February 12, US time, the second day of the Chinese New Year. When many NBA stars send out the "Happy Spring Festival" celebration message on social networks, warrior However, a serious statement was released on the official Twitter:
"The Golden State Warriors condemned the terrible anti Asian violence in the San Francisco Bay Area. As we continue to create meaningful and lasting changes, we will also focus on organizations that provide immediate support to our local Asian communities."
Later, Warrior introduced several social non-profit organizations, including community care, affirmative action initiatives and legal aid, all related to protecting the rights and interests of Asian Americans, especially Chinese Americans, and helping Asian Americans "save themselves".
Indeed, this Spring Festival is too difficult for Asian Americans in the Bay Area and even in the United States.
The number of tourists has greatly decreased. The economy of Chinatown in the past year has been very depressed, and the epidemic is still raging. It is impossible to celebrate the Spring Festival as lively as ever. Before and after the Spring Festival, there were many hate crimes against Asian Americans in the Bay Area, which were heinous in nature.
In January, the local media released a surveillance video. When Vicha Ratanapadi, 84, was walking in the community near Anzavista, San Francisco in the morning, he was suddenly pushed to the ground by a young man, which led to his subsequent death.
Another surveillance showed that a 91 year old man was walking in Auckland's Chinatown and was pushed to the ground angrily.
These old people may have never left the Asian community they are familiar with all their lives, and they were treated like this at an age when they have no ability to fight back, which caused great indignation of public opinion. include Lin Shuhao 、 Wu Yanzu Celebrities in the Bay Area, including Wu Yanzu, denounced such racist attacks, and Wu Yanzu also publicly offered a reward for the murderer who knocked down the elderly.
According to statistics, in the past half month, Oakland Chinatown communities alone reported more than 20 racist attacks, but there must be more unreported.
As always, in the face of ethnically related hate crimes, minorities can only save themselves in reality, in addition to relying on some liberal media or organizations (such as warriors) to speak for them.
During the Spring Festival, William Rex Han, a Chinese American actor from New York, usually organized a security patrol in San Francisco's Chinatown to issue whistles to residents and call for help in case of danger. At the same time, there was a Chinese pamphlet called How to Report Hatred Crimes.
Asian Americans The jittery community did not start in a day or two.
According to the data of the New York Police Department, in 2019, only one hate crime against Asian Americans was reported; It will increase to 20 by 2020. According to the statistics of the "Stop AAPI Hate" established in March last year, by the end of December, they had received more than 2800 reports of racial discrimination against Asians, 71% of which were verbal harassment; Physical attacks accounted for 8.7%. The proportion of the elderly and women over 60 years of age suffering from physical violence is extremely high.
This seemingly small number is just the tip of the iceberg of discrimination faced by Asians, reflecting the reality that the situation of Asians has deteriorated sharply during the epidemic. This means that Asian Americans may suffer hate attacks when commuting on the subway, walking in the street, shopping in the supermarket, or even taking out garbage.
In July, an 89 year old Chinese American woman was surrounded by two teenagers on the streets of Brooklyn. One slapped her on the face, and the other lit a fire on her back.
When the last US government publicly referred to the epidemic as "Chinese virus" and "kung fu flu" and used such discriminatory rhetoric to cheer up its target voters, it was no accident that Asian Americans were treated like this.
However, it was also pointed out that Asian Americans are discriminated against in the United States, not for one day or two days, nor for one year or two. "Don't say that we have been living in peace with people here for 50 years, but only when the new coronavirus came did we begin to suffer discrimination."
Whether it is the tension between communities of colored people or the unequal system that causes such tension, it is nothing new. In San Francisco, where 35% of the population is Asian and 23% is Chinese, the root cause of racial problems is also long-standing.
The California gold rush brought Chinese laborers here. Their low social status, poor living conditions and job opportunities made them suffer from discrimination. At that time, American society had linked infectious diseases with yellow people. This kind of discrimination makes it difficult for Chinese Americans to access medical services and not be protected by property rights, which has given birth to communities like Chinatown.
At the end of the 19th century, there were several large-scale outbreaks in San Francisco, including the Black Death, smallpox and cholera. These diseases are common in the poor and working class (just like the new crown, but now the minority group that has suffered the most is black). At that time, there was basically no medical system in the community where Chinese Americans lived. They had to travel far to any hospital. And because of poverty without medical insurance, hospitals often refused to treat them.
After the economic crisis in 1873, the situation of Chinese Americans became worse, and the Chinatown in San Francisco was full of gangs and violence. In 1882, the United States passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, which led the anger of the whole society to this immigrant minority group.
It was not until after World War II that China's international status as the main anti fascist force rose, and Chinese Americans had more dignity. The "Chinese Exclusion Act" was repealed by the "Mannerson Act", and a group of Chinese Americans were naturalized and no longer faced with the threat of deportation at any time. But on the whole, Asian Americans are still at the bottom of the discrimination chain, and Japanese immigrants have been persecuted and put into concentration camps in California.
In the days since then, the United States has taken affirmative action, racial discrimination has gradually become "politically incorrect", and the situation of all colored people has improved, but the unjust system has never been fundamentally changed. This is what Lin Shuhao calls "reality": a quarter of Asian Americans have experienced racial hatred (this is his own statement, not necessarily supported by data).
Many fans are familiar with the discrimination he suffered in his basketball career. Stanford, the hometown university he most wanted to study at, didn't take his basketball talent seriously at all (Warrior boss Lakob complained: "This kid is across the street from your university. If you can't see him, that's your problem."); When he played at Harvard, he heard all kinds of insults from fans, players, coaches, even referees and the media on the court;
He once became the most popular football star among fans, making the Knicks the most popular team in the world, but he was swept out in a shocking and confusing way; Mayweather, the boxing champion, also criticized him for stealing the spotlight from black football stars.
Lin Shuhao could have brought more things to American basketball, but the final result seems to be that the racist won again.
Some people will also say that since Yao Ming It can be seen that Lin Shuhao himself cannot achieve higher achievements. Even if we don't compare the age and talent differences between the two, this argument can't erase the intentional or unintentional discrimination Yao Ming has encountered, but he uses wisdom to resolve and strength to speak, which is also an important part of his career legend: wisdom preserves dignity and strength wins respect.
As for Daniel Wu and other Asian actors Hollywood Compared with the Bay Area movie star Bruce Lee half a century ago, there is not much change in essence.
In China, Daniel Wu can basically be recognized wherever he goes, and he can be treated as a "superstar", occupying a major position on movie posters. Although he can enjoy the peaceful life of ordinary people in his hometown Bay Area, it is difficult for him to make a breakthrough in his career. Even though he has acted in more than 60 works and launched a limited series in Netflix, he still cannot be accepted by mainstream Hollywood.
"[Attacking the elderly] really irritates me," he said in an interview. "This is not only the new coronal epidemic, but also before the new coronal epidemic, a pile of other discrimination events continue to stack up (emotion), I really can't stand it anymore, must do something."
Perhaps the only consolation for Lin Shuhao and Wu Yanzu is that the White House has changed its owner, and they have at least received the promise that "everything will be better".
Biden signed a memorandum last month instructing federal agencies to combat racism and xenophobia against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. On the New Year's Day local time, the Bidens also issued Spring Festival greetings to comfort the Chinese people in China. "We have never needed a new beginning more than we do now."
Vice President Harris, who is of Asian descent, said: "Our government has taken action to deal with these xenophobic attacks, and we must be committed to combating racism and discrimination."
But we also said that when things get worse, the dominant groups (even not necessarily the majority) that dominate the mainstream and occupy social resources will never be afraid to speculate about minorities with the worst malice（ Details ）。 Most of the time, human joys and sorrows are not always the same. Nowadays, the practice of "dehumanizing" an ethnic minority is everywhere, because only by doing so can we persecute them without mercy.
Some people say that "people there" are plotting to dominate the world. Some people say that "people there" are all criminals and drug addicts. Some people say that "people there" are terrorists. Others said that "people there" brought the virus to the United States.
The epitome of discrimination such as Trump is far from only Asian Americans. Before the virus, women, blacks and Hispanics had all become the objects of his ridicule and exclusion. Those vicious words gave his supporters the right to persecute vulnerable groups, even if countless innocent lives were lost.
"No one is an island, and the death of anyone is my reduction." After watching idly, you never know when the iron fist will fall on your head.
