By: Evan Edmonds
Granite State News Collaborative
People gather at the State House for a Stop Asian Hate Rally, March 21, 2021.
Cori Princell
The recent shootings in Atlanta, Georgia, that killed eight people, six of whom were Asian women, has sparked a national conversation about Asian American discrimination and agression.
That conversation has made its way to New Hampshire, where Asian Americans make up 3% of the population, making them the second largest minority in the state. On NH PBS’ The State We’re In, Dr. Monica Chiu, who teaches Asian American studies and English at the University of New Hampshire, said blaming Asian Americans for national hardship or illness has been seen before in American history.
Chiu mentioned the notion of “the yellow peril,” the way in which the dominant population has historically categorized Asian immigrants and Asian Americans as “people who are somehow threatening to our nationhood.” She said this idea goes all the way back to the early 1900’s.
In the past year, there’s been a resurgence, she said, due to rhetoric used by former President Donald Trump and others labeling coronavirus the “chinese flu.” She said it has “really affected the ways in which the larger nation begins again to view Asians and Asian Americans in our communities.” [See Related video for more information]
Along with the discriminatory rhetoric, people in the AAPI communities have also been targets of hate crimes and aggression.
Hate crime statistics show that there have been none committed against Asian Americans in New Hampshire in recent years, although that might not tell the whole story.
The Department of Justice defines on their site that instances of racism and discrimination - even microagressions - aren’t reported as hate crimes, and therefore any number of instances in New Hampshire could go unnoticed, slipping through the cracks. Nationally, there were 205 Anti-Asian bias offenses in the United States reported in 2019, and plenty of recountable violent acts towards Asian Americans throughout the country in recent times, including New York City, and California.
Ben Chan of Keene addresses the crowd that gathered Sunday at Central Square.
Mia Summerson / Sentinel Staff
Sabrina Chen, member of the New Hampshire Asian American & Pacific Islander Democrats (NH AAPI) caucus of the New Hampshire Democratic Party, said two of her friends have reported separate incidents where they’ve made eye contact with someone and that person has put on a ‘Make America Great Again’ hat in response. Chen said in an email “it’s that kind of action that might be brushed under the rug, but is clearly deliberate intimidation.”
Walter King, another member of the NHAAPI caucus and New Hampshire Democratic Party State Committee, said he personally hasn’t been the target of any aggression since the start of the pandemic, but other members of NHAAPI have.
He said that people need to call out these violent behaviors and microaggressions and “take a stand,” noting that younger generations are becoming less and less tolerant of that. King said historically Asian American communities haven’t wanted “to make a big deal of it,” and they have a “tendency to let it slide.” King said the ability to not bring focus to themselves may have given a “false note,” that Asian Americans were more accepted than other minorities.
It’s for this reason that Chiu said Asian Americans are sometimes labelled as a “model minority,”
“Which means,” she said, “if someone pushes against us, we’re just going to kind of crumble and go away.”
Sumathi Madhure, co-chair of the New Hampshire Asian American and Pacific Islander Democrats, organizers of the Stop Asian Hate Rally in Concord on Sunday, talks about actions needed to address racism. Karen Dandurant
She said, the message from the recent Stop Asian Hate rallies in New Hampshire calling on Asian American communities to stand up and speak out was refreshing.
More than 300 people attended the recent rally in Concord, many from New Hampshire’s Asian American & Pacific Islander communities, and dozens showed up to a similar rally in Keene March 28.
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Both rallies highlighted the effort of Granite State Asian-Americans to stand and be heard, something that has been said to be a barrier for Asian-American communities in the past.
Cori Hirai, grew up in West Lebanon said she thinks the habit of letting discrimination slide is generational and that younger generations (herself being a millennial) are now more likely to stand up and speak out.
Growing up in New Hampshire, Hirai said she has experienced instances of discrimination, particularly on dating apps, including being asked “where are you really from,” even though she is a New Hampshire resident on a dating app for locals.
“That’s racist,” she said.
Hirai noted that growing up, she would constantly call herself lazy in a subconscious effort to break the “hard working Asian stereotype,” to lower peoples’ societal expectations of her.
Lily Tang Williams, a Chinese immigrant and libertarian party politician is co-chair of the newly formed New Hampshire Asian American Coalition (NHAAC), a group she formed alongside Chau Bao Kelly to advocate for Asian Americans in New Hampshire to organize better and use their voice. Her personal experience with people after moving to New Hampshire in November 2019 has been friendly and welcoming, she said - and she has “appreciated everything New Hampshire has to offer.”
The idea of the “model minority,” she said, is that Asian Americans aren’t expected to take any action, rather just keep to themselves. She said sometimes minorities have to stand up and push back, which is why she formed the NHAAC.
King mentioned it can be hard to speak for or represent the entire scope of Asian Americans, as the group consists of such a wide range of cultures and subcultures. The NHAAC is a way for all Asian American communities to come together and make an impact, Williams said.
One thing Chiu said will help going forward is if there is a greater understanding of this idea that AAPI communities are diverse and so is New Hampshire. Chiu has studied the long history of Asian Americans in New England - using her research in the classroom to continue to bring awareness and acceptance of diversity: “to say that we’re a 97% white community doesn’t mean that we don’t have diversity in our own community.”
Watch the full interview with Monica Chiu on The State We’re In.
These articles are being shared by partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information visit collaborativenh.org.