Anti-Asian Racism Spreading Amid Coronavirus Pandemic

Speaker 1: 00:00 So far on the program today, we've heard about how the Corona virus pandemic is impacting schools, renters and workers. We're now going to talk about how it's impacting the local Asian American community. President Trump has referred to coven 19 as the Chinese virus and our next guests say that's inciting racist attacks against Asian Americans. Joining me is Leanne Kim. She is a former journalist and founder of the San Diego Asian film festival and author of a new op ed in the San Diego union Tribune titled words matter. Don't call coven 19 what president Trump has also Leonard trend. He prosecutes hate crimes at the San Diego County district attorney's office. Welcome to you both. Thank you for having us. So Leanne, I'll start with you. You open your piece with something the president said this week in a press conference. Let's take a listen to that. Speaker 2: 00:54 It's very important that we totally protect our Asian American community in the United States and all around the world. They're amazing people and the spreading of the virus is not their fault in any way, shape or form. Speaker 1: 01:08 You know, this statement came after he defended the use of the term Chinese virus. So when he said that Asian American should be protected, what did you make of that? Speaker 3: 01:18 Why listen to that press conference live? And I had to, you know, I, I asked myself, did he just say what I thought? He just said it completely took me by surprise. Uh, and it came out of nowhere because he didn't give any context to why he was saying this. I mean, out of 20 seconds of a nearly two hour long press briefing to say that Asian Americans are awesome and that we should be totally protected. It's, it's very confusing. So there was no mention of, you know, or apology of his use of the words a Chinese virus or even the more derogatory term from his own aid. Uh, the conch flu. And I think the problem that we have as a community about, it's not just about the term Chinese virus, but it's also the implicit linkage to a long history of anti-Asian rhetoric and violence and also these tropes that foreigners, um, are diseased and are dangerous. And so, you know, when he was using the words Chinese virus, it was really alarming to the entire Asian American community. Speaker 1: 02:24 And Leanne, tell us more about that long history of linking illness to people's racial and ethnic identity. Speaker 3: 02:30 Sure. Well, Asians actually were the first group of people who were singled out to be denied us citizenship as well as entrance into this country. So back in the late 18 hundreds that was during the yellow peril era when the Chinese in particular were racially profiled as filthy, diseased and uncivilized. And that led to the Chinese exclusion act that was enacted back in 1882 but it didn't get repealed all the way until 43 and obviously those stereotypes have been passed down from generation to generation, sadly persist today. Other quick examples include when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, we blame Japanese Americans and appended thousands of lives by throwing them into internment camps. And then more recently, after nine 11 anyone who was perceived to be Muslim based, immediate hate and threats to their livelihoods, which continued today. So again, this is a situation that I think we should all take very seriously because even after the Corona virus or Coban 19 goes away, these sentiments will still linger. Speaker 3: 03:39 And Leanne, you know, I'm wondering if you've personally experienced some of the anti-Asian sentiment or heard from others who have been subjected to attacks. I know firsthand that even before we had this social distancing measures in place that are, um, Asian American restaurants and, um, Asian-American business owners were facing incredible hardships. Um, you know, if you go down convoy street, this was back in late January, early February, normally very bustling area of town was like a ghost town because there was fear that if you eat Asian food or you were served by Asian people, that you are more likely to get the Corona virus, which we know is not true. But now that we're under orders to stay inside our homes, most of those attacks are happening obviously online. So recently I was, I'm part of a press conference with, uh, council president, Georgette Gomez and supervisor Nathan Fletcher, talking about the dangers of using this kind of rhetoric. Speaker 3: 04:41 And I couldn't believe the amount of, um, hateful and vitriolic comments to my talk. Here's a couple of examples. You guys need to stop eating dogs first. Everything that comes from China's stamped with made in China, including toxic plastic toys, toys and drywall. What's the difference? Why do they always have to be politically correct and use? And why would the media use a Chinese woman? Do they think that it would hold more water coming from her? Stupid is a stupid does. I love that one because I'm not even Chinese. Just saying, when you eat bats and grill live dogs, that's what happens. So, you know, I was talking about, you know, rhetoric and bigotry and um, and racism as results of what the president was saying. And I think many of these comments, just confirm my point. You know, Leonard, there have been reported hate crimes against Asian-Americans and other parts of the country. Talk to me about, uh, what the County DA's office is doing to combat hate crimes. Are you actively investigating any local incidents? We work really closely with our local law enforcement and federal law enforcement officers. Um, if you think about the way that crimes Speaker 1: 05:58 are reported, hate crimes in particular can get kind of lost if they're not investigated properly. So if, if a victim of a hate crime, let's say, um, in the course of being attacked or singled out, uh, they hear slurs that are being used against them and then they get assaulted. If they report that incident to law enforcement and they leave out the fact that, that the slurs are being used, then law enforcement can't identify that as a potential hate crime. And so as it gets, uh, down the road of being reviewed by a prosecutor's office, if that information has never conveyed, we can never identify it and charge it correctly as a hate crime. So our office has been active in training law enforcement and asking the right questions that victims of crime, because oftentimes when there's no explanation or no motive for why a crime occurs, it sometimes is based on bias, which is what is at the core of, of, uh, our hate crimes laws. Speaker 1: 06:54 You know, Leanne just told us what she faced online. Have you seen a rise in hate speech against the Asian American community on social media and could that escalate to a hate crime? Yes. You know, kind of, one of the things that, that we're always concerned about is that when we see hate speech, so, um, either disparaging language, the use of slurs, but nothing that threatens violence and uh, nothing that could be prosecuted. Uh, when we see hate speech online and particularly when we see an increase in hate speech against a particular group, that's always a precursor to hate crimes that target that very same group. When we talk about things that, you know, politicians say better disparaging towards a particular race. If you look at the data in the days and weeks following that incident, we see an uptake in hate crimes that target that very same group. Speaker 1: 07:44 And so words that people say have, uh, an effect on people who are listening to them. Uh, when we see hate speech on social media and it sort of, um, gets other people to come out of the woodwork and, and agree with some of these bias thoughts, that's kind of where, you know, one of the main ingredients to seeing an uptake in hate crimes against that same particular group. And, you know, Leonard, outside of what's happening online, have you heard from the local Asian community about their concerns and potential hate incidents? Uh, there was an incident that actually has made kind of the social media rounds where an Uber driver, uh, picked up a couple passengers, uh, and almost immediately, uh, he was targeted for being from Hong Kong and they immediately launched into coronavirus and all these, you know, kind of racist tropes. Um, and, and so we are seeing some of that, but none of it so far has crossed into the, the realm of an actual crime being committed against, uh, fortunately against the Asian American community. Um, and one thing that I, I really wanted to express was, you know, as a parent, um, I have heard, uh, students of, Speaker 3: 08:56 uh, friends of my own children who have been, um, verbally attacked at school before school had been let out in particular, one young girl was told to wash her hands longer, for example, because she was Asian and that she was definitely going to get the Corona virus. Uh, she needs to wash your hands even more than anybody else. So those kinds of things happen with the young kids and they're bullying. Um, and online bullying can be really very hurtful. So what I am asking, you know, especially for parents, is to take some time to talk to their children and having meaningful conversations about why, uh, singling out or blaming a certain group of people is wrong and how that it could hurt people. And the other thing that we can all do is that whenever we hear this kind of rhetoric is to just simply call it out, not ignore it, but call it out each and every time so that it doesn't get normalized. Speaker 1: 09:57 I've been speaking with Liam Kim, founder of the San Diego Asian film festival, and author of a new op-ed in the San Diego union Tribune titled words matter, don't call covert 19 would president Trump has and Leonard trend, prosecutor of hate crimes at the San Diego County district attorney's office. Thank you very much to you both. Thank you. Speaker 4: 10:27 [inaudible].