A virus hasn’t been the only thing that has spread since the COVID-19 outbreak, as Asian Americans have seen an increase in hate crimes recently. NOVA, a multicultural organization of the NKU, is working to smooth this curve of hatred.
When NOVA President Holly Blansette stumbled upon it a report It decided to act on 3,795 hate incidents between March 2020 and February 2021.
“We thought this would be a good opportunity to educate people about this issue as it isn’t very high in discussions but affects some of us near home,” said Blansette.
For NOVA’s social media coordinator, Vanessa Khong, even simple actions such as a trip to the gas station cause concern.
“I got gasoline and stood there, like everyone else, running my own business. I just couldn’t help but feel nervous and insecure. I feel like I could be attacked, especially because of the rise in hate crimes in Asia and America the salon shooting in Atlanta“Said Khong.
Khong, who is of Vietnamese descent, said her family was approached orally by a group of people in Cincinnati earlier this year. The group reportedly yelled, “Chinese, go back where you are from!”
According to Stop AAPI Hate National Report 2020-2021Verbal harassment accounts for 68.1 percent of hate incidents against Asian Americans.
According to Rebecca Bailey, history professor at NKU, “Discrimination usually coincides with times of great stress and great change in our nation.”
For Bailey, too, discrimination applies close to home. Her uncle of Japanese descent volunteered for the U.S. Army when he was 20 years old after the Pearl Harbor events. According to Bailey, her uncle had a choice of either volunteering for the military or sitting in a detention center.
According to a survey conducted by Pew Research, Asian Americans are more likely than any other group to report being exposed to blurring or jokes because of their race or ethnicity since the coronavirus outbreak: 31% say this happened to them, compared with 21 % of black adults, 15% of Hispanic adults, and 8% of white adults.
“What’s going on now, what’s going on, is cyclical from my perspective as someone teaching American immigration history,” Bailey said.
Khong and Blansette agree that former United States President Donald Trump made matters worse by using terms like “China virus” and “kung flu”. According to Google Trends, searches for “China viruses” have been on an upward trend during Trump’s presidency and have declined since he left office.
“When such terms are used in relation to a virus that has become a pandemic, all Asian Americans automatically become targets of bigotry,” said Khong. “We have to educate ourselves and raise awareness.”
NOVA launched a social media campaign to raise awareness and raise funds in support of Stop AAPI Hate, a foundation established by the Asia-Pacific Planning and Policy Council (A3PCON), the Chinese agency for positive action (CAA) and the Department of Asian American Studies in San was founded by Francisco State University.
NOVA’s campaign used tactics like Instagram Bingo to raise $ 323 over a week in March.
Stop AAPI Hate was set up in response to “xenophobia and bigotry” resulting from the pandemic.
According to your website“The center tracks and responds to incidents of hatred, violence, harassment, discrimination, avoidance, and bullying of children against Asian Americans and Pacific islanders in the United States.”
The organization pursues this goal with a “5-pillar approach”:
- ” Serve as the leading aggregator of hate incidents against Asian and Pacific islanders
- Provide multilingual resources for affected community members
- Technical support through quick response to preventive measures
- Support community-based security efforts and efforts to restore justice
- Advocate for local, state and national policies that strengthen human rights and the protection of civil rights. “
Blansette said NOVA will continue to make efforts to raise awareness of Asian American discrimination and the growing hate incidents. She also plans to create the NKU’s first multicultural sorority on campus in the hope of “providing greater diversity and awareness to our fraternity and sorority community”.
Further information can be found under NOVA’s Instagram or click on Here.
