How Biden Can Stand Up for Asian Americans
U.S. leaders and institutions need to develop long-term strategies for countering violence and hate.
Police are stepping up patrols in Asian-American communities.
Photographer: David Dee Delgado/Getty Images
The nation has been rocked by yet another mass killing — the shooting of eight people at massage parlors in Atlanta. But this one is even more ominous than usual, because six of the victims were Asian women at a time when hate crimes and attacks against Asian Americans have soared. It also comes as relations between the U.S. and China are deteriorating, making it even more imperative that the U.S. quash this wave of persecution.
Tension between the two superpowers has been rising for a number of years over issues like human rights, trade and territorial disputes in the South China Sea. But in recent years negative sentiment towards China has spiked to previously unimaginable levels. In the U.S., this unfavorable opinion is almost as strong among Democrats as among Republicans, and is common among people of various races. And the negative sentiment is worldwide, extending to many countries in both Europe and Asia.