RACIST, BOGUS, AND UNACCEPTABLE

Intersectional Hate Crimes Top This Week’s Bias and Bigotry List

Anti-Black racism and anti-Asian racism are baked into our pop culture and media

Activists participate in a vigil in the Chinatown area of Washington, D.C., on March 17, 2021, in response to the shooting in Atlanta. Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images

I write this in the aftermath of a horrific crime in which a White man killed eight people, most of them women of Asian descent. And as we are all too aware, this kind of violence doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It comes amid a rash of attacks against Asians and Asian Americans. It follows years of dehumanizing and offensive rhetoric that came prominently, but not solely, from former President Donald Trump and the people around him. And much like anti-Black racism, anti-Asian racism is baked into the pop culture and media we all consume.

There have been numerous times in recent history where tensions have been fomented between Black people and Asian people in service of White supremacy and preserving the racial status quo in this country. But there have also been times where Black people and Asian people allied to fight racism, and that is the spirit in which we are now called to act. This essay by Jezz Chung examines how the Georgia killings are an outgrowth of the persistent racism, sexism, and hypersexualization deployed against Asian women, and lists some additional resources to learn more.