Hating, or even violently attacking, somebody just because his or her ethnicity is different to yours, is one of the most deeply rooted aspects of pernicious racism.
Recently, alarmingly growing numbers of cases of such hate crimes across the United States and Canada have highlighted that, sadly, racial prejudice is alive and well, even in places where it may be least expected. The Stop AAPI Hate (Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders) group reported 2,800 hate incidents last year, alone.
Of course, it must be admitted that every race, every country, contains both good and bad people. But to set yourself against all the members of a particular race, for reasons best-known only to yourself, though generally including a large dose of ignorance, represents the height of racism, and is an ugly thing to see.
The US parliament, activated by thousands of unprovoked assaults over recent months on Asians living in America and aimed at deterring hate crimes against Asian-Americans, has just passed the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act in a 364-62 vote in the House of Representatives on May 18 after the US Senate approved the bill on a 94-1 vote last month. But can any such legislation alone, however well-intentioned, stamp out the deeply entrenched shocking racism, while crimes are committed by so many prejudiced citizens?
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Recent well-publicized cases of people assaulting Asians in the USA have shocked the world. But that is not to say that racism does not raise its ugly head elsewhere, and that all too often. To reach a situation in America where the numbers of such hate crimes are diminishing, rather than dramatically increasing as now, will only be achieved when hearts and minds are swayed. Legislation of itself alone, sadly, will not be sufficient to stamp out this deeply rooted problem from American society.
Alarmingly growing numbers of cases of such hate crimes across the United States and Canada have highlighted that, sadly, racial prejudice is alive and well, even in places where it may be least expected
In a distressing recent video clip which has been widely circulated on social media, a tall and hefty man was seen to knock an old Asian lady to the ground, then proceed to kick her repeatedly in the face. Not the least loathsome aspect of such vile conduct was that it was an unprovoked attack, with the bully hurting a frail senior only a third of his weight. As well as being an appalling bully, he is also a coward. Would that his anti-Asian views had led him to instead attack a sumo wrestler, in his own weight category; if he dared that, he would likely have received blows back just as good as he gave!
More seriously, it is dreadful to note that many of these hate attacks against Asian-Americans involve hefty younger Americans violently attacking frail old Asian people, many of them in their eighties or nineties. The mindset of these wicked attackers almost beggars the understanding of fair-minded observers: What can they possibly hope to achieve by beating up or knocking out an Asian granny or grandpa?
Such very distressing brutality was made all the worse by the lack of anyone near the scene of this attack – and there were several – daring to intervene to protect that poor old lady. To take no action at such a scene can be misread as supporting the flagrant racially motivated brutality; shame on the passive onlookers, for their inaction!
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Such a viciously violent attack, on a public street in broad daylight, points to the brazen hatred of the vile assailant and also to his confidence in surmising – correctly, as it turned out – that nobody would go to the aid of his frail innocent victim. These and many more anti-Asian attacks seem to have become far more widespread in America of late, which is itself deeply shameful.
It is sadly ironic that any ethnic minority should face prejudice in America, which after all is a land of immigrants who played instrumental roles in making America the economic success that it is today. Most American families have been there for only a few hundred years at most; even the native Americans are thought to have travelled from Central Asia just a few thousand years ago, via the Barents Sea land bridge of those times.
All ethnic groups need to get along with each other, to co-exist peacefully in such a multi-cultural mix as modern-day America is. These anti-Asian hate attacks, preceded by generations of discriminatory government policies and inter-personal prejudices by White America against native Americans and African Americans, show that there is still a very long way to go, before a truly tolerant society is achieved there.
In dealing with hate-crime perpetrators in the US court system, those found guilty of such appalling crimes should receive sentences which stop them from being able to repeat their crime, by long custodial sentences being imposed. Such deterrent sentences would also act, to some extent, to deter others from committing similar attacks.
But what lies beneath the motivation of those committing hate attacks is racial prejudice: clear, simple and vile! And no legal sentence in the world can be a magic bullet, removing forever their anti-feelings against those targeted. Instead, we must go back to education, where at school level different ethnicity familiarity efforts are greatly needed. That is because a level of ignorance about other races plays a large part in the development of racial prejudice.
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To tackle that at school means, sadly, that even if these much-needed enhanced measures are introduced quickly during education, the more-enlightened school graduates of the future will take a number of years to be produced.
That leaves us with a body of racially prejudiced and violent adults, all-too-ready to attack someone of a different race again. It is those shameful ''ugly Americans'' who need to be deterred from undertaking more assaults on Asian-Americans, by the re-activation of the strong arm of the law.
It would be interesting to learn, just what the “Asian-bashers’’ have against their innocent victims, though it has been speculated that envy of Asian-Americans’ general law-abiding nature and success in the workplace is a factor.
The author is a veteran commentator on current social issues, who has worked in many parts of Asia.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.