1
The
Brewster Browser
April 23, 2021 Wolfeboro, NH
The Rise in Anti-Asian Racism in The United States
by Kaeli Bennett ’21
It’s no secret that the Covid-19 disease and subsequent pandemic has impacted the United States (and the world) in a variety of ways. One negative effect has been the rapid increase in anti-Asian racism during the past year. It has become an even larger problem in the United States than it was prior to March 2020; the NYPD reported that New York City experienced a 1,900% increase in hate crimes fueled by anti-Asian motives throughout the year. Why is this happening, and what can be done to shut down this new rise in anti-Asian sentiment in our country? Now, the origin of a virus alone does not condone racism against a group of people, especially when that group is white/European. Some diseases that have originated from white people that have NOT resulted in a rise in racism and hate crimes include: Smallpox, Cholera, and Scarlet Fever. Smallpox actually greatly affected indigenous peoples of North America when the area was being colonized by white settlers who brought the disease to the continent.
Racism, as defined by Merriam-Webster Dictionary, includes, “The systemic oppression of a racial group to the social, economic, and political advantage of another.” Any assumptions and stereotypes about white people are considered racial prejudice, not racism. Any racial prejudice white people experience cannot be considered racism because it does not include the systemic connection to power that discrimination against BIPOC does. So, the Coronavirus was first discovered in 2019 in Wuhan, China, and the outbreak stemmed from the country. Why did the U.S. decide to play the blame game here, when it wasn’t played against them in the past? This double standard demonstrates racism clearly; Asians are a minority in the U.S. and they are an oppressed group. Asians, in the U.S. after WWII, began to be referred to as the “model minority,” a concept that is racist on multiple levels, but that consideration seems to have faded out in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis. In April 2020, only a month after the start of United States lockdowns, Asian Americans were
April Interim Studies
Volume 43 Issue 4
Brewster Students Learn Outside the Box
Zoe Schwartz ’22 sorts through the freshest pen of compost to get to the layer under the solid materials and remove the composted material to a different pen. Zoe attended a yoga and agricultural retreat at Bethel Farm in Hillsborough, NH for her Interim Studies experience this April. photo by Mrs. Amy Hill
Photo found on Kalw.org depicts Chinatown residents in San Francisco protesting against racism in early 2020.
Anti-white racism, in fact, does not exist. European persons who are not part of other minority groups (racially, sexuality-wise, gender-wise, religiously, ethnically, etc.) are not and have never been oppressed or discriminated against systemically.
experiencing around 100 (reported) cases per day of anti-Asian actions. On Tuesday, March 16, 2021, the spread of Anti-Asian sentiment was propelled into the media spotlight. A man, Robert E. Long, shot and murdered cont. on pg. 6
Kaeli Bennett ’21, Elisha Grace-King ’23 and Alex Daigneault ’24 work on their paintings for The Joy of Painting with Bob Ross Interim Studies, held in the Pinckney Boathouse. See page 3 for more photos. photo by Ms. Marta Carreno
In Memoriam: Maya James See Page 2.