Entwined Oppressions: Historicizing Anti-Asian Violence in the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Era.

The emergence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been accompanied by a rise of anti-Asian violence that stems from a greater history of racism and xenophobia in the United States and abroad. Names like “China Virus” and “Kung Flu” used for COVID-19 by some state officials were rhetorical attacks with corporeal consequences on bodies racialized as Asian. Hate crimes and discrimination rose across America. Brazen and unprovoked assaults in public places left people injured or dead. Many Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) older adults and women were targeted specifically (Stop AAPI Hate, 2022a, 2022b). Nearly all (98.2%) AAPI older adults who experienced hate incidents between March 2020 to December 2021 believed the United States has become a more physically dangerous place, naming race, ethnicity, and gender as the top suspected reasons for their discrimination (Stop AAPI Hate, 2022a). Popular responses to anti-Asian violence have been mobilized around the #StopAAPIHate rallying cry. Major policy approaches have coalesced around bolstering hate crimes reporting. In May 2021, President Biden signed the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, sponsored by Hawaii Senator Mazie Hirono (2021), into law. The bill seeks to create state-run hate crime hotlines, enhance law enforcement responses to attacks, and establish a position at the Department of Justice to expedite review of hate crime cases. According to Senator Hirono, “it was really important to the AAPI community to show that the Senate stood with them to condemn these totally unprovoked discriminatory and violent acts” (Shoenthal, 2021).