UPDATED: April 6, 2021 at 9:25 a.m.

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Syracuse University and SUNY-ESF experts and students discussed the history of anti-Asian racism in the U.S. and how to combat it during a public forum on Monday.

The forum included remarks from Asian students, staff and faculty concerning their experiences with anti-Asian racism, especially as hate crimes against Asian Americans have continued to increase throughout the coronavirus pandemic. SUNY-ESF’s Office of Inclusion, Diversity and Equity and SU’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion hosted the event.

“Racism and discriminiation towards Asian communities has been around for a long time, but it is sad that it took so long and it took a global pandemic to start addressing these problems,” said Fei Shen, a clinician at the Barnes Center at The Arch.

Roughly 3,800 incidents of racial violence against Asian Americans have been reported during the pandemic, according to Stop AAPI Hate, a nonprofit that tracks hate incidents against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the U.S.

A white man shot and killed eight people — Hyun Jung Grant, Xiaojie Tan, Daoyou Feng, Paul Andre Michels, Yong Ae Yue, Suncha Kim, Delaina Ashley Yaun and Soon Chung Park — in three spas in Atlanta on March 16. Six of the victims were women of Asian descent.

The campus community has also experienced anti-Asian hate recently. Notes containing racist language targeting Chinese students were found in at least three SU buildings on March 11, and on Feb. 28, two people reportedly used anti-Asian language toward a student.

SU also suspended a professor during the fall semester after he referred to COVID-19 as the “Wuhan Flu” and the “Chinese Communist Party Virus” on his course syllabus.

But panelists during the forum said that anti-Asian hate is deeply-rooted and has been an issue for years.

“What makes this racism, this hatred, so insidious is that it’s part of the legal framework of our country,” said Mary Szto, a teaching professor in SU’s College of Law.

Stzo said the U.S. has perpetuated two false narratives about Asian Americans. During the early 1800s, many people believed that Asian individuals were unable to assimilate to American culture, she said.

Through eugenics and blatant discirmniation, lawmakers embedded discrimination and racism into the legal system through citizenship, employment, education and homeownership, Stzo said.

“That’s where we get all those phrases of ‘Go back to where you came from,’” Stzo said. “We had legal exclusion, so that’s in the national consciousness — you see an Asian face, you think ‘Go back to where you came from.’”

But starting in the 1950s and 1960s, society’s narrative shifted to view Asian Americans as a “model of assimilation,” Stzo said. She said Asian Americans were considered to be “better equipped” to assimilate to American culture than other marginalized groups, which drove a wedge between people who identified as Asian and those who are part of other marginalized communities.

The “model of assimilation myth” also made Asian American people feel invisible and lose sense of their identity, Stzo said.

“If we’re models of assimilation and we’re emancipated from our ethnic status, then we no longer have our own identity of our ethnic status and ancestry,” she said.

These false narratives are the root of much of the systemic racism and anti-Asian hate seen both before and during the pandemic, Stzo said.

Yelena Bolante, a current student at SUNY-ESF, said after the increase in attacks on Asian people in the U.S., she’s been afraid to leave her house or even walk in broad daylight. She’s also concerned for her mother and grandmother’s safety.

“Especially since it’s Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, everybody should be aware of what’s happening, be sensitive to Asian American and Pacific Islanders who might be grieving during this time, and they should also educate themselves on our history and heritage,” Bolante said.

Xiaole Ni, who graduated from SUNY-ESF in 2018 with a doctoral degree, shared the same concerns as Bolante and said people should be more aware of the anti-Asian racism in the U.S. and its prevalence.

Ni recently compiled a list of books to read about anti-Asian racism and how to combat it.

“We should reach out to the wider society to do something, no matter what,” Ni said. “Reach out to real people to let the other people see the real person rather than just their label.”

Asian people who have experienced racism related to the coronavirus pandemic have significantly higher rates of anxiety and depression, Shen said. Experts from SUNY-ESF and SU, including Shen, shared ways for Asian students to cope with the rise in anti-Asian hate and combat it.

Shen said individuals should practice breathing exercises, meditation and physical exercise and should speak with trained mental health professionals if they are experiencing anxiety about anti-Asian racism.

“For someone who is experiencing racism or discrimination, you don’t have the responsibility to educate people about your traumatic experiences,” Shen said. “You have the power to say ‘no’ to that.”

Tarida Anantachai, who works at Bird Library and is on SU’s Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month planning committee, also encouraged people to participate in organizations to combat racism on campus and across the country.

People who don’t identify as Asian should take “small steps” to combat racism, such as learning to pronounce names correctly and educating themselves about Asian American history, she said.

“Incidents — both the blatant ones that we see in the news as well as the subtler, more painful microaggressions — are happening regularly in our classrooms, in our workplaces and beyond,” Anantachai said.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this post incorrectly stated that Xioale Ni received a doctoral degree from SU. Ni received a doctoral degree from SUNY-ESF. The Daily Orange regrets this error.

Published on April 5, 2021 at 11:28 pm

Contact Maggie: mehicks@syr.edu | @maggie_hickss