By Katie Posey and Faith Harvey
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community members reported that they were more scared of rising hate and attacks on their communities than the pandemic itself, says Manjusha Kulkarni, co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate, a national nonprofit group that monitors incidents.
In a talk at UC Santa Barbara last week titled “Challenging Hate: How to Stop AAPI Violence,” Kulkarni said her coalition logged 11,000 incident reports of hate and bias in the last two years, raising an alarm that proactive action is urgently required.
“This is just the tip of the iceberg,” Kulkarni said.
Kulkarni directs the AAPI Equity Alliance and was recognized among Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2021. In addition, she has received the White House’s Champions of Change award for her contributions to South Asian healthcare rights. May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, which recognizes the history and contributions of these communities to the United States.
UCSB Chancellor Henry Yang gave opening remarks at UCSB’s Multicultural Center before lecture on combatting hate and violence against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
UCSB Chancellor Henry Yang began the evening with opening remarks encouraging the UCSB community to stand up against racist and prejudice. “Our UC Santa Barbara campus stands firmly against all forms of hate, violence, and discrimination,” Yang said. “It’s time for a concerted effort among all of us to step forward, and turn the tide against attacks of hate and prejudice, physically and verbally, as individuals and as a community.”
The event was hosted by Walter H. Capps Center for the Study of Ethics, Religion, and Public Life. It was co-sponsored by the Departments of Religious Studies and East Asian Languages and Cultural Studies, the East Asia Center, the Center for Taiwan Studies, and the Center for Middle East Studies.
Verbal harassments that occur in public spaces are the most common forms of discrimination reported to Stop AAPI Hate, and are most often specifically directed towards women and girls, Kulkarni said. There is no “one-size-fits-all” solution because although a majority of incidents are traumatic and harmful, they are not all classified as hate crimes under the law.
“Hate crimes prosecution is not going to provide a solution to what happens to our community,” she said.
During the pandemic, the political climate added fuel to the fire, Kulkarni noted. Former President Donald Trump used the AAPI community as a scapegoat, blaming Asian Americans for issues pertaining to public health, the economy, and national security. Kulkarni said Trump went as far to call COVID-19 the “Chinese virus,” one example of scapegoating language that she said was echoed in statements directed towards victims of harassment.
“A number of reports in our database are identical in language to the ones that have been used by candidates, as well as by our former president,” said Kulkarni.
Manjusha Kulkarni, co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate, gave a talk titled “Challenging Hate: How to Stop AAPI Violence.”
At the same time, anti-immigrant policies continue to target and hurt the Asian American community. Immigration policies enacted by the Trump administration have resulted in the deportation of thousands of Southeast Asian immigrants, she said. In 1913, the California state legislature passed alien land laws, making it illegal for immigrants to own land.
“Today, we have a variety of states that are considering reintroducing alien land laws. They’re solutions looking for a problem,” she said.
Kulkarni hopes that by continuously collecting data, Stop AAPI Hate can drive much needed improvements. This starts with proper education, a focus on community safety, and turning our attention to civil rights. We need to not only invest in the AAPI community, but also support policies addressing anti-AAPI xenophobia, she says.
“We’re on a slow road to fascism—widespread voter oppression, efforts to deport our community members. It’s important that we engage civically. It’s the only way we’re going to have long term change,” Kulkarni said. “Democracy is not a spectator sport.”
She urged UCSB students and faculty to do what they can on the grassroots level by sharing resources with one another, reporting incidents to Stop AAPI Hate, and supporting local and national policies addressing anti-AAPI racism.
Earlier in the day Kulkarni spoke on a panel titled “Asian American Activism: Drawing on History, Inspiring the Future.”
“Asian American Activism: Drawing on History, Inspiring the Future.” The panel was held at UC Santa Barbara’s Multicultural Center. From left, Naomi Joseph, Diane Fujino, Manjusha Kulkarni, Artnelson Concordia, and Melissa Borja.
Naomi Joseph, a UCSB Ph.D. candidate moderated the event and sat alongside AAPI experts Diane Fujino, a UCSB professor of Asian American Studies as well as Artnelson Concordia, ethnic studies program coordinator for the Santa Barbara Unified School District , and Melissa Borja, a University of Michigan professor of Asian American and Pacific Islander studies.
Fujino opened the panel by saying AAPI activism faces challenges unlike movements for other marginalized groups since it encompasses so many nation states, languages, ethnicities, religions, and socioeconomic backgrounds.
“The life stories of Asian Americans need to be spread and taught. We can’t give up.”
“There are a multitude of different communities,” she explained. “We have to remember that the term ‘Asian American Pacific Islander' is an aspirational term, and it is not one new immigrants accept.”
Melissa Borja recounted her experience working toward AAPI activist collaboration in Indianapolis, Indiana. “I was engaging the Chin community that lives in the south side of Indianapolis, and they hadn’t thought about organizing alongside the Korean American or Chinese American community,” Borja said. “We have to be encouraging our communities to think in coalition and bridge those differences.”
Naomi Joseph said it is useful, when enacting change, to draw inspiration from past activism. And educator Artnelson Concordia said he finds it an exciting time in K-12 education to inspire the upcoming generations.
“We have the opportunity to teach these histories through the perspective of Asian Americans, and what it means to coexist and see larger unity in our humanity,” Concordia said. “We have the opportunity to guide kids through their struggles in their community, and how to find commonality amongst each other. These students are hungry to know more.”
Kulkarni cited a pitfall well-known to Asian Americans: adhering to the image of being a “model minority.” That must end, she said. “There are members of our community who believe they benefit from white adjacency. We have to stop buying into that system.”
Kulkarni said many mainstream media platforms are demanding more policing in response to anti-Asian hate, but she sees this is an example of adhering to what white communities do, calling it ‘white adjacency.’ “We know from our struggles, especially working class and low-income struggles, as well as members with dark complexions, that policing is not the answer. This would go against us,” Kulkarni said. “We must interrogate what many of us believe and fight it to find universal liberation.”
When it comes to long term change in the AAPI activism sphere, panelists said communities are grappling with what that change will look like, especially when discussing institutional integration. Concordia said that staying grounded in the grassroots, where the movement began, is the best way to keep progressing. “The life stories of Asian Americans need to be spread and taught. We can’t give up,” he concluded.
Faith Harvey is a third-year UCSB student, majoring in Communication studies and minoring in Professional Writing. She is a Web and Social Media intern for the Division of Humanities and Fine Arts.
Katie Posey is a fourth-year UCSB student, majoring in Communication studies. She is a Web and Social Media Intern for the Division of Humanities and Fine Arts.