Breaking the Silence.

March 14 2020.

Bawi Cung Nung and his two sons were grocery shopping when they were stabbed and slashed by a man with a knife who “thought the family was Chinese, and infecting people with the coronavirus”

July 14 2020.

An 89-year-old Chinese woman was walking outside her home in Brooklyn when she was assaulted and set on fire by two teens.

January 28 2021.

An 84-year-old Thai man, Vicha Ratanapakdee, was violently shoved from behind in an unprovoked attack and died in the hospital two days later from a brain haemorrhage sustained during the incident.

February 3 2021.

Noel Quintana, a 61-year-old Filipino American, was on the NYC subway when he was slashed with a knife across his face. No one stepped in when he asked for help.

February 9 2021.

An elderly Asian man was waiting in line to deposit cash at a San Francisco Bay Area bank when he was robbed of $15,000. He was one of the many elderly Asians targeted for robbery around the holiday.

March 16 2021.

Eight people, six of whom were Asian women that were murdered by a mass shooter at three different Asian massage spas in the Atlanta area.

The killer, Rober Aaron Long, was described as “having a bad day.”

A “bad day” that resulted in murder.

Nowadays, it’s become so common to scroll on my Instagram feed and see all these posts about such attacks that, though I hate to admit it, I’ve become desensitized. It’s disappointing and frankly horrifying that it has gotten to this point. I don’t want to feel like it’s normal that Asian-Americans, especially elders, are being attacked on a daily basis. Or that international Asians face racism and discrimination every day. It shouldn’t be normal.

It has taken too long for people to finally address the rise in anti-Asian violence and discrimination. Over a year has passed and it’s only now that people are spreading awareness and holding rallies. Even so, many people are still reluctant to show their support for the suffering Asian community. In one instance, security guards even acted oblivious while seeing an elderly Asian woman getting beat up in front of their building. Isn’t security meant to protect anyone in danger and need of help? Is it their job to look away while acts of violence occur right before them? Is it right that their prejudice led to the mistreatment of an elderly Asian woman?

Anti-Asian hate does not start and end with physical violence. If anything, the recent increase in violent attacks has shown that the passive racism that exists throughout all communities and societies has tangible impacts and perpetuates systemic racism even more. The model minority myth has always been damaging to the Asian-American community. This myth frames Asians as immigrants who have high paying jobs, who have ‘integrated’ well and people who don’t face discrimination on the same level as other minorities. They are ‘models’ for other immigrants and minorities to follow. They are ‘models’ because they have been groomed to stay silent, to not expose the systemic racism and white supremacy present in America. Because of this myth, the hardships and racism they face are often brushed off and invalidated. Most of the time, they themselves don’t know how to react to the blatant racism and simply just laugh it off.

“How do I say your name? What? I can’t pronounce that. I’ll just call you ___.”

“Gross! Your food is so stinky!”

“Hahahaha your eyes are so small, that’s probably why you can’t drive properly!”

“Do you eat dogs?”

I remember hearing all of these phrases and not grasping how damaging and discriminatory they were. Not to forget the multiple times people have tugged at the corners of their eyes saying “look, I’m Chinese!” To me, the scariest part of systemic racism is that you get away with it. You get away with it because the victims don’t know how to react and instead accept it as another matter of life. At this point, it’s deeply ingrained in our society.

Because of this, many Asians don’t see the point in voicing the racism they face. Over generations, it has created a wall of silence disguised as strength.

Breaking the silence is the first step in changing the way Asians are viewed. Hopefully, with the increase in Asians voicing their experiences, other communities will begin to show solidarity with more than just performative activism, by taking part in holding perpetrators accountable. More people need to feel angry when they see innocent Asians being killed or injured by racist attacks; the same way they feel angry for the deaths of innocent black people at the hands of police brutality. It’s time to do more than passively support Asian-Americans; it’s time we started to use our voices to speak against the culprits and stand with the Asian-American community.