Anti-Asian bias is rising in America. Per a report by Amy Sherman of the Tampa Bay Times, Titled Hate Crimes Against Asian Americans\What, The Numbers Show cites the "March 16th public shooting by a 21-year-old White man who shot eight Asian women in an Atlanta area spa." More recently, a small segment of African American citizenship has joined in with the attacks. But why? Per reports, "all of the attacks are unprovoked." And the strange case of Black-on-Asian crime remains a mystery and highly suspicious. A separate organization called, Stop Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Hate "cataloged nearly 3,800 hateful incidents — which is not limited to crimes — during the first year of the pandemic." Per AAPI (Stop Asian American and Pacific Islander Hate), the primary target of incidents focused on women more than men.
Sherman's report cited, "The Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University." The outlined findings stated that "March showed hate crimes against Asian Americans spiked 149 percent between 2019 and 2020, even though hate crimes overall declined." (As long as you do not include all the unnecessary murders & assaults executed by police officers on Black Americans reported or unreported during that period.) The outbreak of unusual behavior among citizens towards Asian Americans showed up initially when Trump blew a dog whistle claiming that COVID19 was an Asian disease from "China." Trump also coined the derogative term in regards to Covid 19 Pandemic as "The Kung Flu." https://www.tampabay.com/news/nation-world/2021/03/20/hate-crimes-against-asian-americans-what-the-numbers-show-politifact/.
Historically Black and Asian citizenship had an unspoken alliance. Asian Americans marched with Black Americans during the Civil Rights Era and Black Power Movement. In Rev Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s article published in 1959 titled "My Trip to the Land of Gandhi," he shared that Black Americans and Asians had a common struggle and cause. King further shared that Black Americans were "looked upon as brothers with the color of our skins as something of an asset." Asians in America utilized many of the strategies & affirmative action resources that the Civil Rights and Black Power Movement established. https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/my-trip-land-gandhi
Below Asian Americans Black Power Movement Supporters 70s.
Per an article in ThoughtCo. (a premier reference site with a 20+ year focus on expert-created education content) by Nadra Kareem Nittle article titled The Birth of the Yellow Power Movement of 1969 Asians were "inspired by the Black Power Movement that exposed how to address institutional racism and government hypocrisy." Nittle's article further states that the Yellow Power Movement "utilized strategies learned from the Black Power Movement to obtain 16 million dollars in reparations" for their people successfully in 1988.
Below: Japanese Americans going to internment camps at
"The Tule Lake Isolation Center" in California in 1945.
Reparations
Japanese Americans who survived after being placed in internment camps here in America from 1942 to 1945 received reparations from the United States of America. The Civil Liberties Act of 1988, pushed through by the Yellow Power Movement, distributed $20,000 each in reparations to 80,000 surviving internees or their heirs and included an apology from the federal government. Signed by President Ronald Reagan in 1988. Post the eighties, the Asian American Civil Rights Movement, aka Yellow Power Movement, broke up. And more Asians began to classify themselves as White per the 90s.
Below: Fred Korematsu, Minoru Yasui, and Gordon Hirabayashi at a press conference about the Asian American Civil Rights Movement.
A report published by the NY Times shares that "Many people arrested in assaults on Asian residents in NY have had a history of mental health episodes, arrests, and homelessness." The report further shares that these factors alone are "complicating the city's search for an effective response, to reduce the violence targeted at Asian Americans." https://abc7ny.com/asian-attack-assault-american-ebony-jackson-hate-crime/10622457/
Below: Homeless man attacking a Asian woman
With all this said, is it time to re-open state hospitals so that the mentally ill homeless population has a place to live again? A place that can prevent them from harming themselves and others? Per an AMA Journal of Ethics by Daniel Yohanna, Titled Deinstitutionalization of People with Mental Illness: Causes and Consequences states that "approximately 14.8 million people have severe mental illness," and being homeless only exacerbates the condition. According to the report, "Historically, state hospitals fulfilled many needs for people with severe mental illness, including therapy, medication, medical treatment, work, vocational training," plus "a sense of community." https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/deinstitutionalization-people-mental-illness-causes-and-consequences/2013-10
Pictured below friend of Malcolm X & Black Power Movement Activist
Yuri Kochiyama
We all have a role to play to stop hate crimes. Whether by addressing attacks of domestic terrorism in the country that may be enticing a vulnerable segment of the American society to do something harmful to others in turn for drugs or money. Or providing safe spaces that offer homes, respect, stability, and long-term care for people whose lot in life left them wanting and mentally ill after too many abuses and disenfranchisement. Either way, the sooner America addresses domestic terrorism and provides gladly for our homeless citizens, the sooner we will see change come. Lastly, Black & Asian America, plus sovereign 1st Nation tribes, need an annual pow-wow to brainstorm and collaborate on how to better inform future generations about who they are and where their people come from as well as how we all have worked together to survive systematic racism here in America.
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