May is Asian Pacific Islander and Desi American Heritage Month, which celebrates the diversity of Asian cultures.
But in recent years, anti-Asian rhetoric tied to the pandemic and politics have dampened the annual commemoration.
Melissa Borja is a professor at the University of Michigan’s Asian/Pacific Islander American Studies Program.
She started the Virulent Hate Project in 2020 to research trends in anti-Asian racism as well as Asian American activism.
Borja spoke with WKAR's Megan Schellong to discuss her findings.
Interview Highlights
On how Asian American activism has changed in the past 50 years in Michigan
We have greater diversity within the Asian American community, new ethnic groups, new religious groups, but we've also seen Asian American activism growing to reflect a broader range of issues related to abortion access, queer and trans issues, mass incarceration, in addition to the longer standing issues of racism in the workplace, in schools and elsewhere. And I would say one of the most central ways Asian American activism in Michigan has stayed the same is it continues to be a multi-target social movement that seeks to change not only the policies of the state, but also the hearts and minds of the broader public.
On what her research found related to whose stories were being centered by U.S. news media
The things that we found most surprising was that journalists tended to pay more attention to Asian Americans as victims of racism, than as agents of change. So stories about Asian Americans experiencing attacks were fewer than stories about Asian Americans responding to these attacks.
On how Asian Americans are affected by the rhetoric of the "rising threat of China"
Geopolitical crises have always been a critical context in which Asian Americans have been treated dangerously as perpetual foreigners, as people who are a threat to national security. We saw this in the Second World War, for example, with the incarceration of Japanese Americans. And to some degree, we also saw that in the 1980s, with the killing of Vincent Chin, in that particular context, it was economic competition with Japan. I think there are a lot of similarities between those historical events and what we're seeing now, where the United States is concerned about the growing economic power of China, but also the growing military-political power of China.
Interview Transcript
Megan Schellong: May is Asian Pacific Islander and Desi American Heritage Month, which celebrates the diversity of Asian cultures.
But in recent years, anti-Asian rhetoric tied to the pandemic and politics have dampened this annual commemoration.
Melissa Borja is a professor at the University of Michigan’s Asian/Pacific Islander American Studies Program.
She started the Virulent Hate Project in 2020 to research trends in anti-Asian racism as well as Asian American activism.
She joins us now to discuss what she found.
Melissa, thanks for being here.
Melissa Borja: I'm so glad to be here and to be able to talk about this important issue.
Schellong: During the pandemic, we saw a renewed wave of Asian American activism in large cities, like New York and Los Angeles, but also here in Michigan. Why was that happening?
Borja: We saw a lot of incidents of anti-Asian racism, due to the scapegoating of Asian and Asian American people for the COVID-19 pandemic. We saw as early as January and February 2020, people experiencing acts of anti-Asian racism. But all of these incidents mobilized Asian American activists, and this activism was further intensified by conversations about racism that developed in the summer of 2020 with the Black Lives Matter protests.
Schellong: We're talking about Asian American activism, how has it changed in the past 50 years in Michigan?
Borja: So, here are some ways I've seen it change over the past 50 years— we see the movement reflecting a broader range of people.
I would say one of the most central ways Asian American activism in Michigan has stayed the same is it continues to be a multi-target social movement that seeks to change not only the policies of the state but also the hearts and minds of the broader public.
We have greater diversity within the Asian American community, new ethnic groups, new religious groups, but we've also seen Asian American activism growing to reflect a broader range of issues related to abortion access, queer and trans issues, mass incarceration, longer-standing issues of racism in the workplace, in schools and elsewhere.
And I would say one of the most central ways Asian American activism in Michigan has stayed the same is it continues to be a multi-target social movement that seeks to change not only the policies of the state but also the hearts and minds of the broader public.
Schellong: One of the areas of your research was examining how news media reported on anti-Asian hate crimes in 2020 and throughout all of the pandemic. Tell us what you found, in regard to whose stories were being centered by the news media.
Borja: The things that we found most surprising was that journalists tended to pay more attention to Asian Americans as victims of racism than as agents of change. So, stories about Asian Americans experiencing attacks were fewer than stories about Asian Americans responding to these attacks.
The other thing that we found was that U.S. news media gave significant coverage to incidents that involved politicians in particular, very prominent politicians like President Donald Trump.
We saw that the attention to the issue of anti-Asian racism increased when there was some sort of connection to the election.
And so, we saw that the attention to the issue of anti-Asian racism increased when there was some sort of connection to the election.
In general, we found that U.S. news media paid much more attention to what people said about the issue of anti-Asian racism than what was experienced on the ground.
So the thing that wasn't covered that much at all, were stories about Asian Americans organizing in their community trying to affect change. And that's why I think it's really important that we're having this conversation about Asian American activism today.
Schellong: The new cycle is always changing. We're in a news cycle right now in which we’re hearing about the quote “economic rise and threat of China.” Can you explain how Asian American communities are impacted by this rhetoric?
Borja: This is a really important point. When I began the Virulent Hate project, I studied anti-Asian racism in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. But the reality is that incidents of anti-Asian racism in recent years are also reflecting geopolitical crises and competition with China. And this is by no means new. Geopolitical crises have always been a critical context in which Asian Americans have been treated dangerously as perpetual foreigners, as people who are a threat to national security.
Geopolitical crises have always been a critical context in which Asian Americans have been treated dangerously as perpetual foreigners, as people who are a threat to national security.
We saw this in the Second World War, for example, with the incarceration of Japanese Americans. And to some degree, we also saw that in the 1980s, with the killing of Vincent Chin, in that particular context, it was economic competition with Japan.
I think there are a lot of similarities between those historical events and what we're seeing now, where the United States is concerned about the growing economic power of China, but also the growing military-political power of China.
And so, as we think about the fate of Asian Americans in the U.S., we need to learn from history. And remember that when these big global events happen, people of Asian descent can be quite vulnerable in the United States.
Schellong: That's Melissa Borja. She started the Virulent Hate Project in 2020 to research trends in anti-Asian racism and Asian American activism. Melissa, thanks for your time.
Borja: It was a pleasure. Thank you.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and conciseness.