anti-asian rhetoric and hate
In Wooster, Ohio, 3% of the population identifies as “Asian.” This is only slightly larger than the entire state of Ohio’s average which has a 2.2% Asian population which looks like 260,347 in numbers (Ohio Population 2020). That being said, 3% pales in comparison to other cities in the United States like San Francisco, whose second largest racial demographic is 34.40% Asian (San Francisco Population 2022). From 2020-2021, the amount of anti-Asian hate crimes in all fifty states totaled to about 4,000 incidents. At the time this was a 150% increase from the previous year (Mura 2021, 119). Now, in 2022, the number has more than doubled. “From March 19, 2020 to December 31, 2021, a total of 10,905 hate incidents against Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) persons were reported to Stop AAPI Hate. Of the hate incidents reflected in this report, 4,632 occurred in 2020 (42.5%) and 6,273 occurred in 2021 (57.5%).” (Yellow Horse 2021) It is no surprise that states that have larger Asian population are reporting a larger number of anti-Asian hate incidents. According to STOP AAPI Hate’s National report, Ohio makes up 1.2% of hate incident reports, which totals to 130 incidents (Yellow Horse 2021). So in the event that each incident is equivalent to one person, that would suggest that only 130 out of 260,347 Asian Americans or Asians are experiencing anti-Asian hate in Ohio. Which mathematically translates to 0.049% of the population is experiencing anti- Asian hate. With this in mind, it seems unlikely that the number “130” for hate incidents is completely accurate. Since underreporting is such a widespread issue, I thought it was necessary to speak with my contributors regarding anti-Asian hate and racism.
When asked about racist experiences during the pandemic, my contributors shared a wide range of responses, including racial epithets, verbal harassment as well as physical and psychological threats, and xenophobic comments.
When asked about racist experiences during the pandemic, my contributors shared a wide range of responses, including racial epithets, verbal harassment as well as physical and psychological threats, and xenophobic comments.
First hand experience:
Yeah. Actually, the discrimination happened all the time in Wooster, [...] someone drive his car and, uh, and shouted to me. "Fuck [00:06:00] you, Asian." (Little Orange)
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I've had [00:11:00] people spit at me [...] and say, [...] stuff like, "go back to China-- you filthy C-word." (Alicia)
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Knew of someone else who had experienced anti-Asian hate:
Um, that friend in New York. Yeah. Apparently he'd be called , uh, he be called "chink" and stuff, on the subway, apparently like-- when I visited him, uh, man, he would just have the whole set up, he'd just have the hoodie, the glasses, the mask, and every pr-- yeah. (Zoombi)
Um, I have heard a student, but I'm not sure if that is true. She said she, um, her car had been scratched by key, and they said something dirty words about Asia on her car. (WeiDi)
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I had a friend. That apparently was chased down Beall. she is of Asian descent and- it wasn't an open carry, but he had a gun on his back and , he was like, "get out of this country", or like, "you don't belong here". ...similar, similar, connotations of that. And, it obviously scared her. (Naomi)
Um, yeah, I think like one of my high school classmates who is also Asian, have experienced like discrimination in COVID-19. [00:03:48] Yeah. He was talking about like when he was on a bus and there was people shout out to him like "get out our country" something like that.” (Eric)
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Some contributors found that they didn’t face racism at all or experience any kind of different treatment:
Um, I don't think I've had that much direct experience with that-- with Asian -hate, but definitely with all the Asian-hate going around on social media, it definitely affects how I feel I would carry myself in the room? , but it's also a weird dynamic since I'm adopted [...]. (Naomi)
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Not really? I don't think so, because first of all, I did not go outside the house, often----- So I did not have to interact with like strangers... and I would always wear a mask. So I wouldn't get scolded in public spaces saying wear your mask! Cause I've seen people experience that. (Moro)
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I don't think I got negative experience. Yeah. I mean, for the racist, one were no, I didn't get that got that. (Siyan)
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Also, it should be noted that these categories are not mutually exclusive. Students that experienced racist incidents firsthand, also saw racist comments and messages in social media, as well as knew of someone else who experienced racism during the pandemic. In the next section I will discuss how, aside from anti-Asian hate, my contributors also expressed differing views about how they understood stigma in relation to their identity.