On the misuse of the term “Asian” and how it affects us all
The Facts
In the last months, we have watched in horror as elders in the Bay Area and elsewhere in the US have suffered brutal attacks. These attacks are abhorrent, there’s no doubt. But the reporting has me gutted. Every single news source mentions “Asian community,” every single educator and activist on Instagram is talking about “Asian solidarity”. But what Asians are they talking about?
The attacks have been specifically targeted towards those of East and Southeast Asian descent. As the East and Southeast Asian communities prepared for their various lunar new years, decorations are abound, red and bright and beautiful. They also double as a big fat target. COVID wrought havoc on East and Southeast Asians. Fears and anger about the virus resulted in a terrible spike of racially motivated hate crimes towards the East and Southeast Asian community in the last year, but especially in the last months. Attackers did not discriminate— anyone assumed to be Chinese was at risk of being targeted. Racist hate crimes are not new to these communities, but the recent spike has garnered attention widely.
The misuse of “Asian”
For the moment, however, I’d like to focus on the use of the term “Asian” in the coverage and discourse around this horrific problem. Asia is the largest continent in the world. It encompasses over 50 countries, with numerous ethnic and racial groups. Japan and Yemen are in the same continent. So are Kazakhstan and Vietnam. China and Iran. South Korea and Bangladesh. Even within the various subdivisions of Asia, there is marked diversity. And yet, all these countries are Asian. All their people are Asian. As others have said before me, Asians are not a monolith.
As a South Asian who grew up in Southeast Asia, it’s ridiculous and hurtful to see East and Southeast Asians only refer to themselves when they use the term Asian. Activists on Instagram have been posting about including Asians in your anti-racism, to act in solidarity with Asians during these times of racially motivated attacks. But hold on, which Asians? You certainly don’t mean brown Asians like myself. You mean East and Southeast Asians. And here is where the problems arise. When you use a broad term to only refer to a select group, it is reductive. It erases all the other groups that term encompasses. And it distorts the meaning of what you’re trying to say.
The use of Asian to really only mean East and Southeast Asians has become so common that I’m not surprised most other Asians chose to go by country or region specific identifiers. It’s hard to identify with a term that no one really associates with you. It’s a sort of cognitive dissonance, in a way.
Now don’t get me wrong, other Asian groups are not currently experiencing the terror that East and Southeast Asians in the US are right now. I am NOT saying “AllAsiansMatter”. I am saying we need to be more specific, and call in support for the East and Southeast Asian communities in the US. Not being specific and misusing the term “Asian” only serves to sow further discord among the various Asian communities. Reductive language and erasure of so many will not bring us together. We need to do better. Say Asian when you mean all Asians, not just some.
Anti-Blackness in the Asian community and its effects on the current situation
I was going to end my essay there, but then I read Ericka Hart’s post on Instagram asking “if you are doing anti-racism work, why aren’t Asians already included?” and thought this prudent to discuss. It struck such a chord with me. As she pointed out, who are the calls for “including Asians in your anti-racism” directed at? Black people? In the comments on that post, numerous Black people spoke of how these calls for action smacked of anti-Blackness, of an assumption that Black people had not previously included Asians (and specifically, East and Southeast Asians) in their work. Which is bullshit. Obviously these calls are outwardly aimed at white people, but to reiterate Ericka’s point — what kind of anti-racism doesn’t include Asians in the first place? That’s not anti-racism, that’s some cherry picking nonsense.
There should have been more calls for solidarity and support among our communities. Calls for mutual aid and community care. Instead some called for increased policing, a direct slap in the face to the efforts of so many Black activists (and others) last year who advocated for abolishing the police. Fortunately, many in the Asian communities have rightly pointed out that it is blatantly anti-Black to be calling for more policing, and that the communities would be much better served with mutual aid and care. While some have used the attackers’ race as grounds for anti-Blackness and prejudice, they have been drowned out by the multitudes of those calling for unity and an end to pitting the Asian and Black communities against each other. Anti-Blackness in the Asian community is not new, and it needs to be addressed and uprooted at its cause. All non white people suffer under white supremacy, but Asians’ proximity to whiteness mean we must consistently do the work to ensure we are NEVER leveraging that against the Black community. We must consistently use our privilege to uplift the Black community. There is no liberation unless it’s for us all.
Resources
The Black Bay Area org finished a fundraiser for the victims of attacks. A volunteer community patrol has been started in Oakland, CA to to accompany and protect the elderly as they move around in the community. Black, Latine, Indigenous and Asian activists have organized rallies in NYC and Oakland, among other places, in support of the affected communities. Celebrities have spoken up in support, as have some lawmakers. NextShark is an awesome (though slightly limited) news resource on Asian-related topics, reporting on incidents sometimes days before it hits mainstream media. There are numerous educators, activists, and advocates across the internet constantly discussing issues in their communities. But the work is not over, there’s always more to be done.
