Hope you enjoyed our episode, Learning About Our Allies: Asian Americans with Pat Eng (AAPIP). Pat was sharing so much knowledge. Some of the information was about the history of violence against Asians in the U.S. And, some delved into the history of the cooperation between Asians and African Americans. Most of us don’t learn much about Asians in any level of schooling. No need to fret! We are listing multiple resources for Asian American Information.
Asians Speak for Themselves
Often we use our own experiences to interpret what others may be doing. But in this case we don’t need to do that. Asian Americans speak for themselves. The PEW CENTER created a video of its discussions with Asian American focus groups. The interviews were in 18 different languages! Check out the video. All people of color in the U.S. experience racism.
In addition to the PEW video, You can contrast how Asians describe themselves and their experiences with the survey of American attitudes towards Asians. An organization called LAAUNCH conducted a survey in 2022 to gauge these attitudes. You can find the survey here. There’s also AAPI DATA which publishes publisher of demographic data and policy research on Asian American and Pacific Islander communities.
The History of Violence Against Asians
African Americans are not the only folks of color that are on the receiving end of racist American violence. In an incident sparked by racial animus seventeen Chinese were lynched in 1871. And, one of the worst mass killings occurred in 1885. White miners killed twenty-five Chinese miners and wounded an additional seventeen in the Rock Springs Massacre of 1885. The Chinese are also the only ethnic explicitly excluded from becoming citizens under the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed in 1882. Violence wasn’t reserved for the Chinese. Japanese Americans were interned as enemy aliens in World War II. Consequently, many Japanese communities suffered severe economic hardship and loss of life while in the custody of the U.S. government.
There were two significant anniversaries this year. The first one marks the 40th anniversary of Vincent Chin’s murder. Chin, a Chinese draftsman was killed by two white men in Detroit. The white men blamed Japan for the decline of the American auto industry. And, in an act of racist animus they killed Chin as a way to get even! The anti-Asian violence we see today has deep connections to Vincent Chin’s murder.
Second, thirty years ago, the post Koon et al., not guilty verdict (the police who beat Rodney King) acquittals sparked riots in Los Angeles. The media and government painted the destruction of Korean businesses as anti-Korean violence perpetrated by the Black community. However, white racism was really at the root of those events. For an accurate write up of the LA riots check here.
Interracial coalitions between Asians and African Americans
Although we don’t learn about it in schools, African Americans have long advocated on behalf of Asians. Frederick Douglass argued for Chinese and Japanese to have immigration rights. In both the Philippine American War and the Vietnam War African Americans protested against the war. Martin Luther King Jr. frequently spoke out against the Vietnam War. Similarly, Asians also battled for Black Liberation. Pat mentioned Grace Lee Bogs in Detroit and Yuri Kochiyama in California. You can read more of their fascinating history here. African Americans continue to stand in unity against anti-Asian hate today, no matter how the media tried to skewer reporting on the issue.
Media Representation
Speaking of the media, how often do you see a story about Asian Americans on TV or on any of your digital media? Probably not too often. AAPIP published INVISIBLE INK: MEDIA REPRESENTATIONS OF ASIAN AMERICANS AND PACIFIC ISLANDERS to help highlight the problem. You can read the report here. The Asian American Journalist Association is a leading voice in monitoring media coverage of Asians and advocating for inclusion. You can find more information about them here.
In conclusion, we can just skim the surface here of the information out there, but we hope Resources for Asian American Information will jump start your ability to educate yourself on some of the issues.