Asian hate crimes spark student support of #StopAsianHate Chinese Americans were the largest ethnic group (42.2%) that reportexperiAnti-Asian hate crime in 16 of America’s largest cities increased 145% A in sia Bo Lo n st s Ha on An te ro gel Cr se es im by an es 11 d 4%
Illustration by Valery Barrera
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The Pearl Post | April 2021
By Nathalie Miranda ith the recent increase in hate crimes against the Asian community, more and more people have been speaking up about the racism and xenophobia in the U.S.. “Seeing my friends, students and schools come together and talk about these issues really gives me a sense of hope,” math teacher Lori Seo said. In the last few months, there have been many racially motivated attacks toward the Asian community and many of them have been directed toward Asian elders. This massive increase started happening with the start of COVID-19. “It’s like we are going back in history,” senior Amelia Sanchez said. “Asians haven’t done anything to deserve this hate for something they can’t control.” Hate crimes toward the Asian community have increased by 150% in many major cities in the U.S. between 2019 and 2020. With racism toward Asians being so normalized throughout the years, many people are speaking up in hopes that the issue can be recognized and taken seriously. As hate crimes increase, students are turning to social media as a way to bring attention to this issue. Through sharing posts, reposting and advocating, students are making more people aware of the situation and that’s really what their goal is, to just bring attention to the issue and get people talking about it. “If I were to witness first hand a racist act, I’d do everything in my power to put a stop to it,” senior Jovanny Dominguez , who is half-Japanese said. Even students who aren’t Asian have been posting on social media about these issues. With the small Asian population at Daniel Pearl Magnet High School, it’s important for everyone to speak up and help them. The Asian community needs as much support as they can get. “This isn’t something that should be
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ignored. Non-Asian people need to help the Asian community and we all need to come together,” junior Adam Martinez said. Asian-Americans have been experiencing things like getting made fun of for their eye shape and have Asian languages mocked for a long time but society has been pretty silent about it. Asian-Americans continue to experience small racist offenses all the time. Especially students, racism at school is so frequent and people within the Asian-American community have dealt with it for far too long.
As an Asian myself, I feel like I have to be more aware of my surroundings than I normally would be Cameron Frank
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“I’ve had people squint their eyes at me,” Frank said. “People have also referred to me as a ‘ching-chong’ multiple times.” The fact that many people are speaking up about racism and violence against Asians is amazing. Spreading awareness and bringing attention to these issues are very important and hopefully there will be a day where racism toward Asians and everyone else is non-existent. “I hope this all comes to an end real soon,” Dominguez said. “At the end of the day, we’re all human and that’s all that should matter.” Instagram: @nathal0ser
