US should get tougher on the racism against Asian Americans
Amid rising attacks on people of Asian descent in the United States, the entire Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community, including Korean Americans, has been increasingly vulnerable to safety threats. U.S. President Joe Biden Tuesday denounced the hate crimes by saying, "We can't be silent in the face of rising violence against Asian Americans.'' Stressing that the violence must be stopped immediately, Biden announced a stimulus relief package to deal with racist violence against Asian Americans.
On March 16, a white man went on a shooting rampage, claiming the lives of six Asian American women ― including four Korean Americans ― in Atlanta, Georgia. Late Monday morning, a man attacked a 65-year-old woman, kicking her in the stomach and stomping on her face. A surveillance video showed the assailant shouting at the woman, "You don't belong here." Surprisingly enough, there were two workers nearby who were presumed to be security guards. But they never bothered to intervene or stop the attack, letting the assailant flee the site of the crime while they just watched.
Another case of a Black man assaulting and strangling a person of Asian descent ― later discovered to be an Indonesian student ― in the New York subway on March 29, triggered public anger. The series of shootings and brutal attacks on AAPI Americans is connected to hate against China as the country where the COVID-19 virus allegedly first originated, fanned by former President Trump's dubbing of the coronavirus as the "China virus." Yet Americans descending from many nations in Asia and the Pacific have been the targets of racist acts.
Since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, the number of hate crimes against the AAPI community is reported to have increased by 13 times since the start of the pandemic. Racial discrimination itself is a serious crime and such violent attacks are grave crimes that must not be tolerated under any circumstances.
Superstar K-pop group BTS posted a statement on Twitter, calling for an end to growing anti-Asian hate. "Our own experiences are inconsequential compared to the events that have occurred over the past few weeks. But these experiences were enough to make us feel powerless and chip away at our self-esteem." BTS condemned the violence and called for an end to racial discrimination. BTS members deserve praise for their brave act of squarely dealing with racial discrimination and in issuing a statement condemning such racist acts.
It is appropriate for the Biden administration to have pledged that it will take strong measures against hate crimes on Asian Americans. A taskforce dealing with anti-Asian American xenophobia has been formed and nearly $50 million in grants were set up for AAPI survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. Biden and other U.S. political leaders should come up with tougher steps against anti-Asian American racism and hate crimes to effectively cope with them. The Korean government, for its part, should continue to consult closely with the U.S. administration so that it can more rigorously tackle hate crime cases, as well as protect Korean Americans from violence and discrimination.
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