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I initially struggled with whether Trump’s rhetoric helped fuel the anti-Asian violence by constantly referring to the coronavirus as “China virus” and “kung-flu.” Should the Chinese government have closed down the illegal Wuhan wet markets long ago? Absolutely. Should the Chinese government have immediately restricted outside travel while they were locking up their own COVID hotspots? Yes.
But unfortunately, people in the U.S. have a history of not being able to separate the actions of foreign governments from people whose ancestors are from those countries and currently living in the United States.
Case in point — U.S. citizens of Japanese ancestry who were rounded up and made to live in camps during World War II after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. And that was done by one of the most liberal presidents in history.
More recently, Muslim Americans became the target of attacks after 9/11. And this was even with President Bush giving a speech on Sept. 18, 2001 stating that the “face of terror was not the true face of Islam” — and reiterating that message in subsequent speeches and TV appearances.
Most Asian immigrants and their descendants, by virtue of them being here in the U.S., have voted with their feet for this country. They have no control nor stake in the policy decisions of their mother country any more than I have control over the foreign policy of Ireland. Most are glad to be here because of the opportunity and freedom this country provides.
Whether intended or not, Trump’s comments were incendiary against Asians in the U.S. because he never clearly stated nor reiterated the message that Asian people, and specifically Chinese immigrants, living here were good people and not to blame for COVID. And in fact, given the foreign-born Asian culture of wearing masks, they were the ones doing the most to stop COVID transmission in the U.S. from the outset.
Simply calling this out would have been a statesmanlike call of solidarity we expect from good leaders.
Given the U.S. history of racist rhetoric and policies, Trump should have thought about the actions his words might inspire — it was already evident that his rhetoric was emboldening racist white nationalist groups.
And unfortunately, what he said spurned racism that has gone far beyond empowering white racists — it’s inspired equal opportunity racism. A majority of the anti-Asian attacks in the Bay Area have been perpetrated by non-whites, including one at an Oakland gas station by a Middle Eastern man with a thick accent yelling racial insults at (and then pepper spraying) an Asian American with no accent and telling him to “go back to his country.”
It’s so ironic it’s laughable. But it really just shows you how incredibly stupid, ignorant and downright crazy racism is.
What’s worse is that those responding to Asian murders, from Atlanta police spokesman Jay Baker to San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin, are discounting racist intent and writing it off as being driven by mental illness. But therein lies the problem: racism in and of itself is a mental illness, and we need to roll out a cure for it just as urgently as we need to roll out the COVID-19 vaccine.
I pray that we get past this racism and these economically hard times. And I’m glad that I haven’t heard about any recent anti-Asian crime in Pleasanton. We all just need to speak out, speak up and do the right thing. And stop the Asian hate.
Editor’s note: Frank Lynn is an IT marketer, Cub Scout leader and youth basketball coach. He said he was inspired to submit this Guest Opinion as a decade resident of Pleasanton whose wife of 20 years is a Japanese immigrant.
