Discrimination and Violence Against Asian Americans Today
Brief Background
Stereotypes, discrimination, and violence concerning AAPI populations have existed for quite some time. Here are a few more recent examples showing that there is still a long way to go.
In March 2021, a shooter in Atlanta murdered eight people, including six Asian American women, out of a supposed attempt to eliminate his sexual temptations. In his sexist, racist eyes, his victims were reduced to stereotypes. What happened in Atlanta represents yet another chapter of continued sexual violence against women of color in the United States. Gender-based violence is a global plague and one of the worst forms of human rights violations. It also tends to have a far more pronounced impact on marginalized populations, and especially so on racial minority women.
Since the pandemic was incorrectly framed as “China-flu,” the human rights and safety of AAPI women became even more perilous. According to the 2021 Stop AAPI Hate National Report, covering incident reports to Stop AAPI Hate from 2020 to December 2021, the number of hate incidents reported to the center increased from 4,632 in 2020 to 6,273 in 2021. Of all the incidents reported, 61.8 % were made by AAPI women.[1]
Undermined rights and status of AAPI women can be witnessed in many parts of American society. In 2021, the case of missing woman Gabby Petito garnered a huge amount of media coverage, yet three months before that, the disappearance of Lauren Cho, a 30-year-old Asian American woman, had very little public attention. According to The New York Times, the disappearances of people of color occur at a higher rate than that of white women.[2]
A report from Wyoming’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous People Task Force found that 710 Indigenous people were reported missing between 2011 to 2020 in Wyoming, where Gabby Petito’s remains were found. Of those missing, 57% were women, and 85% were children.[3] Furthermore, a 2016 study of four national and local news outlets found that Black Americans were “significantly underrepresented” in missing person coverage compared with the FBI’s tally of cases.[4]
In addition to discrimination, another challenge that the AAPI population faces is the “model minority” myth, which paints the entire population as a hard-working minority achieving “American dreams.” One of the main problems with the “model minority” myth is that it often pits people of color against each other and minimizes the role systemic racism plays. It also ignores the diverse experiences of AAPI.
Women’s human rights aren’t variable values that can be ignored or violated for so-called national interest. As embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the promotion of respect for human rights has been a central goal of U.S. foreign policy. However, when it comes to women’s human rights issues, the U.S. prioritizes militarism and political interests over human rights. Sexual assault and harassment within the U.S. military has been a persistent problem, which is compounded when considering foreign installations, where extraterritoriality jurisdiction applies under Status of Forces Agreements (SOFAs). This agreement often allows the U.S. to retain exclusive jurisdiction over its service members in many Asian countries. U.S. military personnel overseas face lighter punishment for an array of human rights violations, including sexual violence committed in host countries. Additional problems associated with U.S. overseas military bases—such as systematic environmental pollution, including disposal of toxic waste into soil and water—are not included in the scope of this brief.
In South Korea, home to the largest U.S. foreign military installation, sexual exploitation at so-called “camptowns” is a well-known fact.[5] In fact, in the initial years of the South Korean international adoption program, a large percentage of children adopted from South Korea were of mixed race because of the coordination of military sex trade in the so-called “camptowns” or Gijichon (기지촌) that developed around U.S. military bases in South Korea after the Korean War.[6]
[1] https://stopaapihate.org/national-report-through-december-31-2021/
[2] Katie Robertson, “News Media Can’t Shake ‘Missing White Women Syndrome,’ Critics Say,” The NY Times, Sept. 22, 2021.
[3] Kelsey Vlamis, “710 Indigenous people, mostly girls, were reported missing over the past decade in Wyoming, the same state where Gabby Petito reportedly disappeared,” Insider, Sept. 18, 2021.
[4] Katie Robertson, “News Media Can’t Shake ‘Missing White Women Syndrome,’ Critics Say,” The NY Times, Sept. 22, 2021.
[5] “[Interview] Fighting for Reparations for Korea’s Camptown Women Before It’s Too Late,” Hankyoreh, June 26, 2022.
[6] Yuri Doolan, “The Camptown Origins of International Adoption and the Hypersexualization of Korean Children,” Journal of Asian American Studies, Johns Hopkins University Press, Vol. 24, No 3, Oct. 2021, 351–382.
Submitted by Sung Sohn
Stereotypes, discrimination, and violence concerning AAPI populations have existed for quite some time. Here are a few more recent examples showing that there is still a long way to go.
In March 2021, a shooter in Atlanta murdered eight people, including six Asian American women, out of a supposed attempt to eliminate his sexual temptations. In his sexist, racist eyes, his victims were reduced to stereotypes. What happened in Atlanta represents yet another chapter of continued sexual violence against women of color in the United States. Gender-based violence is a global plague and one of the worst forms of human rights violations. It also tends to have a far more pronounced impact on marginalized populations, and especially so on racial minority women.
Since the pandemic was incorrectly framed as “China-flu,” the human rights and safety of AAPI women became even more perilous. According to the 2021 Stop AAPI Hate National Report, covering incident reports to Stop AAPI Hate from 2020 to December 2021, the number of hate incidents reported to the center increased from 4,632 in 2020 to 6,273 in 2021. Of all the incidents reported, 61.8 % were made by AAPI women.[1]
Undermined rights and status of AAPI women can be witnessed in many parts of American society. In 2021, the case of missing woman Gabby Petito garnered a huge amount of media coverage, yet three months before that, the disappearance of Lauren Cho, a 30-year-old Asian American woman, had very little public attention. According to The New York Times, the disappearances of people of color occur at a higher rate than that of white women.[2]
A report from Wyoming’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous People Task Force found that 710 Indigenous people were reported missing between 2011 to 2020 in Wyoming, where Gabby Petito’s remains were found. Of those missing, 57% were women, and 85% were children.[3] Furthermore, a 2016 study of four national and local news outlets found that Black Americans were “significantly underrepresented” in missing person coverage compared with the FBI’s tally of cases.[4]
In addition to discrimination, another challenge that the AAPI population faces is the “model minority” myth, which paints the entire population as a hard-working minority achieving “American dreams.” One of the main problems with the “model minority” myth is that it often pits people of color against each other and minimizes the role systemic racism plays. It also ignores the diverse experiences of AAPI.
Women’s human rights aren’t variable values that can be ignored or violated for so-called national interest. As embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the promotion of respect for human rights has been a central goal of U.S. foreign policy. However, when it comes to women’s human rights issues, the U.S. prioritizes militarism and political interests over human rights. Sexual assault and harassment within the U.S. military has been a persistent problem, which is compounded when considering foreign installations, where extraterritoriality jurisdiction applies under Status of Forces Agreements (SOFAs). This agreement often allows the U.S. to retain exclusive jurisdiction over its service members in many Asian countries. U.S. military personnel overseas face lighter punishment for an array of human rights violations, including sexual violence committed in host countries. Additional problems associated with U.S. overseas military bases—such as systematic environmental pollution, including disposal of toxic waste into soil and water—are not included in the scope of this brief.
In South Korea, home to the largest U.S. foreign military installation, sexual exploitation at so-called “camptowns” is a well-known fact.[5] In fact, in the initial years of the South Korean international adoption program, a large percentage of children adopted from South Korea were of mixed race because of the coordination of military sex trade in the so-called “camptowns” or Gijichon (기지촌) that developed around U.S. military bases in South Korea after the Korean War.[6]
[1] https://stopaapihate.org/national-report-through-december-31-2021/
[2] Katie Robertson, “News Media Can’t Shake ‘Missing White Women Syndrome,’ Critics Say,” The NY Times, Sept. 22, 2021.
[3] Kelsey Vlamis, “710 Indigenous people, mostly girls, were reported missing over the past decade in Wyoming, the same state where Gabby Petito reportedly disappeared,” Insider, Sept. 18, 2021.
[4] Katie Robertson, “News Media Can’t Shake ‘Missing White Women Syndrome,’ Critics Say,” The NY Times, Sept. 22, 2021.
[5] “[Interview] Fighting for Reparations for Korea’s Camptown Women Before It’s Too Late,” Hankyoreh, June 26, 2022.
[6] Yuri Doolan, “The Camptown Origins of International Adoption and the Hypersexualization of Korean Children,” Journal of Asian American Studies, Johns Hopkins University Press, Vol. 24, No 3, Oct. 2021, 351–382.
Submitted by Sung Sohn