Sinophobia stems from Racism and Yellow Peril

It is no surprise, that the previous administration has already stoked hate and division, domestically and internationally. By chauvinistically blaming China to be a diseased country and irresponsibly using incendiary terms such as "China Virus" , Donald J. Trump and Michael Pompeo has effectively rallied their fanatical base to hate people of Asian descent within United States. As a result, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) have recorded a 1900% increase in the reported hate crimes with women 3 times more affected than men

Although Trump has left office, his legacy and influence remains in full effect. In the beginning of February 2020 alone, in just a span of just one week.

1) An 84 year old thai man was killed after being pushed in San Francisco.

2) An elderly Chinese man is shoved and thrown to the ground in Oakland's Chinatown.

3) A Chinese man is robbed at gunpoint in front of his home in Oakland.

4) In New York City, a filipino man is slashed across the face.

5) In San Jose, a Vietnamese grandmother is robbed and assaulted.

6) An army veteran and Yale graduate student Kevin Jiang was shot and killed in cold blood.

So how did we get here? Ever since 2016, Trump ran a successful campaign which was essentially fueled on hateful rhetoric and theatrics. It all started with creating a nefarious enemy: "China", " China", "China". Sounds familiar? In addition to Trump's rhetoric, the American mainstream media which is mainly funded by essentially by large western corporations are beating the drums of war by creating a fake narrative of "Uigher Genocide". If you also combine this with shameless social media clout mongering where people would share Asian/Chinese people eating live animals, and dog murdering in Yulin meat festivals, you get an indisputable narrative that Chinese people, and by proximity and association Asian people are dirty disguising creatures that deserve nothing but contempt from the American and worldwide community.

The diaspora issues are complex and many people of Asian descent eagerly distance themselves from China. However, the unintended consequences of self preservation can potentially backfire. It is important to read everything from all sides and question the western narrative. A lot of geopolitics seems to be out of our control, however, by continuously educating ourselves and reading everything and questioning the political players and "influencers", we can push pack on dangerous public opinions and media frenzy.

Source: https://www.napawf.org/press-releases/033020