Education, community action ways to curb racism vs. Asians, says US-based Pinoy prof

With the recent attacks against Asian-Americans in the United States, a Filipino professor called for education and action from communities to help combat crimes against these individuals.

"People have to be taught, to be told that the attacks on Asians are absolutely beyond the pale. They have nothing to do with spreading the (corona)virus, it is all the matter of prejudice," Vicente Rafael, a university professor trained on Southeast Asian history, said in a phone interview with GMA News Online.

"There are groups that have formed coalitions with other groups, there is the Stop AAPI Hate that have been very vocal in protesting the violence, they have been out of the streets and calling a stop to the crimes.... In other words -- community action, grassroot action and education -- these are important ways to combat violence against Asians," Rafael, who also conducts research on ethnicity and race at University of Washington's history department, further said.

AAPI stands for Asian-Americans Pacific Islanders.

For fellow Filipinos, Rafael advised those who have relatives in the US to engage in constant communication to ensure that their relatives are safe from the attacks.

"Many of them (Filipinos in the Philippines) have relatives in the US and so you know, they can stay in contact, they can make sure that relatives are okay and are safe. Those are some things that the Filipinos can do, they can establish ongoing conversations," he said.

Last week, a Filipino senior citizen walking near Times Square in New York became a victim of hate crime. The suspect, who was already captured and charged, continuously kicked the 65-year-old Filipina while shouting "You don’t belong here.”

The brutal attack against the Filipina caught the attention of Foreign Affairs Chief Teddy Boy Locsin Jr., who said the latest attack will affect Philippine foreign policy with the US.  

According to the latest Stop AAPI Hate data, there are 3,795 incidents of hate crimes against AAPI from March 2020 to February 2021. Most of which are verbal harassments (68.1%) and avoidance of Asian-Americans (20.5%).

Why are these attacks happening?

Rafael said there are several reasons behind the recent assault against the AAPI community.

Among the reasons is "white supremacy," which heightens anti-black and anti-Asian acts.

"The persistence of white supremacy which tends to structure the patterns of racism in this country. And with white supremacy, you have the prevalence or persistence of anti-Blackness which then anti-Blackness then becomes a way not just discriminating against Black people but discrimination against those seemed to be in close association with Black people," said Rafael.

"Kasama na doon yung native Americans, immigrant groups especially Immigrant groups of color so African immigrants, Asian immigrants etcetera," the history professor added.

(This includes native Americans, immigrant groups of color so African immigrants, Asian immigrants etcetera.)

Reports of attacks, primarily against Asian-American elders, have spiked in recent months -- fueled, activists believe, by talk of the "Chinese virus" by former president Donald Trump and others.

"The more recent surge of Anti-Asian-American violence, which happened since last year or so, is connected to COVID because the fact that thanks to Donald Trump, who made all these horrible racist attacks to Chinese and called COVID the Chinese flu, people have turned on Asian people," said Rafael.

"And blaming them for COVID and the recent presidency of Donald Trump and rise of COVID pandemic can be seen to be contributing factors to anti-Asian  violence," he added.

Incumbent US President Joe Biden has recently signed an executive order condemning racist attacks against the Asian community. —KBK, GMA News