Vietnamese embassy in US moves to fight discrimination against Asian Americans

New data has revealed over the past year, the number of anti-Asian hate incidents — which can include shunning, slurs and physical attacks — is greater than previously reported.

There is an intersectional dynamic going on that others may perceive both Asians and women and Asian women as easier targets.

The wave of violence directed at Asian American seniors at the beginning of the year, particularly the graphic attacks that have been captured on video, have likely prompted more attention from both the community and mainstream media.

I'am really careful to note that this violence against Asian Americans in high-crime neighborhoods has always been high.

There’s a complex variety of factors, but the fundamental reality is that there's an increase in the number of Asian Americans who feel unsafe.

We must raise our voices and to act intentionally in response to the rise in anti-Asian violence, discrimination and racism facing Asian and Pacific Islanders across the country.

The horrific fact is that Asian and Pacific Islanders are experiencing discrimination, physical assault and verbal harassment at historically high rates.

Bias and discrimination manifest in different ways as members of our community have intersectional identities that will often compound our experiences and the challenges we face every day.

No longer American dream!

Unfortunately, many of us are all too familiar with the line “go back to your country,” a hateful catchphrase throughout American history.

The truth is that those who are living at the intersection of being LGBTQ, Asian American and an immigrant while confronting a surge in anti-Asian hate and violence are facing a multi-fronted battle to live their lives openly and safely in this country.

If American history has taught us anything, it is that racism and discrimination are not new.

We are constantly the butt of the joke and that needs to stop. In the media, in the movies, in TV, Asian-Americans are constantly pegged as the foreigner portrayed with thick accents.

In the face of anti-Asian racism, violence and discrimination today, I am urgently calling for our communities to stand up together, speak out and remain united against hate.

The attacks in Atlanta, killing six women of Asian descent, brought a sense of outrage, fear and sadness. It reminded me of the spikes in violence against the Indian community in New Jersey in the late 1980s.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. famously said “[i]n the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

I think for Asian-Americans, especially more in the contemporary period, it’s in times of national crisis that those fault lines erupt. That’s when the violence spikes, along with anti-Asian hostility and legislation and attitudes.

Until now, I never worried about being attacked because of my race. Now, suddenly, being an Asian American student in America has become my biggest nightmare.

History taught me to never forget the Chinese Exclusion Act nor the Chinese massacre of 1871 nor the Japanese internment camps of the 1940s. Nor will I forgive how in the 1970s the Ku Klux Klan burned Vietnamese immigrants’ fishing boats in order to punish them for “stealing” American jobs.

Anti-Asian sentiment has always existed beneath the surface. The pandemic has just caused it to emerge in violent ways.