Social Work in Action: Anti-Asian Climate During COVID-19: Through the Lens of an Asian Social Worker

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, there have been growing concerns and fear experienced among Asian American (AA) communities in the United States (US). This was in response to the growing overt anti-Asian sentiments which included bias, microaggressions, and hate incidents and crimes. Across the US, anti-Asian hate acts are reportedly on the rise. Between March 19, 2020 and March 31, 2021, approximately 6603 hate incidents were reported with close to 70% identifying as females.1 It is also concerning that these acts are blatantly occurring in public streets and parks (37.8%) and in businesses (32.2%).2 Following the emergence of COVID-19, researchers using mixed methods analyzed more than 3.4 million tweets from November 2019–June 2020 and revealed a marked increase (68.4%) in anti-Asian sentiment and a decline in positive Asian sentiment when compared to other racial/ethnic groups.3 Together, these findings demonstrate the harmful climate surrounding the Asian identity in the US. Disaggregated data showed that the top 3 types of discrimination were: verbal harassment (65.2%), deliberate avoidance of Asian and Pacific Islanders (18.1%), and physical assault (12.6%).2 The Asian ethnic group breakdown showed that the hate incident reports came from Chinese individuals (43.7%), followed by Koreans (16.6%), Filipinx (8.8%), and Vietnamese (8.3%)2. Mainstream news media are paying more attention to Asian experiences and have publicized the anti-Asian experiences permeating across major US cities.4–5 Unfortunately, the link between COVID-19 and hate sentiments against AA highlights the reality of the long enduring racial stereotypes and scapegoating on AA in American society.6–8 It should be clear that contrary to the model minority stereotype that is pervasively attached to the AA identity, significant social determinants of health experienced by many are xenophobia and racism. What may be most different in this current anti-Asian hate climate is that it is more visible to the general public's eye due to the attention paid by mainstream media and advocates’ use of social media platforms.