?
Asians in the United States come from diverse ethnicities, countries and backgrounds. According to census data, about 20 million residents of the United States are Asians, accounting for about 6% of the total population of the United States. This includes Asian Americans, as well as Asians living, studying and working in the United States.
Among Asian Americans, some ethnic groups, such as Bhutanese Americans, have a higher proportion of immigrants born outside the United States. Other ethnic groups, including Japanese Americans, are more likely to have lived in the United States for many generations.
However, racial prejudice against Asians in the United States is the same regardless of whether they are self-identified Asian Americans, people who want to become Americans, or just visiting Asians.
Asian Americans have many common experiences. For example, they were regarded as “eternal foreigners” before the outbreak.
"Race, like many social classifications, is a category that anyone can see at a glance," said Dr. Debbie Ma, a psychology professor at San Diego State University. "For this reason, it is easy to label and stereotype these categories. For example, East Asians are foreign, although they are not."
A research report she participated in writing in 2008 found that between the Chinese actor Lucy Liu born in New York and the British actor Kate Winslet, American respondents from various ethnic backgrounds More inclined to think that the latter is American.
Dr. Matt said that people often said to him "Your English is good" and asked where his real hometown is, even though he had explained to him that he was born in the United States.
Professor Zhang Huayao said: "Although my family has grown into the fifth generation in the United States, I am still considered a foreigner."
Today, some Asian Americans still describe them as "in a probationary period" and need to prove that they are American citizens. This situation deteriorated significantly after the outbreak.
Yang Anze, who had campaigned for the US presidency as a Democrat, called on Asian Americans to "show our American traits in ways not seen before," such as helping neighbors, donating protective equipment, and putting on American flag colors "red, white and blue" clothing. However, the critics condemned Yang Anze ’s remarks as blaming the victim, and he seemed to internalize a concept: Asians are simply not “American” because of their ethnic background.
How do Asians in the United States respond to attacks?
At present, there is no comprehensive data on the number of guns purchased by various ethnic groups in the United States. However, according to the feedback from gun shop owners, Asian forced buyers and overall gun sales are rising.
The 49-year-old Chinese-American Zang Donghui organized a community patrol in Queens, New York. The patrol ’s WeChat team had more than 200 members who took turns to patrol the community and report suspicious behavior to the police. The patrol team is defending itself with a baseball bat, but Zang Donghui hopes that they can patrol with a gun in the future. More than a dozen patrol members, including him, have recently applied for a permit to purchase firearms.
Zang Donghui said that Chinese Americans should arm themselves "to prevent social unrest and a sharp increase in crime."
Artists and comedians were also inspired to speak, such as Chinese rapper Jason Chu, who launched an initiative called "Hate is a Virus" and also wrote a rap song about anti-Asian incidents. He said he wanted to use rap to show "how ridiculous people are against Asian Americans" and "emphasize that Asian Americans belong to this country."
"We are not passers-by in the United States, we were born here, this is where parents raise us. We want to say that hatred does not belong to our country."
Matt noted that the Asian American community has become louder in the political arena in recent years, and has become more prominent in other areas. "Many of my friends see these anti-Chinese remarks and are more interested in talking about the discrimination faced by other ethnic groups."
Zhang Huayao witnessed some Asian Americans "becoming aware of their common interests and mobilizing as a political organization or group." He said that Asians from different classes, educational backgrounds and ethnicities are now “discovering their common experience” because of the epidemic-related discrimination.
"We are facing the process of racial characterization together, and hope that one day, we will unite against discrimination and treat others who are also facing racial characterization with empathy." (Zhang Yinghua Feng Zhaoyin Deng Boer, BBC reporter Yu Xin Yan also contributed to this article)