by Akshat Sharma (staff writer)

During the pandemic, hate crimes against people of Asian descent, especially those of East Asian descent, skyrocketed. Even the FBI had warned at the start of the pandemic that it expected hate crimes to increase. It didn’t help either that former President Trump called Covid-19 “Kung flu” and “China virus”, mocking the origin of the virus, which is believed to be in Wuhan, China. These acts fueled hate crimes as the activist group Stop AAPI Hate reported that it received over 3,975 reports of racially charged incidents during the last year. Since the pandemic had begun, hate crimes had spiked over 150%. This stereotyping rhetoric is what causes these hate crimes. There is no independence if certain people do not have mindedness. Instead, they choose to be ignorant and fuel their “traditional” ideals. It’s similar to the “Yellow Peril” of the 20th century. The Yellow Peril was a movement that depicted East Asians as hateful, violent beings. Just as people did back then, people listen to Trump and others who blame the spread of the virus on East Asians. In January, an Asian American woman was slugged by a man in Seattle who screamed that “Asians need to be put in their place.” Trump and his administration fueled a lot of the hate toward Asian Americans. But the violence and hatred stems from a place deeper than that. The same hatred that ripped the Black Lives Matter movement was at play here. White Supremacy. Even as Trump is out of office, the Republican Party continues its hatred for people of color, labelling non-whites as a danger to the “traditional” American culture. Trumps’ supporters as well as those who are just plain ignorant eat these rhetorics up, and thus attack those who they see as threatening without taking a moment to think for themselves. They do  not stop to see non-whites as humans. Only through education can ignorance be stopped. Education allows people to be fully informed about topics and allows people to make informed decisions for themselves. It would also help to stop using harmful and racist rhetoric like “China virus” and help to understand that Asian Americans are not at fault for a worldwide pandemic.