STOP ASIAN HATE.
Amidst the rise in violence directed at Asian Americans over the past year, and in the wake of the racialized murders of Asian women in Georgia on March 16th, the Davis Cherry Blossom Festival team expresses grief and calls for all members of our community to help bring about awareness and change.
If these recent events seem out-of-the blue or one-off, this is part of the problem that our community is asking for your help in rectifying. For the past year, Asian American communities have witnessed a rise in violence and harassment and have spoken out about it. For the past century, Asian Americans have known this type of violence and trauma intimately. There is a deep history and context to the way “casual racism” and violence have been linked, and that history is intertwined in our lives.
What many in our community find particularly egregious is a type of sexulized degradation directed towards Asian women. When the perpetrator of the act claimed his actions had to do with “sexual addiction” and the removal of temptation in a Christian ontology, it can be hard for someone in our vantage to not understand that as the product of histories of colonialism, American wars and imperialism in Asia, and anti-immigration rhetoric to which we are deeply accustomed. This type of whorephobia directed at Asian women was used to justify the anti-immigration Page Act of 1875 and later the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. It is a common experience for Asian women today to experience fetishization, derogatory remarks, and gender bias that is exemplified by the intersection of race steeped in a history of violence without consequence.
That the muder of Asians is somehow less consequential is an insulting trope in American media and commentary. March 16th, the day of the Georgia murders, was also the anniversary of the My Lai massacre in Vietnam in 1968, in which American soldiers sexually assaulted and killed hundreds of civilians. Only a commanding officer was charged, ultimately only serving a short house arrest. In the murder of Vincent Chin in 1982, two men whom blamed Japanese auto manufacturers for the decline in the American industry beat up and killed a young Chinese American man on the night of his bachelor party. The killers did not receive jail time and largely avoided paying the settlement owed from a civil suit. This month, a man with a history of victimizing eldery Asian people assaulted and robbed Pak Ho while he was taking a walk in Oakland, injuring and ultimately killing Pak. It’s not clear if this will be ruled as a hate crime. But treating each of these incidents as unrelated, time and time again, feeds a broader narrative where the hatred that is literally killing us can be ignored.
As Asian Americans, we are acutely aware of a justice system more than willing to deny us and other minorities the promises of law. A perceived threat was enough to justify the forced relocation of American citizens of Japanese descent into concentration camps during WW2, another willing exercise of the state’s politics of confinement. As Vincent Chin’s mother, Lilly, commented, if two Chinese men were to kill a Euro-American, they would have certainly received jail time, probably for life. We are acutely aware of this system of “justice” that locks away certain people for life for minor drug offenses while letting those who murder us walk free. It is upsetting but hardly surprising that Georgia “law enforcement” seem to be preempting a defense against federal hate crime charges.
We would ask that you take the time to listen to Asian American voices and histories, and take the time to stamp out casual racism when you see it. We realize we are writing to an audience that has largely been receptive to this message. Our festival is intended to be a place to share Asian American and other minority experiences, to educate about and normalize interacting with a diverse community, so we appreciate your time in being part of this project with us.
When groups of Asian American youth began playing taiko in the 1970’s, it was a reformulation of the narratives and expectations that majority culture had for them. As a form of ethnic Asian American music, it was also an act of solidarity building between communities with diverse sets of experiences and traditions that came to share a common place in the patchwork of American society. Taiko became a folk tradition for a growing Asian America that sought alternatives to the narratives of quiet assimilation, to be perpetually a foreigner and never a first-class citizen. The drumming we bring to Davis as part of our spring festival is the legacy of those who chose to be loud and create traditions and music to sustain their communities.
One aspect that may be sometimes overlooked is that Asian America is a diverse set of diasporas with very different histories in the United States. Though there are many similarities in the immigrant experience, it is very hard to understand them all through one lens. The term itself, “Asian American,” is really a product of the Asian American movement and the broader Third World Movement in educational institutions during the late 60’s and early 70’s. The term itself is a political formulation and an identity based in solidarity, and its early proponents also sought transformative solidarity with Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and other minority communities during the Civil Rights movement. Before it was a checkbox on forms, it was an intentional recognition of a shared set of experiences and a desire to change the racial structuring of America.
It’s also important to recognize that although there is a very long history of Asian migration to the United States, the majority of cases occur after the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. A majority of “Asian Americans” do not see that as their primary identity, seeing themselves first as Chinese, Philipino, Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese, Cambodian, Hmong, and the many other ethnicities represented. Contextually, South Asian identities, including Indian and Pakistani, are sometimes included in this formulation or not. Furthermore, national origin alone does not explain all the variation, as the experiences of a fourth generation Chinese or Japanese American, for instance, can differ greatly from more recent migrants from the same regions. We want to recognize the complexity of the Asian American experience as we also call for solidarity within and between Asian American communities.
Lastly, we would just emphasize again that these are real human lives and real experiences that many of us personally deal with. These are real people who will not go home to their families. These are children who will not receive the blessings of family and the benefit of elders. In a material sense, the cumulative weight of this violence is prolonged social and economic disadvantage. Our communities live with both intergenerational trauma as well as real threats of violence. It’s real and it’s personal, and it’s tragically common.
As a board staffed by Asian Americans, we are acutely aware of this intimate violence that years of history and generations of Americans have yet to erase. In some cases, our personal histories and experiences reflect this reality. Our communities, families, and even members of our board have experienced physical, not just institutional, violence.
As Asian Americans, let us continue to learn and share our histories, as well as fight for the liberation of all people and the communities that also suffer from histories of oppression in the United States. Our best chance of enacting change comes from mutual aid and learning each others’ stories and histories. As allies, let us fight to include diverse histories in education, stand up to racism and hatred, diversify workplaces and the halls of power, and ultimately bring an end to the violence of white supremacy.
Though we are only a small-town festival, perhaps we can help envision the festivals of tomorrow, and reclaim public spaces as diverse centers of genuine human interaction, where cultures and histories can be exchanged. In the meantime, our team has also compiled a list of resources and information that may be useful in supporting Asian American communities, which we are sharing here. Please take care of yourselves, and if possible, be present for your neighbors in need.
Thank you for sharing space with us,
Gregory Wada
Candace Nguyen
Ashley Shen
Lisa Shigenaga
Jonathan Gong
Katie Chun
If these recent events seem out-of-the blue or one-off, this is part of the problem that our community is asking for your help in rectifying. For the past year, Asian American communities have witnessed a rise in violence and harassment and have spoken out about it. For the past century, Asian Americans have known this type of violence and trauma intimately. There is a deep history and context to the way “casual racism” and violence have been linked, and that history is intertwined in our lives.
What many in our community find particularly egregious is a type of sexulized degradation directed towards Asian women. When the perpetrator of the act claimed his actions had to do with “sexual addiction” and the removal of temptation in a Christian ontology, it can be hard for someone in our vantage to not understand that as the product of histories of colonialism, American wars and imperialism in Asia, and anti-immigration rhetoric to which we are deeply accustomed. This type of whorephobia directed at Asian women was used to justify the anti-immigration Page Act of 1875 and later the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. It is a common experience for Asian women today to experience fetishization, derogatory remarks, and gender bias that is exemplified by the intersection of race steeped in a history of violence without consequence.
That the muder of Asians is somehow less consequential is an insulting trope in American media and commentary. March 16th, the day of the Georgia murders, was also the anniversary of the My Lai massacre in Vietnam in 1968, in which American soldiers sexually assaulted and killed hundreds of civilians. Only a commanding officer was charged, ultimately only serving a short house arrest. In the murder of Vincent Chin in 1982, two men whom blamed Japanese auto manufacturers for the decline in the American industry beat up and killed a young Chinese American man on the night of his bachelor party. The killers did not receive jail time and largely avoided paying the settlement owed from a civil suit. This month, a man with a history of victimizing eldery Asian people assaulted and robbed Pak Ho while he was taking a walk in Oakland, injuring and ultimately killing Pak. It’s not clear if this will be ruled as a hate crime. But treating each of these incidents as unrelated, time and time again, feeds a broader narrative where the hatred that is literally killing us can be ignored.
As Asian Americans, we are acutely aware of a justice system more than willing to deny us and other minorities the promises of law. A perceived threat was enough to justify the forced relocation of American citizens of Japanese descent into concentration camps during WW2, another willing exercise of the state’s politics of confinement. As Vincent Chin’s mother, Lilly, commented, if two Chinese men were to kill a Euro-American, they would have certainly received jail time, probably for life. We are acutely aware of this system of “justice” that locks away certain people for life for minor drug offenses while letting those who murder us walk free. It is upsetting but hardly surprising that Georgia “law enforcement” seem to be preempting a defense against federal hate crime charges.
We would ask that you take the time to listen to Asian American voices and histories, and take the time to stamp out casual racism when you see it. We realize we are writing to an audience that has largely been receptive to this message. Our festival is intended to be a place to share Asian American and other minority experiences, to educate about and normalize interacting with a diverse community, so we appreciate your time in being part of this project with us.
When groups of Asian American youth began playing taiko in the 1970’s, it was a reformulation of the narratives and expectations that majority culture had for them. As a form of ethnic Asian American music, it was also an act of solidarity building between communities with diverse sets of experiences and traditions that came to share a common place in the patchwork of American society. Taiko became a folk tradition for a growing Asian America that sought alternatives to the narratives of quiet assimilation, to be perpetually a foreigner and never a first-class citizen. The drumming we bring to Davis as part of our spring festival is the legacy of those who chose to be loud and create traditions and music to sustain their communities.
One aspect that may be sometimes overlooked is that Asian America is a diverse set of diasporas with very different histories in the United States. Though there are many similarities in the immigrant experience, it is very hard to understand them all through one lens. The term itself, “Asian American,” is really a product of the Asian American movement and the broader Third World Movement in educational institutions during the late 60’s and early 70’s. The term itself is a political formulation and an identity based in solidarity, and its early proponents also sought transformative solidarity with Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and other minority communities during the Civil Rights movement. Before it was a checkbox on forms, it was an intentional recognition of a shared set of experiences and a desire to change the racial structuring of America.
It’s also important to recognize that although there is a very long history of Asian migration to the United States, the majority of cases occur after the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. A majority of “Asian Americans” do not see that as their primary identity, seeing themselves first as Chinese, Philipino, Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese, Cambodian, Hmong, and the many other ethnicities represented. Contextually, South Asian identities, including Indian and Pakistani, are sometimes included in this formulation or not. Furthermore, national origin alone does not explain all the variation, as the experiences of a fourth generation Chinese or Japanese American, for instance, can differ greatly from more recent migrants from the same regions. We want to recognize the complexity of the Asian American experience as we also call for solidarity within and between Asian American communities.
Lastly, we would just emphasize again that these are real human lives and real experiences that many of us personally deal with. These are real people who will not go home to their families. These are children who will not receive the blessings of family and the benefit of elders. In a material sense, the cumulative weight of this violence is prolonged social and economic disadvantage. Our communities live with both intergenerational trauma as well as real threats of violence. It’s real and it’s personal, and it’s tragically common.
As a board staffed by Asian Americans, we are acutely aware of this intimate violence that years of history and generations of Americans have yet to erase. In some cases, our personal histories and experiences reflect this reality. Our communities, families, and even members of our board have experienced physical, not just institutional, violence.
As Asian Americans, let us continue to learn and share our histories, as well as fight for the liberation of all people and the communities that also suffer from histories of oppression in the United States. Our best chance of enacting change comes from mutual aid and learning each others’ stories and histories. As allies, let us fight to include diverse histories in education, stand up to racism and hatred, diversify workplaces and the halls of power, and ultimately bring an end to the violence of white supremacy.
Though we are only a small-town festival, perhaps we can help envision the festivals of tomorrow, and reclaim public spaces as diverse centers of genuine human interaction, where cultures and histories can be exchanged. In the meantime, our team has also compiled a list of resources and information that may be useful in supporting Asian American communities, which we are sharing here. Please take care of yourselves, and if possible, be present for your neighbors in need.
Thank you for sharing space with us,
Gregory Wada
Candace Nguyen
Ashley Shen
Lisa Shigenaga
Jonathan Gong
Katie Chun
RESOURCES
Dynamic Google Docs List of Resources
Resource List by Leading Asian American Organizations
(spearheaded by Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Asian Law Caucus)
Resource List by Stop AAPI Hate
Report Hate Incidents by Asian Americans Advancing Justice
Bystander Invention Training by Asian Americans Advancing Justice and Hollaback
"We Need To Talk About Anti-Asian Hate" Informational Video
- Info Cards (recommended one)
- Organizations by State
- Community Resource/Organization Donation/Aid by State
- Small Business and Individual Mutual Aid/Donation
- Volunteer Opportunities by State
- Upcoming Rallies, Vigils, & Community Spaces (In-Person & Digital)
Resource List by Leading Asian American Organizations
(spearheaded by Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Asian Law Caucus)
- Community sign-ons
- Policy recommendations
- Social media infographics
- Donation links
- Vigils
Resource List by Stop AAPI Hate
- Safety Tips for Those Experiencing or Witnessing Hate
- Understanding Your Right To Be Treated Fairly and Without Discrimination in Restaurants, Stores, and Other Businesses
- Bystander Intervention Training
- Stop AAPI Hate Signs
- Vigils
Report Hate Incidents by Asian Americans Advancing Justice
Bystander Invention Training by Asian Americans Advancing Justice and Hollaback
- Sign ups for bystander intervention trainings to stop anti-Asian/American harassment and xenophobia
"We Need To Talk About Anti-Asian Hate" Informational Video
- 1 hour in-depth conversation hosted by Eugene Lee Yang of the Try Guys "about the complex, often untold story of the Asian American community, the unique struggles they face, and find out how you can help"