Discrimination
In “Asian Americans share experiences with discrimination: ‘It’s Nothing Specifically Malicious, but Still Obviously Racist,’” Kukulka pens a convincing argument that many people are unfairly discriminated against based on their origin. She tells stories of violence against Asian Americans, often referred to as AAPI (Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders). The high frequency of discrimination of others is being brought to light with the increasing availability of cameras, both on a person’s phone and security cameras. Recently, with people being held accountable, more people are willing to come forward and speak out against these crimes against humanity. The writer composes an article that unveils the testimony of blatant discrimination and microaggressions against Asian Americans, invokes emotion through examples of violence against the Asian community, provides honest statistics through dependable sources as well as provides an analogy between a stark period in American history and today.
There are many accounts of microaggressions, a subtle and sometimes unintentional form of discrimination, through which many communicate their beliefs about a certain group of people. Sometimes when a well-known and maybe respected person or people with a platform have expressed their discriminatory views publicly, this enables the public to discriminate against that same group. Recently, it has been mentioned that Coronavirus was spread at the fault of China. There was anger that came with having to be away from loved ones and being essentially locked inside for so long that the Coronavirus became referred to as the “China virus” by some. This sparked numerous unprovoked vicious verbal and physical attacks on Asian Americans, some who have lived in the United States most of their lives. Maria Gillespie, a store owner originally from the Philippines and has lived in the United States since the nineties, was accosted by a man who entered her store, accusing her of bringing the Coronavirus to the U.S. from China (Kukulka). Gillespie explained that she has experienced numerous microaggressions over the years. “It was always subtle, Gillespie said, but she would often sense that customers looking for help in the store avoided her because they assumed she wouldn’t be able to understand them,” (Kukulka). This implies that people will often judge a person base on how they look which is which is unreasonable because there is no way to logically be able to discern what language a person speaks simply by looking at them. I am not of Asian descent but, I too, have been told by peers that they initially avoided speaking to me because they were unsure if I spoke English. Racial discrimination is sometimes subconscious and people may not know or realize they are discriminating against others. Other examples of this include comments about the shape of an Asian person’s eyes, associating Asians with martial arts, and assuming Asians are good in mathematics or subjects surrounding math (Kukulka). These types of microaggressions tend to be said around others without causing alarm or being detected and the more it is used, the more society normalizes such comments. It has become so commonplace that it is nearly unnoticeable which can cause the receivers of this type of discrimination undue stress and negatively impact their mental health.
Kukulka appeals to the emotions of readers through striking stories of physical assaults on Asian Americans. Discrimination can be purposeful and certain belief or idea can come about and leak into the mainstream. While walking on a sidewalk in New York while, an elderly Filippino woman, was assaulted while others did nothing to help (Kukulka). There have been reports of other assaults on elderly Asian Americans in the bay area as well. Most recently there was a tragic shooting that took the lives of eight people at several different spas in Atlanta, six of which were women of Asian descent (Kukulka). These examples provide some insight into just how far the discrimination goes and how much of an impact it makes on the lives of others.
Since there has been no formal agency that denotes accounts of discrimination and violence, the writer makes mention of a nonprofit institution, Stop AAPI Hate, which has created a place for people to disclose occurrences of hate crimes against Asian Americans. “The reporting center has received 3,795 reports of discrimination against Asian Americans between March 19, 2020 and Feb. 28, 2021.” This shows that there are many instances that can be reported and appeal to our logic in that we should take action to help curtail these incidences. It is noted in the article that this is not only time that Asian Americans have been treated unfairly. “The pandemic is not the first time Asian Americans have been attacked following a catastrophic event, for example the internment of approximately 120,000 Japanese Americans from 1942- 1945 during World War II, said Hannah Lee, assistant professor of psychology at Indiana University Northwest.” This goes to show that a rise in discrimination is typically preceded by a high-profile event. When we are hurt and uncomfortable, we tend to look for someone to blame and, in this case, the blame has fallen on Asian Americans. This article appeals to our logic that there is no basis for discriminating against people base on race, ethnicity, or origin.
The author engages our logic by way of logos, illustrating that allowing hate and discrimination to continue without any repercussions sends the message to the masses that it is acceptable for others to continue to do the same. Everyone needs to do their part in holding others accountable for their actions. We must fight for our rights to instill the premise that we will fight for equity among all people.
