Xenophobia Collection
Disease does not and will never discriminate based upon skin color or national origin, yet the recent hateful, violent, and xenophobic actions against Asian Americans bely this fact. COVID-19 has illuminated the deep-rooted anti-Asian sentiments that are and have been pervasive in America for too long. So, in actuality, there is no “recency” to this disease racialization; rather, the pandemic has highlighted the stark re-emergence of the practice of Asian “othering:” the stereotype that Asian Americans are perpetual foreigners and by virtue of being foreigners, they are inherently “dirty” and “diseased.”
When will Asian Americans be able to stop having to prove their patriotism? That their phenotypic Asian ethnic appearance is not linked to foreignness? Despite immigrant or generational status, Asian Americans are somehow never perceived as truly American. I am horrified, angry, and heartbroken that racially charged hate crimes have been committed by citizens of this country, let alone against fellow Americans. Because Asian Americans ARE Americans.
Tragically, it isn’t surprising that xenophobia has erupted at the heels of COVID-19, as this story has been told and retold in our history. We are witnessing the repetitive narrative of America using minority populations as convenient scapegoats in times of crisis.
The Xenophobia Collection is the first of many installments of the Wear Your Mind initiative. I am proud that this collection is a reflection of my heritage and person and allows me to support the Stop Asian Hate movement that will hopefully one day not have to exist.
To try to make an even bigger impact, I am increasing the donation to hateisavirus.org to 25% of the proceeds of all of the remaining products (3% of proceeds donated from 3.19.21-4.5.21). You can read more about hateisavirus.org here.
The following are resources that I have found helpful:
Journal articles:
The Anxiety of Being Asian American: Hate Crimes and Negative Biases During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Read here.
Anti-Asian Hate Crime During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Exploring the Reproduction of Inequality. Read here.
Anti-Asian racism, Black Lives Matter, and COVID-19. Read here.
Further reading:
Instagram accounts:
@sendchinatownlove
@stopAAPIhate
@racismisavirus
@stopdiscriminasian
Webinar:
Unapologetically Asian by Cori Dioquino (hosted by Johns Hopkins University) on March 24th from 6:30-8:00pm. If you missed the webinar, here are two books she suggested: “The Making of Asian America” by Erika Lee and “The Myth of the Model Minority: Asian Americans Facing Racism” by Rosalind S. Chou.
Donation history:
$66.00 was donated to Hate is a Virus on 4.27.21. You can view the donation receipt here.
*Donations will be continually made until all products are sold.
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