Playbill: Since the coronavirus pandemic began over a year ago, America has faced a troubling rise of attacks on people of Asian descent. President Joe Biden, in his first primetime address, called out the increase in crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, saying “it’s wrong, it’s un-American, and it must stop.”
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Anti-Asian racism is nothing new in the world and certainly not in the United States. All people of color, in general, have faced generations and generations of hate simply due to the skin they are born with. However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the level of hatred towards the AAPI community has skyrocketed to a disgustingly hope-crushing level. I’m not sure who will end up reading this comment, but please make sure you are there for and support your AAPI friends and family. It’s great that playbill has provided a list of resources to support the AAPI community. I know very often times; people don’t end up helping those in need because they simply don’t know how to help or even where to start. While I genuinely don’t believe that is a valid excuse in the slightest (a simple google search will do the trick), laying it out clearly and concisely takes away that one step that, sadly, many aren’t always willing to take. This is so important STOP AAPI HATE!!!!
5 years ago my grandmother was punched in the face as she was walking in Oakland Chinatown. She was not alone in her experience, many of her friends faced similar abuse, however none reported their attacks. Violence and racism is not new to the Asian American community. It has been prevalent in American society since the 1800s. The sexualization of Asian women and the emasculation of Asian men comes from hundreds of years of colonization and abuse. If you do not know this please do some basic research, PBS’s Asian American documentary series is a wonderful place to start. When I learned of the shooting in Georgia, I felt immensely upset but also immensely angry. Not just for the lives brutally lost, but for the way the media and people treated and discussed the events that occurred. After the shooter claimed he had killed the workers to “eliminate temptation”, the victims instantly became sexualized. It is so incredibly important that sex workers are protected, and that awareness is raised to the dangers they face. However, there is no evidence that the women were more than just massage and spa workers. The societal assumption that they were involved with sex work plays into the long standing stereotype of Asian owned spas being illicit or sexual, as well as the sexualization of Asian women. Furthermore, I began to see news sources, as well as people on instagram spelling and pronouncing the names of the victims incorrectly. Cutting the names in half, trying to westernize them. I have been feeling a lot of hard messy emotions about recent events, a lot of anger, and confusion, and sadness. Seeing incorrect post, after post on Instagram from people who failed to take the time to do even the smallest amount of research truly just makes it worse. I don’t know what are the proper next steps, or solutions, or even really how to process my emotions and feelings. But we can start with the most very minimum of honoring and respecting the victims of this horrific shooting, and all victims of anti-Asian violence. We can start at the very least by learning their names.
It is nice to see people picking up the pace on fighting for AAPI folks, especially bigger names like Playbill. As far as I am concerned, the School of Drama has released no such resource sheet or even a message of support or solidarity (except Susan, who sent out an email to the AAPI students in Drama expressing offering support and strength). Even Farnam has said something, although he would probably be more heavily persecuted if he had stayed silent. It is not fun seeing the institution I attend stay silent about the recent attacks and all those leading up to now, especially on the heels of play selections like M. Butterfly being given to students in the Design Collaboration Project. My heavy heart goes out to the families of the victims of Atlanta's attack as well as those who have suffered throughout the pandemic. May they rest in peace.
AAPI hate is nothing new, it has been in the United States for decades and frankly it just reforms into something new every few years. White people and Americans will find a brand new way to hate asians and to attack them. During 9/11 it was against middle easterns but also pakistani's and indians. The day after 9/11 my father was laid off his job for the reason of "may pose a threat". My brother still can not go through a tsa line without getting pulled aside to a different room and being questioned. My family has had our house egged and are car windows bashed into just because we were not welcomed in a neighborhood. Currently AAPI hate is being focused toward people who are east asian or "look" east asian. Personally I think this is a time for me to raise the voices of my asian brothers and sisters who are being attacked due to this virus. The ignorance plaguing this country does not only result in names being disrespected or cultures being disrespected but also in people dying due to what they look like. I think seeing an organization speak up about is great but I wish all these news sources and people speaking up would take the time to respect the people whose lives have been lost, not try to look woke.
I think it was about time for AAPI hate and violence against Asians and Pacific Islanders to blow up in the news and on social media. The horrific acts in Georgia were nothing new, especially with the shooter’s sexualization of the victims by saying he had to “eliminate temptation.” This article by Playbill actually does have some good sources for donation. But honestly, what frustrates me the most about being an Asian American amidst this is, is how it reveals who out of my peers don’t care to give this the act of day, or even worse, just pretend that they care out of obligation. I will say that I felt like I bore second hand witness to this during the BLM protests, and how certain people acted performative in their activism, which I feel is more detrimental than staying silent, but now feeling it firsthand with AAPI hate posts… it’s a certain type of frustration/disappointment that is hard to shake. Welp— that's my morning thoughts on this.
I really appreciate that playbill is providing resources on their site for AAPI during such time of violence and fear among our community. It shows that the theater community is standing in solidarity and support of their AAPI community and members, and it has been very comforting to see this through playbill and also the SoD at CMU. AAPI hate is not anything new, though. I truly hope that after the domestic terrorism that happened in Georgia, more and more cases and experiences get shared and shed a light on from the past and present. It is most definitely time that we finally speak up and get protection against this violence. I also really liked how playbill included resources for non AAPI members to educate themselves, as well as organizations to donate to for those who do not know how else to help. I am truly grateful that from my community, close and bigger, I have received so much comfort and feelings of safety. However, I do hope that I can walk home clutching my pepper spray a little less tightly soon.
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