Asian Americans are something of a forgotten minority. People don’t tend to think of them as a minority or as a POC (people of color) group, but they are. With this, it’s easy for non-Asian people to disregard what racism is directed to this group. Offhand jokes, awful stereotypes, or calling COVID-19 the “China virus” are all things that people do, maybe without realizing how this is racism.

Recently, in the past year or so, there has been a spike in anti-Asian hate crimes in America. The exact reason for this increase is somewhat complicated, but a number of people point to the reaction at the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, back when it was just an epidemic and we were still calling it “coronavirus.” 

Officials like Donald Trump did things such as blame China for the virus and minimize the threat of the disease. Besides this, it is also important to recognize that racism against Asian people here in America is nothing new.

To make it clearer on just how much it has increased, according to NBC, anti-Asian hate crimes in America have increased up to 150% within the year of 2020, with most of them being within the big cities of LA and NYC. 

Recently, there was a shooting in Georgia at a massage parlor, in which eight people died, with six of the victims being Asian women. A number of journalists and concerned citizens in America have pointed out that this crime could have been racially motivated. Police have stated that it wasn’t a hate crime of any sort, but most people, including me, remain unconvinced.

With the evident increase in anti-Asian hate crimes, it is hard not to find a correlation between this shooting and the victims. 

Another phrase used for this movement is stop AAPI hate, which stands for Stop Asian American and Pacific Islander Hate. It is basically the same idea, but a different and more encompassing name for the movement. 

Overall, this movement is incredibly important. It’s important that non-Asian individuals begin to understand the true nature of racism in America when it comes to AAPI people.