#anti asian hate crimes

[joshualunacreations]

We often talk about how white supremacy uses the Model Minority Myth as a wedge, but rarely talk about how Black Americans adopt racism and jingoism against Asians domestically and abroad. (Please don’t repost or edit my art. Reblogs are always appreciated.)

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[icedsodapop]

I find it so interesting that when Mark Wahlberg's hate crimes got brought up in light of the SAG Awards, you can see the anti-woke assholes in the comments section saying that people should "let it go" since Mark Wahlberg "was a kid" when it happened, that "people can grow and learn from mistakes they made as a teen", and these assholes always bring up the fact that his victim, Johnny Trinh, forgave him.

But, it's soo interesting that Mark Wahlberg's defenders conveniently left out his other victim, Kristyn Atwood, a little Black girl who was part of the group of mostly Black middle-schoolers he and his friends pelted stones at, hurled racial slurs at. His other victim who defintely DOES NOT forgive him, who also was a kid herself in the fourth grade when Marky Mark and his buddies decided to assault her and her schoolmates.

These assholes said that Mark Wahlberg has grown and learn from his mistakes, but did he really? How would they know?? Did he really learn from his mistakes when he tried to expunge his criminal record to start his shitty burger chain? Did he personally apologize to Jess Coleman (who was 12 y/o then) and his siblings for harassing them while they were just walking home from school because they were Black? Has Marky Mark ever reckoned with how his white privilege had a part to play for his lenient sentencing (2 yrs jail, he served a mere 45 days), for his oppprtunity to move on? After all, Black and Brown people have been dealt harsher sentences for far less. And apart from paying lip service to George Floyd's murder and BLM, has Marky Mark actually donated to Black Lives Matter? Or Stop Asian Hate? Or any Black and AAPI advocacy groups? Or fuck, any gofundmes?? Has he advocated for defunding the police or gun control?

And finally, these assholes act as if just because ONE victim forgave him, Mark Wahlberg's crimes are automatically absolved and we can all move on. That's not what forgiveness means? It's up to Johnny Trinh's perogative to forgive him and I respect that, but Trinh's decision to grant his attacker grace does not mean that Black people and other Asian people aren't allowed to be angry over Mark Walhberg's actions and the lack of consequences that followed them.

I keep thinking about Roxane Gay's interview with NPR on not forgiving Dylan Roof, how forgiveness is often weaponized against Black, Indigenous and other people of color. The idea that we have to let it go because it's in the past. But we can't let it go because what Mark Walhberg did is sadly not unique, he's just one of the many racist assholes who commited hate crimes against BIPOC, crimes that are still happening now.

And it's hypocritical to expect Black and Asian people to forgive and forget what Mark Walhberg has done, when the same grace was not afforded to Will Smith. So, who does "forgive and forget" actually serve?

[babbybones]

i don't want to start shit with anyone but i saw this tag in the notes of that last post and i'm officially feeling Weird about it in a way that is kind of related to why i became disillusioned with fandom blogging in the first place. i'm not even seething about it i'm just saggy deflated balloon

[magnetothemagnificent]

This is what happens when anti-Asian racism and discrimination is allowed to go unchecked.

[peridot-tears]

Vagueblogging again!

I think a lot about the argument fandom racists make. It's always "fandom isn't activism," "go do some real activism," etc. etc.

Like, one -- I think quite a few of us have done "real" activism. Organizing, protesting, fundraising, information-sharing, all that good stuff. Especially in these past few years. You can't be Asian American without having at least brushed with activism lately.

Two -- telling someone that what they said hurts or disrespects your culture is not activism. That's literally just an everyday interaction. You could have learned something and accepted it, but the moment you dismissed it and dug your heels in, then yeah, you're making it a way bigger deal than it has to be.

Three -- Asian Americans have always organized, protested, and advocated for better rights on all fronts. The bill in Florida recently passed is part of a years-long effort to make Asian American history part of school curricula (its effects are for another post entirely), Asian Americans in various organizations have been tirelessly doing research, petitioning and lobbying for better healthcare and economic aid access. The burst of Asian American shows like "Beef" and "Everything Everywhere All At Once" are part of a DECADES-long push to have our stories told in ways that aren't stereotypical and degrading. Not to mention to make sure we get equal pay in the workplace.

People have always committed hate crimes against us, but because of COVID, it jumped to a point where there was actual media coverage outside of the community. It got so big, no one could ignore us anymore. It was good to get aid from outside the community, but even now, the people organizing self-defense classes, patrolling Asian dominant neighborhoods and walking with elders so they can go places without being attacked, the people organizing food drives for those of us who are lower-income, raising money for the victims of hate crimes, fighting for us in our court cases against attackers, pushing for our voices to be heard, are us Asian Americans.

It's a lot of work. It's also a lot of work to rally people to our cause, because so many people outside the community, especially white people, will not listen, let alone help in any meaningful way, unless you convince them why they personally should care. To be BIPOC at all in North America is to do the emotional labor that white people think you owe them.

So tell me. If true activism is so important to you, why aren't you doing it?

And you know how I know you aren't doing it? Because if you can't be bothered to listen to an Asian person in small, casual, everyday interactions, what makes you think you're equipped to help us advocate for large social change?

[hornswogglingpapergirls]

TW

According to declassified military documents it’s likely that unknown thousands of Vietnamese civilians were killed in Vietnam. Torture was common, even of people who were likely farmers and innocents. It’s very likely that soldiers murdered civilians and lied about them being enemies to boost their body counts; it’s likely that the higher ups were aware of this (discrepancies in body count vs confiscated weapons is INSANE, lots of suspicious stuff, some veterans spoke out & were covered up/discredited). Source: The War Behind Me by Deborah Nelson (2008)

[theliterarywolf]

Guys, pray for me.

My mother is entertaining company and things have quickly devolved into 'Hotep Conspiracy Hour'.

[humanrightsconnected]

Last Thursday marked two years since the Atlanta spa shootings that killed eight people, including six women of Asian descent. As we observe today the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, discover 5 ways to counter racism against the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community. 

[not-your-asian-fantasy]

Jack van Tongeren is the former leader of the West Australian Neo-Nazi group Australian Nationalist Movement (ANM), a white supremacist and far-right group, and a successor organisation called the Australian Nationalist Worker's Union (ANWU). He served 13 years in prison from 1989 to 2002 for theft and arson, having robbed and firebombed businesses owned by Asians in Western Australia. In the late 1980s it was revealed Van Tongeren's father was of part-Javanese ancestry. Nevertheless, Van Tongeren resumed anti-Asian activities upon his release in 2002, leading to further convictions, in 2006.

In 2023, Crispian Chan wrote an article about his experience of anti-Asian racism in Australia. He produced the ABC Unravel: Firebomb podcast, documenting his journey after his family’s was one of six Chinese restaurants firebombed by the ANM in the 1980’s.

[former-leftist-jew]

First off:

Secondly:

I love how the same people who spent years saying:

"Men can't dictate to women what is and isn't sexist because he's never walked a mile in her shoes."

"White people can't tell POC what is and isn't racist because they've never experienced life in colored skin,"

"Straights can't tell gays what is and isn't homophobic,"

"Terfs can't claim to be persecuted because they go around persecuting trans people,"

etc.

Turn around flash the very same "you're just playing the victim card" the second a minority group tells them that THEY'RE being unfair.

(The exact same "our hatred is legit, you're just playing the victim card to deflect valid criticism" card that they hate when men/conservatives use it against women/other minorities.)

The left doesn’t hate Jews. The left hates bigots! Unfortunately Jews are acting very bigoted right now. Maybe you should spend some time reflecting on why so many leftist like myself have turned our backs on you instead of just playing victim.

how many antisemitic asks like this one until I land on the coveted Zionist block list(tm)?

[joshualunacreations]

In 2022, Corinne Tan was announced as the American Girl Doll of the Year and heavily promoted as a way of raising awareness about anti-Asian racism during COVID. But what message did her story send?

When Corinne Tan debuted, AsAms were offended by the synopsis and how it centered a white man in what's supposed to be a COVID racism story. Once I heard the book had been fast tracked for two live-action specials on HBO Max and Cartoon Network, I knew more harm was coming. In the rare instances Western media talks about anti-Asian racism, it's downplayed. Instead, narratives are used to reinforce the 1) Model Minority Myth, 2) Asian gender divide, and 3) "correct" levels of assimilation. Unsurprisingly, Corinne Tan’s story does all of these.

There's a place for stories about divorce and blended families, but this story isn't it. COVID racism is specifically about the threat of AAPI being verbally or physically assaulted by non-AAPI. The author's choice to emphasize conflict within an Asian family is inappropriate.

Instead of empathizing with David Tan's inability to work during the pandemic—a real problem that has devastated many AAPI families and businesses—it's the reason Judy divorces him. The story not only erases racism as a reason for AAPI pandemic joblessness, but victim-blames. It implies her parents have an antagonistic relationship because her dad isn't white and rich, and that makes him an inferior romantic partner. Despite referencing a slur meant for Asian men, the story never acknowledges that her dad experiences racism too.

Another appalling aspect is how Corinne, an 11-year-old girl, is responsible for teaching a grown white man to empathize with her experiences of racism—because her mom won't. Not only does Judy never talk to Arne about racism, she lets him gaslight Corinne in front of her. Judy seems fixated on wealth and achievement over her daughters' emotional safety. When the family lived with David, the walls were decorated with the daughters' artwork. In Arne's house, Judy is concerned with protecting the aesthetic chosen by Arne's professional decorator.

This is why the Eileen Gu poster becomes such a sticking point. While David encourages his daughters to embrace Chinese culture in everything, Judy seems to apply it only to her restaurant. Is it because Arne tells her he hoped marrying a chef would mean never buying takeout?

Meanwhile, Arne, a rich white businessman—who calls himself Goldilocks and whose behavior the author describes as "clueless" racism—gets sympathetic treatment. His fear of heights and dogs is equated to Corinne's fear of racists, as if it's a phobia to overcome via willpower.

Recall that the purpose of Corinne Tan's story is to educate about AAPI experiences with racism during COVID. Mattel, owner of American Girl, hired a panel of AsAm academics and consultants to tell her story with "authenticity and accuracy." So how did it turn out so harmful?

It's because the AsAm consultants for this project and many similar projects—like Dr. Jennifer Ho—are out-of-touch with our community. Insulated by wealth and/or whiteness they've chosen, they think they've acknowledged their privilege, but their work shows they're still reinforcing it.

The broader problem is that racist and misogynist white men control media. Regardless of gender, sexuality, or marital status, AAPI are given media power only when they internalize and repeat white men’s messaging. This isn't limited to fiction—it affects real-life activism too.

A picture says a thousand words, and it speaks volumes that Stop AAPI Hate chose to literally center white men in the photo accompanying their hate crime data report summarizing the past two years. Of those "thousands of voices," it isn't hard to guess who's prioritized. Stop AAPI Hate pushes the same message as Corinne Tan's story: racist white men deserve more humanity and sympathy than actual AAPI male victims. Hating and erasing AAPI men is required to show that you're a "safe" Asian deserving of resources and support. (see my data thread about how hate crime data is manipulated to erase AAPI men as victims)

It's bad enough that an entire gender is being cut out from resources and empathy, but what Corinne Tan’s story reveals is another disturbing trend: AAPI youth are being groomed into normalizing having racist white men in their lives, specifically in their families and homes.

Corinne Tan is a middle grade story (ages 8-12). For its consulting, Mattel partnered with AAPI Youth Rising, a non-profit led by AAPI middle schoolers. At the time, Dr. Ho was president of the Association for Asian American Studies, which helps shape AsAm studies in schools. It's not a stretch to think Corinne's mom Judy, who puts Corinne in harm's way by refusing to address her white husband’s "clueless” racism, is reflective of the behavior of AAPI adults involved in Stop AAPI Hate and other AsAm orgs—they gave the story their stamp of approval.

Anti-Asian hate crimes against AAPI should've brought the community closer together. Instead, we've been segregated further, and the AAPI who hurt the community the most have hoarded the empathy, media attention, and resources for themselves. How can any of us heal like this?

(Please don’t repost or edit my art. Reblogs are always appreciated.)

If you enjoy my comics, please pledge to my Patreon or donate to my Paypal.

https://twitter.com/Joshua_Luna/status/1134522555744866304 https://patreon.com/joshualuna https://www.paypal.com/paypalme2/JoshuaLunaComics

[ausetkmt]

Police cuffed on Wednesday the man allegedly responsible for a slew of anti-Asian hate crimes in Midtown and Lower Manhattan.

According to police sources, 28-year-old Steven Zajonc, of East 32nd Street, allegedly committed no fewer than seven assaults in a 24-hour period on Feb. 27. Each of his victims were all women of Asian descent.

In each case, law enforcement sources said, Zajonc allegedly approached his victims and without saying a word struck them in the face and head before fleeing the area.

Police report that Zajonc allegedly appeared to be targeting his prey based on their race, and didn’t engage them in dialogue before attacking them. Twenty-eight-year-old Steven Zajonc is allegedly responsible for a slew of hate crimes. Photo by Dean Moses

Zajonc is charged with seven counts of hate crime assault, seven counts of attempted assault, seven counts of aggravated harassment, and seven counts of harassment. The suspect remained silent as officers led him away in cuffs, refusing to answer why he carried out the attacks.

This comes after Chinatown locals not only decry the ever-rising number of anti-Asian hate crimes, but also the targets who are often either female or elderly. Twenty-eight-year-old Steven Zajonc is allegedly responsible for a slew of hate crimes. Photo by Dean Moses

[toyotabedzrock]

Ex-NYPD detective is charged with allegedly helping robbers, who targeted Asian Americans, avoid arrest

The criminal crew engaged in a series of robberies and burglaries that primarily targeted Asian American small-business owners, according to the DOJ

COPS CREATE CRIME THEN DEMAND MORE FUNDING WITH HELP FROM CONSERVATIVES

[jewishpangolin]

"It’s interesting to me that the only time where we have to do this both sides-y rejection is when the victims are Jewish. When we saw a spike in anti-Asian hate crimes over the last couple of years, there was no immediate pushback that said, now you have to reject these other forms [of hate]. In fact, after George Floyd, when we were talking about Black Lives Matter, there was a clear distinction that if you responded by saying, “All Lives Matter,” that yes, that’s true that all lives matter, but if you were doing it reflexively you are denying the real pattern and problem of what was happening in the African American community."

[magicalgirlypop]

i'm feeling controversial today so here's another hot take. and before you type away at your keyboards, know that this is all coming from a south asian.

white leftists have got to stop acting like christianity is the only religion that deserves to be criticized and you cannot touch any other religion because that'd be racist and bigoted. because as an indian who's watching my country progress towards hindu nationalism, this attitude doesn't help at all.

white people see hinduism as this exotic brown religion that's so much more progressive but don't know the violence of the caste system, how it others a large portion of the population on the basis of caste, literally branding them as "untouchables". they teach us in school that this problem is a thing of the past but the caste system is still alive and shows itself in violent ways. and that's not even covering how non hindus are treated in the country. muslims especially are being killed, have their houses bulldozed, businesses destroyed, and are being denied housing, our fucking prime minister called them infiltrators and there's this fear among hindu extremists that they'll outnumber the hindus in the country. portraying hinduism as this exotic religion does a disservice to all those oppressed by the hindutva ideology

similarly, white people see buddhism as this hippie religion that's all about peace but have no idea how extremist buddhists in myanmar have been persecuting the rohingya muslims for years and drive them out of the country.

if anything portraying these religions as exotic hippie brown religions is a type of orientalism itself.

and also y'all have got to realize that just because christianity has institutional power in america doesn't mean there aren't parts of the world where they are persecuted on the basis of religion. yes karen from florida who cries christophobia because she sees rainbow sprinkles on a cake is stupid but christian oppression DOES exist in non western countries where they're a minority. pakistani christians get lynched almost on a daily basis over blasphemy accusations. just look up the case of asia bibi, a pakistani christian woman who was sentenced to death on blasphemy charges because of something she said when she was being denied water because it was "forbidden" for a christian and a muslim to drink from the same utensil and she'd made it unclean just by touching it (which is ALSO rooted in casteism and part of pakistani christians' oppression also comes from the fact that a lot of them are dalit but that's a whole other discussion). and that's just one christian group, this isn't even going into what copts, assyrians, armenians etc have faced and continue to face. saying that christians everywhere are privileged because of american christianity actually harms christian minorites in non western countries.

and one last thing because this post is getting too long: someone being anti america doesn't automatically mean they're the good guys. too many times i've been seeing westerners on twitter dot com praise the fucking taliban just because they hate america. yes, the same taliban who banned education for women, thinks women should be imprisomed at home, and consistently oppresses religious and ethnic minorities in afghanistan. yes, america's war on afghanistan was bad and they SHOULD be called out for their war crimes there. no, the taliban are still not the good guys. BOTH of them are bad. you cannot pretend to care about muslims and brown people if you praise the taliban. because guess what? most of their victims are BROWN MUSLIM WOMEN. but of course white libs who praise them don't rub their two braincells together to make that conclusion.

this post has gotten too long and i've just been rambling so the point of this post is: white "leftists" whose politics are primarily america centric should stop acting like criticism of ideologies like hindutva, buddhist extremism, and islamic extremism BY people affected by these ideologies is the same as racism or religious intolerance because that helps literally no one except the extremist bigots. also america is not the centre of the world, just because something isn't happening in america doesn't mean it isn't happening elsewhere