Editorial
Op-ed
Put an end to ignorance in New York City
Arguably, the worst aspect of our
modern era is the politicization
of both a global pandemic and of
hate.
The issues of our health and respect of
one another in society should be a universally
shared belief, regardless of race, creed,
color or party affi liation. We should want to
protect each other from a plague; we should
want to stop spreading hate and instead
promote kindness and justice for all.
But that’s not where we are in America
in 2021. We are a society split in two factions:
those who respect each other, and
those who only respect themselves. One
side cares to solve two of the biggest issues
of our time; the other side couldn’t care less
about them.
Look at the rash of hate crimes targeting
Asian Americans both in New York and
throughout the country. Slurs that the
former president trumpeted throughout
the COVID-19 pandemic last year fueled
an ugly backlash that continues to this day.
Over the weekend, as hundreds protested
the most recent rash of hate crimes,
an elderly man was beaten up by a bigot
on the Lower East Side; and a protester
was attacked by a hate-fi lled brute in NoHo
who stomped on the sign she carried, then
punched her repeatedly in the face.
It’s refl ective of the kind of ignorance
that has permeated the country during
the pandemic. The simple act of wearing a
mask to protect other people was wrongly
confl ated into a debate over personal freedom.
Business closures, painful as they
were, were also roped into the false debate.
And there fi gures to be more ignorance
to come now with media outlets reporting
on what they’ve dubbed as “the crisis on
the border.” It is indeed a humanitarian
crisis, but the response to this is not one
of concern over the welfare of migrants
coming into America.
The same people on the right who condoned
the former administration’s jailing
of immigrant children are again smearing
migrants on our border as some sort of
foreign invasion to be stopped. That will
only kindle more acts of hatred in this
country —and they don’t seem to care.
Enough is enough!
We cannot allow this ignorance to continue.
We must rise up and drown it out.
Speak up, New York! Say no to hate,
ignorance and bloodshed. Say yes to unity,
justice, tolerance and equality.
Publisher of The Villager, Villager Express, Chelsea Now,
Downtown Express and Manhattan Express
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Asian Americans need society
to disavow racism as they face
continued discrimination
BY FRANK H. WU
How many Asian Americans have
to be killed before other people
realize there is a pattern?
The past year of pandemic has seen
every type of violence directed toward
Asian Americans, from name calling that
leads to spitting on pedestrians and shoving
the elderly to the ground hard enough to
break bones to stabbings and ultimately
the recent shootings in Atlanta, Georgia.
Although the three businesses visited by
the confessed killer were Asian-owned and
six of eight victims were Asian women, a
senior law enforcement offi cial there described
the mass murder as the outcome
of a “bad day.”
The assaults are neither random nor
right. Asian Americans, however, have
experienced this type of dismissal of their
concerns. President Joe Biden mentioned in
his fi rst major speech that Asian-Americans
number among those front-line health care
professionals risking their lives to treat
patients during the pandemic. Yet Asian-
Americans continue to be blamed for the
disease in childish jokes and conspiracy
theories.
We wish for confl ict to be simple, villains
and victims. We visualize bigots
to be wicked through and through, and
those whom they harm to be pure beyond
reproach.
The trouble is that everyone except
the most extreme and the most foolish
appreciates that they are expected at least
in polite society to disavow their racism.
Observers help them by speculating that
there is an alternative explanation for their
malfeasance. We should be sympathetic to
the victims instead of the perpetrators.
What is not deemed “racist” in intention
can nonetheless be racial in consequences.
Some people are oblivious to the possibility
that Asian Americans run into discrimination.
I have been informed directly
by folks that all the Asian Americans they
know are “well off” or that Asian Americans
don’t have it as bad as they would in
their “homelands” as if they didn’t belong
here. The studies consistently show that
Asian Americans who are well-educated
professionals are crowded below the glass
ceiling, or what some have called a “bamboo
ceiling.” Asian Americans also report
bias at rates lower than the reality, due to
language and culture.
President Frank Wu
It is infuriating when people explain
to me the attacks on Asian Americans
are not racist because they are directed
at foreigners. That pretext makes the
prejudice obvious: Asian Americans,
both naturalized and native born, face
the very same problems their parents and
grandparents do, but are not accepted as
bona fi de citizens. They are shouted at to
go back to where they are “really” from
and complimented for speaking English so
well. Wrongdoers who are about to strike
you rarely pause to check your passport.
The implication of the excuse should be
called out, that it somehow would be tolerable
if offenders only targeted those who
were aliens. Once revealed, the sentiment
becomes indefensible.
I continue to be hopeful. Anti-Asian
American attitudes, hate crimes, and government
policies have always been around.
But the awareness is new and therefore encouraging.
Perhaps now, in coalitions with
the #BLM movement and the campaigns
against resurgent anti-Semitism, Asian
Americans will have allies in demanding
only what our great nation promises to
all who believe in its ideals: equality and
justice.
Frank H. Wu is the President of Queens
College, CUNY.
8 March 25, 2021 Schneps Media
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