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Violence against Asian Americans and why 'hate crime' should be used carefully

Violence against Asian Americans and why 'hate crime' should be used carefully

Feb 25, 2021 2 mins, 26 secs

Social media posts have conflated violence against people who are Asian American with hate crimes against the community at large, tying the crimes to pandemic-related racism.

Other sources refer to 18 incidents this year involving Asian Americans in Alameda County, California.

Regardless, Asian Americans have every right to their fear and anger at this time, said Michael Eric Dyson, a race and religion scholar at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.

Asian brothers and sisters can no longer be demanded to be quiet as the entry, as the price they have to pay for acceptance in the broader community of American ethnicities," Dyson said.

If incidents are proven to be hate crimes, he said, sentences can be lengthened.

Dyson said that when cases aren't determined to be hate crimes, "we want to be a bit reserved to make certain we're not unnecessarily inflaming tensions and undue hostilities." He said prematurely declaring them as such, particularly because the suspects in some cases have been Black, can have a deleterious effect.

Incorrect use of "hate crime" labeling "can have a negative impact on either side, on reinforcing the vicious stereotype of the natural Black inclinations for crime and that we're thugs," Michael Eric Dyson said.

"And on the other hand, alerting Asian communities or heightening their awareness about their safety and security may be sending a false signal that there is a nonexistent attempt on the part of some Black communities to target Asian brothers and sisters.".

"And on the other hand, alerting Asian communities or heightening their awareness about their safety and security may be sending a false signal that there is a nonexistent attempt on the part of some Black communities to target Asian brothers and sisters.".

Dhingra said Asian Americans can be targeted for a variety of reasons, not solely because of racial animus.

Erroneously labeling a crime based on assumptions not only could risk a problematic punishment, but it could also make it harder to keep the Asian American community safe.

Violence hasn't been restricted to the Asian American community.

Dyson said he understands why people are tempted to connect the incidents to the rampant anti-Asian sentiment tied to the pandemic.

Dyson said the Black community, like others, hasn't been untouched by the Trump administration's incendiary rhetoric

And just as the Asian American community isn't immune to perpetuating anti-Blackness, the Black community can be vulnerable to absorbing the anti-Asian discourse

"Just because Black folk have been oppressed themselves doesn't issue a carte blanche, so to speak, exempting us from looking at whatever possible internalization of certain elements of our community, of the hostility toward Asian folk in regard to the 'Chinese virus' and the way in which that discourse targets AAPI folk with such vicious particularity," he said

Ultimately, regardless of the intention behind the crimes, the fear and pain felt by the Asian American community are real and valid, the experts said

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