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Hello All,

On behalf of my family, to my dear sister.

My niece Jessica, a 19-year-old has encountered a vicious attack involving gunfire. She was a victim of a hate crime this past weekend by multiple shooters. While at a stop, a dark sedan pulled up, and three men exited their vehicle and started shooting. Jessica, unfortunately, was hit in the face; the bullet went straight through her right eye. While doctors were able to remove the shell, fragments still are embedded in her face, and she is unable to chew and speak without pain. She is now permanently impaired. While she is in the hospital slowly recovering, police are still investigating and trying to find justice for her.

Fortunately, Jessica is alive. Though she lays in her hospital bed distraught, in pain, suffering emotionally, physically, and mentally from this situation, she recently found out she has diabetes and while is in the care she was also tested positive with covid. Jessica will need medical care, is afraid for her life, and does not want to go outside because she fears something else is happening to her. She will require physical and mental therapy in the future.

Jessica is scheduled to start school this week to become a healthcare provider and is excited about it. However, she will not be able to attend due to her current devastating condition. She just turned 19 early this month. Jessica is the sweetest, kind, caring person with an angelic voice, loves to sing and spend time with her family. She helps her single mother take care of her younger siblings, nieces, and nephews. She did not deserve to have to suffer like this. No one deserves this at all.

My family is asking for prayers, any support, justice for Jessica, and to stop hate crime.

It is a challenging time for our family as it is already with this pandemic, so my family and I are creating this GoFundMe page to help with her recovery and medical bills. Any donations will be greatly appreciated.

Lastly, as necessary as it is to ensure Jessica is safe and for justice to be served, we ask for as much help as possible to cover future medical costs. We also want to bring awareness to the anti-Asian violence and racism that is evolving around us. Let's, please work together to stop senseless violent hate crimes and continue to take care of one another. We are praying for past and current victims of these crimes, and hope we can move toward a safer and more inclusive society.

Thank you all-

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Hello All, On behalf of my family, to my dear sister. My niece Jessica, a 19-year-old has encountered a vicious attack involving gunfire. She was a victim of a hate crime this past weekend by multiple shooters. While at a stop, a dark sedan pulled up, and three men exited their vehicle and started shooting.

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In the end, the idea of America is simple: "Liberty AND Justice for ALL." 

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In the end, the idea of America is simple: "Liberty AND Justice for ALL." 

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Of course, we're not even close to the end. We're still somewhere closer to the beginning, since we have so much work to do in order to realize our core idea in full.

After all, so often, what is simple isn't easy to achieve.

Onward then, and upward, by diving deeper downward, into the details.

One day at a time. One initiative at a time. But always with that picture in mind. And in our hearts.

Here at Lawrenceville, our ultimate purpose is "to seek the best for ALL." And an Lville education culminates in a Commencement ceremony in which we sing "America the Beautiful." Beautiful for what exactly? Well, at her/our very core,

"O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years;
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears."

We've got a long way to go in order to get there, to realize that dream.

But with loving dedication from all of us who've sung these words and pledged our allegiance to the project of waging peace in pursuit of "Liberty AND Justice for ALL," we can get there. We must. Let's keep going, together.

PK

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An interview between anti-bias and anti-racist educator named Liz Kleinrock and Smithsonian APA

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In April 2020, we interviewed Liz Kleinrock, an anti-bias educator and consultant based in Los Angeles, California. We interviewed Liz to learn more about how addressing or ignoring anti-Asian racism in our classrooms and communities can impact student learning:
Q: In your TED Talk, "How to teach kids to talk about taboo topics," you talk about your curriculum unit on race and racism with your 4th grade students, and share how some students were afraid to ask questions about race. What are the main tenets of addressing hard topics like race in the classroom? How would you recommend we apply or amend those tenets to address anti-Asian racism during COVID-19?
A: The most important thing I tell folx is that you have to know yourself. If you're an educator and want to talk to your students about race, spend some time reflecting on your own identity and understanding of race and racism. If you're not comfortable talking about these things with your friends or colleagues, you're probably not ready to talk to kids. If you are comfortable talking about these topics with your friends and colleagues, then ask yourself if you notice anything about the identities of these peers. Are you only comfortable talking about race with people who share your racialized identity? (I use the term "racialized" to emphasize that race is a socially constructed idea, and that race is something that has been done TO people.) Are you comfortable having discussions with people across lines of difference?

From my personal perspective, I think the amount of anti-Asian racism we're experiencing is a result of erasure of the Asian American community from conversations about race, as well as general ignorance about Asian American history and individuals. Conversations and lessons about race are too often presented along the Black-white binary, and add on the bias held against East Asian Americans as a result of the "model minority" myth and assumption of proximity to whiteness. To combat anti-Asian racism, I'd ask that people educate themselves about the diversity of Asian American identities, and where these stereotypes and biases are born by researching topics such as "Yellow Peril," and the list of anti-Asian policies in the United States. It's also important to keep in mind that ruminating in oppression and racism will only get us so far, and we also need to think about what liberation means for Asian Americans. We can study the Yellow Power Movement and instances where Asian American activists have advocated for justice in our own communities, and acted as accomplices for other communities in need.
Q: What would you talk to your students about if you noticed some students were being bullied because they are, or are perceived as being Asian? How would you approach the situation?
A: With students, I believe in calling them into conversations to address this type of behavior, rather than calling them out and publicly shaming them. In my classroom, we used restorative justice practices so that there's an understanding of the damage that has been created, all community members have the opportunity to be heard, and the focus is on repairing the harm done. I would begin by telling these students something along the lines of, "You might not be aware of this, but there is a lot of painful history behind the words or behaviors you chose," and would explain how their choices harmed our classroom community, rather than helped. I would also ask the students in question to identify where they heard or received these messages about Asian people, so we can begin to unpack and dismantle their racial biases.
Q: For teachers who might feel uncomfortable addressing anti-Asian racism with their students, what advice would you give them, especially for teachers who don't identify as Asian American? What would be at risk if the topic was avoided?
A: I've always appreciated the quote, "What you permit, you promote." A lot of people seem to forget that staying silent on certain issues sends a message on its own. If teachers or adults center their own comfort by ignoring or minimizing anti-Asian racism, they're sending the message that these words and behaviors are acceptable, and kids will follow their lead. If teachers are uncomfortable addressing anti-Asian racism, the first question I have is where that discomfort comes from. Is it because they simply don't know about the issue? Are they worried about saying the wrong thing, or not having the right language? We are at a point where there is so much free information readily available. Listen to the podcasts, "Asian Enough Podcast," or "Code Switch." Check out the free Asian American Racial Justice Toolkit. Read books by diverse Asian authors and activists. Ignorance is not an excuse to disengage.

I would caution teachers to be aware of how they're representing Asian individuals and Asian American history. Far too often, lessons and inclusion of people of the global majority are presented from a deficit-based lens, or through examples of injustice and oppression. All students need to form positive self-identities and respect those of others. I'd recommend beginning with books or lessons that hold up Asian American individuals or history for their culture, contributions, and resilience before diving into anti-Asian racism.
Q: We learn in your TED Talk that your students became deeply engaged in conversations about race and equity. What can adults learn from your students?
A: My students are some of the most incredible humans, and there is so much adults can constantly learn from youth. They love to ask questions to further their understanding. They are open to learning and adjusting their language and behavior to be respectful towards others. They care deeply about justice and equity. In anti-bias and anti-racism work, there's an emphasis on creating brave spaces and accepting and expecting non-closure, and I love that my students are unafraid to engage with the unknown.

We are also in the beginning stages of creating a parent resource for talking to children about Asian American identity and anti-Asian racism. This discussion guide will provide age-appropriate conversation starters and specific strategies for parents to navigate issues from intergenerational trauma to identity-based bullying in schools.

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Addressing Anti-Asian Racism with Students

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In April 2020, we interviewed Liz Kleinrock, an anti-bias educator and consultant based in Los Angeles, California. We interviewed Liz to learn more about how addressing or ignoring anti-Asian racism in our classrooms and communities can impact student learning: Q: In your TED Talk, "How to teach kids to talk about taboo topics," you talk about your curriculum unit on race and racism with your 4th grade students, and share how some students were afraid to ask questions about race.

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We Are Not a Stereotype: Breaking Down Asian Pacific American Bias by Smithsonian APA

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We Are Not a Stereotype: Breaking Down Asian Pacific American Bias by Smithsonian APA

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We are not a stereotype | Learning Together

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The term Bamboo Ceiling was coined by Jane Hyun, an Executive Coach and Global Leadership Strategist. Her book "Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling" provides career strategies for Asian Americans. To learn more about Hyun's work click here .

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Ask yourself:
- how have i benefitted from or been oppressed by white supremacy?
- how have i contributed to the normalization of everyday racism?
- how have i called out and called in people i know (and don't know) who perpetuate anti-asian hate and racism?
- what do i think i know about asian american experiences? how can i educate myself about the history of asian americans?
- how have i supported and been present for my close, loved ones who are asian american?

"Words fuel action, we must start with our own subconscious and conscious minds shaped by a society that upholds White Supremacy" — Sophia Li @sophfei

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I am the youngest son of Yong Yue, one of the six Asian-American women brutally killed in the recent mass shootings in Atlanta, Georgia. My mother was a Korean-born American citizen who was hatefully and violently murdered. Mom was an amazing woman who loved to introduce our family and friends to her home-cooked Korean food and Korean karaoke. Will miss joining mom on her weekly Sunday routine to the grocery store and traditional Korean dinner. She was always kind-hearted and willing to help everyone she encountered.

The world will throw you trials and tribulations to test you, but this test feels so unfair. We are still in shock over the violent murder of our mother, but through our grieving we are making plans to memorialize her, bring our family together, and resolve her financial matters. Nothing could have prepared us for this tragic moment that has created immediate and future expenses that we could never have imagined.

Funds raised will be used to assist with managing mother's affairs for her home, associated costs for our family to travel to her memorial, as well as going towards her memorial service costs and her personal affairs for the immediate future. We sincerely ask for your fervent prayers for strength and courage as we endure the days, weeks, and months ahead. We thank you for your love and support as we prepare for justice to be served for mother, and the other families victimized, as we begin the healing process.

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Memorial for Yong Yue and Family, organized by Rob Pete

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I am the youngest son of Yong Yue, one of the six Asian-American women brutally killed in the recent mass shootings in Atlanta, Georgia. My mother was a Korean-born American citizen who was hatefully and violently murdered. Mom was an amazing woman who loved to introduce our family and friends to her home-cooked Korean food and Korean karaoke.

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For husband of Soon C Park, victim of spa shooting, organized by 이광호

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I am Gwangho Lee. My wife, Soon Chung Park, was murdered in the shootings at spas in Atlanta on March 16, 2021. I am raising money to pay for my living expenses, including rent and bills, because I am currently unable to work due to the trauma I have experienced from this attack and from the death of my wife.

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My step-sister Ying Tan "Jami" Webb was the only child of Xiaojie "Emily" Tan, one of the victims of the mass shooting that occurred in Georgia on March 16th. I am creating this campaign on Jami's behalf.

This unspeakable loss has left Jami in shock, trying to dealing with this incomprehensible trauma. We, her extended family, are rallying around her, attempting to comfort her, even as we try to protect her from the overwhelming attention by the press and curious, compassionate strangers. Jami is a gentle soul and normally a private person, but this has forced her into the spotlight so she can give voice to the legacy of her beloved mom. I invite you to click the links provided below to learn more about Jami's mom.

Jami and her mom where the only two from her family to immigrate to the US, so in the wake of this tragedy, Jami is separated from her Chinese relatives, by distance and by the pandemic. Jami's support network here in the US is small, and we are doing our best to make sure she is taken care of, but she has suffered an immeasurable loss. Xiaojie was an extraordinary woman--as Jami said to me, "My mom was petite and fierce! She was a feminist without meaning to be, and even gave me her name, which is rare in Chinese culture." Xiaojie loved her life in the US, and worked really hard to provide for her family-she was financially supporting her sister and mother in China. Jami is heartbroken that she will never get to travel with her mom again, but intends to bring her mother's remains home to Nanning as soon as she can travel safely. She and her family are planning a burial and services for Xiaojie in China.

We recognize that this mass shooting is a hugely evocative tragedy, and that many people around the country feel affected by it. It has come to our attention that many people want to help and support Jami, and she is touched and honored by this expression of care.

In addition, as the days pass, and the awful reality begins to settle in, we realize that Jami has plenty of unforeseen expenses including extensive funeral costs, traveling back to China with her mom's remains, caring for her Chinese relatives as they all figure out the way forward, plus the expenses involved in settling her mother's affairs, and potential legal fees since her mother's death is part of a murder investigation.

Any sudden loss of a beloved parent is terrible, but to have it happen in this violent horrific and painfully public way is excruciating. Jami and her adopted father (who is also my stepfather) are longing for space and peace so they can begin to heal. Of course, there is no material or financial support that can mitigate Jami's pain, but whatever we raise will at least help alleviate some of the extraneous stressors.

Ying Tan "Jami" Webb is the sole beneficiary of this campaign, and every penny received will go to Jami and her efforts to recover from this trauma.

Thank you so much for your concern, and generosity.

In Grief & Gratitude,
Lauren

PS. Words from Jami, as I was putting this together and asked if she wanted to add anything:

"My mom taught me the power of smiles and laughter. People noticed how happy she was. Please spend more time with your loved ones, like it could be your last day with them."

非常感谢你们给予我们关爱和支持，我们感谢于心，感恩于怀。
Ying Tan
谭颖

Honoring Xiaojie
Xiaojie Legacy

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ATL Spa Shooting Family Survivor Fund: Jami Webb, organized by Lauren Mellone

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My step-sister Ying Tan "Jami" Webb was the only child of Xiaojie "Emily" Tan, one of the victims of the mass shooting that occurred in Georgia on March 16th. I am creating this campaign on Jami's behalf. This unspeakable loss has left Jami in shock, trying to dealing with this incomprehensible trauma.

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"The Game Board: Second Generation Chinese American Female Edition" by Lauren Lisa Ng

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"The Game Board: Second Generation Chinese American Female Edition" by Lauren Lisa Ng

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Here's how you play.
Wake up in your safe suburban neighborhood, move
ahead two spaces.
Get dressed in your safe, suburban clothes,
move ahead two spaces.
Mask up to head out, wave
at the neighbor as you drive down
the hill-code for
you live there. Move ahead
one space.
Walk into store and watch
as they stare at your half-hidden face.
The mask, useless. Your onyx hair and
crescent eyes betray
your invisibility. Move back
three spaces. Stand in line,
try to stifle it, but they don't know
you've suffered from allergies
your whole life. The cough
escapes-
move back two spaces.
The cashier speaks, you respond, in your
perfectly perfect
American accented English.
Move ahead three spaces.
Walk back to the car-notice
two men talking. They stop, stare, track
your movement. Muscles tighten, pace quickens, heart
bursts. You've drawn
a wild card. Climb in safely,
move ahead one space.

The game changes, of course,
with additional players.
Bring along your white husband, move ahead
three spaces. Bring your half white children,
move ahead, well, logically,
1.5 spaces. Go
where it's safe and free from hate-
Chinatown, Oakland, East
Bay oh wait-

A virus arrives.

Move back five spaces.
An incumbent falls.
Move ahead one.
His message does not.
Move back two.
A challenger wins.
Move ahead one.
But fear requires no victory.
Move back two.
Vaccines arrive.
Move ahead two.
The virus mutates.
Move back three.
But they all love Asian food.
Move ahead two.
But they still think we're dirty.
Move back three.
But we work really hard.
Move ahead two.
But we steal their jobs.
Move back three.
But Asian girls are hot.
Lose a turn.
And Asian girls are submissive.
Go back to start.

This they do not realize:
it is a single string that ties
acceptance with
disgust-pulled so
tautly, you just might break.
Rev. Lauren Lisa Ng is director of Leadership Empowerment at American Baptist Home Mission Societies where she works with innovative and entrepreneurial models of ministry and emerging leaders who pursue them.

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The Game Board: Second Generation Chinese American Female Edition

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Here's how you play. Wake up in your safe suburban neighborhood, move ahead two spaces. Get dressed in your safe, suburban clothes, move ahead two spaces. Mask up to head out, wave at the neighbor as you drive down the hill-code for you live there. Move ahead one space.

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My husband was also victim of the Cherokee county shootings that took place on Tuesday, highway 92. He is at the hospital in intensive care. He was shot in the forehead down to his lungs and into his stomach. He will be needing facial surgery. Please help me and my family raise money to cover for my husband's medical bills. Please pray for my family and the family's that were affected by this shooting. Anything will greatly help our family.

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Help Elcias Hernandez Ortiz cover medical bills, organized by Flora Gonzalez Gomez

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My husband was also victim of the Cherokee county shootings that took place on Tuesday, highway 92. He is at the hospital in intensive care. He was shot in the forehead down to his lungs and into his stomach. He will be needing facial surgery.

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Sun Cha's family asked me to serve as organizer for this GoFundMe. Here is her story, as written from her family:

On Tuesday March 16th, my grandmother, Sun Cha Kim, and seven other victims were brutally shot and murdered by Mr. Long. This senseless tragedy has caused my family and I an immense amount of pain, our world is forever shattered and tainted by the actions of Mr. Long. My grandmother was an angel, to have her taken away in such a horrific manner is unbearable to think about. As an immigrant, all my grandmother ever wanted in life was to grow old with my grandfather, and watch her children and grandchildren live the life she never got to live.

I would like to tell you a little about my grandmother. She migrated to the USA from Seoul, South Korea to provide for a better life for my family. Like many asian immigrants, she spoke very little English and worked two to three jobs. This took immense courage and my grandmother was a fighter. She was married to a loving husband who she planned to grow old with. She has two children. A loving son, a loving daughter, and three beautiful grandchildren. Outside of our immediate family, everyone that met my grandmother loved her dearly. She was pure hearted and the most selfless woman I knew. She represented everything I wanted to be as a woman, without an ounce of hate or bitterness in her heart. People that were close to me, knew that my grandmother was my rock. To have her taken away as a perfectly healthy elderly woman by such a heinous crime broke my heart. I will never see her again but I am left with only happy memories of her and the beautiful life she lived. She never forgot to call me once a week to say "Stay strong in life... when you're happy, I'm happy."

Any support we receive is greatly appreciated. Donations will help us provide her a beautiful memorial and funeral. Words can not describe how we feel, along with the other victim's families during these hard times. You can also help by raising awareness and coming together as Americans to love all who love all.

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In loving memory of Sun Cha Kim, organized by Hillary Li

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Sun Cha's family asked me to serve as organizer for this GoFundMe. Here is her story, as written from her family: On Tuesday March 16th, my grandmother, Sun Cha Kim, and seven other victims were brutally shot and murdered by Mr. Long.

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How are we teaching each other to talk about this event? What language are our school admin, teachers, advisors, and friends using to name and remember this event? What do their ways of naming/remembering serve—to evade, erase, or rescue the culpable forces that led to this event?

There have been obvious, necessary critiques against Captain Jay Baker's paraphrasing of Robert Aaron Long's "motive" for his murders, but also compelling critiques against promoting visibility for this event through hashtags like #AsianLivesMatter (wrongfully co-opting the BLM movement that is not ours) and insisting on labeling this event as "hate crime", "virus", and "terrorism." Not to mention the differences between labeling Long as "killer" rather than as "white supremacist shooter or murderer"...

How are you naming, understanding, and remembering Tuesday's event? What is that "event" for you? What does that name, memory, or understanding do for Asian Americans who are most impacted by this event? How can identifying that event change how you respond and act?

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Contextualizing Tuesday's Event in a History of Violence Against Asians and Asian Americans

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Contextualizing Tuesday's Event in a History of Violence Against Asians and Asian Americans

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- Do you know the origins of the political, racial label: "Asian American"? Do you know why that racial label is important to those who identify as such?

- Do you know the difference between the terms "Asian," "Asian American," and "Pacific Islander"?

- How knowledgeable are you about Asian American history? What do you think you know about Asian American history, identities, or experiences?

- What questions do you have about Asian American history, identities, or experiences?

- Why do activists and organizers and Asian Americans say that Tuesday's event is not surprising, new, or unexpected? What do you think led up to this event?

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Checking in with your Asian American loved ones

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Checking in with your Asian American loved ones

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One of the important ways to support trauma survivors is to check in on them. Note that checking in does not mean reaching out to every single Asian American you happen to know by chance, acquaintance, or at random. Checking in is an intimate, personal act between close, often loved ones. Note, too, that not everyone prefers to be checked in because they may need their own space to process or have other ways of processing.

Checking in makes clear to trauma survivors that others are paying attention, care about them, and can be support networks for survivors to feel seen, safe, and validated.

A few examples of checking in:
- "hey... thinking of you at this time. let me know if you ever need to talk or need anything to help you feel safe and cared for."
- "hello. this is a lot to move through. and i'm here to remind you that you are loved, incredible, and appreciated for all that you are and do."
- "hi. no pressure to respond at all. just checking in on you. i understand if you need space and time to process. if i can hold space for you i'm here to be, breathe, and listen. sending you lots of love."

Have you checked in with your family, friends, colleagues? How do you check in? How do you show that you care about your loved ones?

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how to talk to asian elders about anti-asian racism and violence?

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how to talk to asian elders about anti-asian racism and violence?

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check out @asiansformentalhealth on instagram for translations of questions to ask your asian elders, since we know that those conversations are not only hard because of the message but also because many of us may not know the language to communicate with our families.

most of us are often taught by our families, especially as first generation, to "keep quiet. lay low. don't cause a scene."  we know why our families tell us this. but we also have different experiences, access to resources, and education that allow us to hold both their values and worries with our need for collective justice. we are NOT the model minority. not ever. we have voices and we can and will speak up for our families, our loved ones who may not or cannot.

translations currently available for korean, mandarin, traditional mandarin, vietnamese, and japanese.

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Things to Stop Saying to Trauma Survivors by healingfromptsd

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Things to Stop Saying to Trauma Survivors by healingfromptsd

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Writer R.O. Kwon's Letter to Fellow Asian American Women

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Writer R.O. Kwon's Letter to Fellow Asian American Women

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In the past, I have written a lot of essays and political op-eds about racism and sexism, rivers of words arguing for and explaining varieties of the ongoing, abiding fight to get free. This is not what I'm writing today. On Tuesday, three days ago, a white gunman allegedly shot and killed eight people at three Asian massage parlors in the Atlanta area, including six Asian women, in a racist, sexist attack on massage parlor workers, and today I am not spending any more of my limited time alive defending the humanity of marginalized people, arguing once again with those who don't already see it that we are all fully realized people deserving of human rights. This long, hard week, I have felt especially pulled toward the company of fellow Asian women, so that is who I will write to here.

To Asian women, not for-there's no speaking for us, splendidly vast and manifold as our people are. And my experience of this world, and of America, is that of being a Korean American woman born in Seoul, so let me be specific about the body I inhabit: I moved to the U.S. with my family when I was three years old. I write and teach for a living; I've worked in the service industry, at a restaurant, but not since college. It is by no means a given that my life has a lot of overlap with the six Asian women killed while working at massage parlors, even the four women of Korean descent, except that much of America has trouble telling any of us apart.

It is a standing, pain-riddled joke with close Asian women friends that if we haven't yet been mistaken for each other, we're not really friends, and my friends laugh, and I laugh, and still they keep mixing us up. To date, I have been mistaken for Asian women who are almost a foot taller than I am, with women 15 years younger or older, biracial people, women who descend from every East Asian and Southeast Asian nation, plus Sri Lanka, as well as India, all of us thrown together by the willful, lazy illogic of racism.

But I love being in this company-I love it here, with my sisters. I always have, and there's not anywhere else I'd want to be. With femme-presenting siblings too, though here I hesitate, as I know at least some nonbinary friends prefer not to be categorized with women. It is also true, as many have pointed out, that when it comes to gender-based violence from male strangers, femme-presenting people who aren't women are of course vulnerable, so I'll write this to you if you want to be here, and not if you don't. And while our siblings of color live with and are killed by white supremacy too, and while our sisters of color and our white sisters live with and are killed by misogyny too, today I have to write to us first, with the Asian women who have been crying all week, who are grief-stricken, furious, afraid, and heartsick, our bodies rioting beneath the heft and bulk of a racist, misogynist tragedy while we mourn.

Dear Asian women living in America,

Until this week, though I'd often tried, I wasn't able to bring myself to tell my parents to watch out for the upsurge in anti-Asian attacks, in part because I can't bear it that they moved to this country mostly for my brother's and my sake. A lot of you have had this experience too, especially but not at all only during the past year, as we've seen and heard reports of Asian people being shoved, punched, knifed, hit with a sock filled with rocks, disfigured in a possible acid attack, and killed by strangers, as our elders are attacked and at times killed while they're walking down the street, as slurs and hatred are thrown our way by everyone from online harassers to the previous president of this country.

Lately, every time I've heard about, read about, or encountered a fresh incident of hatred, the quiet refrain belling in my head like a chant, or a dirge, is: our hearts are breaking. I've found this frustrating, for who does it help, what action is involved in having a breaking heart? I'm listening more, though, today, to this refrain. Minutes after I first read about the attacks, I started thinking about what I should do, how I could be useful. Maybe I need to take another minute, maybe several minutes, to sit with this breaking heart.

I will carry for a long time, for instance, the moment I first saw the Korean victims' names written in Korean. In hangul, which I associate with joy, with homecoming. With deep, good safety. It is the language written on the books in my parents' house, on the menus of restaurants I turn to when I really miss my mother's food, in the birthday cards my parents send, retelling me the story of my birth in Seoul. This time, the hangul marked the passing of women shot for what they looked like, killed by a racist gunman and by this country's white supremacy.

For a moment, though, I want to go back to that flicker of homecoming. It's not just that I love being a Korean woman; I also love that my life is full of Korean women. No one is more intimidating to me than ferocious Korean women, and it is part of my life's work to try to more fully be one of these women. The prospects improve with age, I think. Our mothers are alarming; our grandmothers are terrifying. In my group chats with Korean women, when one of us has been insulted, a conversational leitmotif is that we almost pity the offending person-who is most often white, a man, or both-for fucking with us, for not having understood what kind of long-lasting trouble they've just heaped upon their own heads.

I love our care for one another, our devotion, and now I'm back to talking about Asian women. A powerful urge to care for our people is a blessing, but it can also be a burden, one that has felt especially heavy, perhaps, these past months. One that has made this heartbreak also feel like a kind of failure. Those of us who are immigrants, or the children of immigrants, have from a young age taken on the role of protecting those of our elders whose tongues were shaped in other lands. We grew up interpreting for them, and we put ourselves between them and rude, racist strangers, and we flared up with rage for our elders while they told us not to worry, they were fine.

As a result, it has perhaps felt all the more brutal that we can't quite protect our own elders. Elders who, in a lot of cases, moved to this country for us. Many of us have also been physically distanced from those we love most by this pandemic, and so it can feel as though we're failing in this respect too, by not having been able to be there to keep our loves safe from a virus for which they, and we, are being blamed.

And meanwhile, others are failing us. Have been failing us. The media is buying into and merrily spreading the killer's lies about his massacre not being racist. They publish his name and print his photo so that, much as I have tried to avoid it-reading the news with a hand held up to block out his face-I will carry that image to my grave, as I know many of you will. We're told that the killer couldn't hold out against the "temptation" of Asian women's bodies. Before we even knew their names, there were assumptions that the killed women were sex workers-as though that justified the massacre. It does not, and sex work is work; all sex workers deserve the full rights we all should already have. There has still been little reporting on who these women were. Some of you are journalists, and Asian American reporters fluent in the languages some of the murdered women spoke with their families are being told they can't report on the massacre because they might be too biased, although a white journalist-steeped in this country's white supremacy, probably unable to fluently speak with witnesses and family members-will most likely be especially ill-equipped to tell these stories well and responsibly. One of the first responses from local governments has been to increase policing in predominantly Asian areas, while many Asian activists and massage-parlor workers and sex workers and community leaders have said increased policing will only hurt us, not help us.

We've had to yell so loudly to even get national media and politicians to begin to believe there might be a real problem. I wept, as many of you did, the day last March when the previous president started calling it a "Chinese virus," because we knew exactly what would happen as a result, the hatred those paired words would incite. We have been told this is new, that we haven't really experienced racism, all while our entire existence in this country has been twisted, shaped, and contorted by forces like the 1875 Page Act, which halted the immigration of Chinese women on the stated pretext that they, we, were immoral. Were temptations. All while the Asia-ravaging forces of white supremacy, imperialism, and colonialism drove our people here, to this land our ancestors would not recognize.

Some of these failures have come from the people closest to us. So many white friends, family members, colleagues, partners, in-law relatives, and teachers have brushed away, minimized, or entirely ignored our growing alarm. One of the first white men with whom I brought up rising anti-Asian racism replied by asking if this racism was really even happening. I had just told him it was. The silences this week ring loud, in the texts we haven't received, in the absences on social media, as the people who say they deeply love us, who have heard us talk about this, fail to wonder if we're okay, fail to see if in this time of great collective sorrow it might be a good time to offer us some of that love.

Yesterday, after the prolonged delay, I finally did talk to my mother, and I asked her to please take extra care when leaving the house. I was trying not to cry, and of course I failed, and of course my mother immediately tried to reassure me. She listed all the reasons she felt okay going to the store-she had this list ready, she'd been thinking it through-and then she started trying to convince me, the one in less danger, not to leave my apartment. If I did leave, she proposed I talk more loudly than usual in English, the hope being that racist white people would know I belonged.

In other words, she'd worried about me, and I'd worried about her, and neither of us had said a word to each other about our long-standing worry because we didn't want to cause each other any additional pain. It hurts. It all hurts. Still and always, hypersexualized, ignored, gaslit, marginalized, and disrespected as we've been, I am so fortified, so alive, when I'm with us. And I am thankful to the many other people, especially our Black and brown siblings who live with systemic injustice, unending police violence, and profound marginalization, who know to extend us their love, along with at least some white people. Recently, I was talking with a close friend, the writer Ingrid Rojas Contreras, about some of the complications of our lives as women of color, and she said, in a moment that felt like a cloud breaking, like clarity, "We matter to me." You matter to me, we matter to me, and I would so much rather have us and our allies on our side than any of them. For we already belong.

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A Letter to My Fellow Asian Women Whose Hearts Are Still Breaking

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In the past, I have written a lot of essays and political op-eds about racism and sexism, rivers of words arguing for and explaining varieties of the ongoing, abiding fight to get free. This is not what I'm writing today.

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Cheddar interview with bianca mabute-louie, sociology PhD candidate, activist, and organizer for racial justice

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Cheddar interview with bianca mabute-louie, sociology PhD candidate, activist, and organizer for racial justice

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aapiwomenlead: history of sexual violence against asian women

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aapiwomenlead: history of sexual violence against asian women

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Executive Director, Dr. Connie Wun joined @joyannreid and Katie Phang on @thereidout yesterday to briefly discuss the Atlanta area shooting and the history of sexual violence against Asian women about the stigmatization and criminalization of massage parlor workers.

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Korean version included as well.

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by soogia1

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- How do you care for yourself? What are ways you center your feelings?

- What spaces make you comfortable, seen, and validated? Where can you find those spaces or how can you create those spaces?

- Who makes you comfortable, seen, and validated? Can you reach out to them? Can they hold space for you?

- Hydrate. Take naps. Listen to your favorite music. Watch your favorite shows. Read your favorite books. Eat your favorite foods. Doing any of these things does not make you a "bad" person or someone who is not "properly" grieving. These are your coping mechanisms. They are valid ways to process your feelings.

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- You are unique, beautiful, and important. Who you are and what you do matter to all of us.

- Your feelings, however similar or different they are from others' feelings or those you see displayed on media, are yours and valid. Do not police your own feelings. You are feeling just the way you should. You decide how you process what has been happening.

- You are not alone in carrying this event. If you can and want, reach out to loved ones and those who you are close with, care about you. You are always welcome to reach out for support and help. You are not weak or weird for reaching out for help.

- You have every right to take time and space to be away from others to process your feelings. You have every right to ask for extensions or accommodations if you cannot do all the other things that being a human and Lville student require while also processing and grieving.

- You are survivors, not mere victims, of trauma. By witnessing and processing this trauma, you are showing your strength and resilience, both of which should never have been expected from us in the first place but here we are, standing strong. Do not be gaslit by anyone into thinking your feelings and perspectives aren't true or valid. Don't let anyone undermine or deny your humanity.

- You have a voice. You get to use your voice when you want. No one should tell you otherwise. You get to speak for your own experiences and that perspective, your positionality is one that this world desperately needs even if historically and systemically, our voices have been suppressed and erased.

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Ivy Kwon's "A Love Letter for Asian Americans"

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Ivy Kwon's "A Love Letter for Asian Americans"

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My mother, Hyun Jung Grant( maiden name Kim), was one of the victims of the shootings in Atlanta, Georgia at Gold Spa. This is something that should never happen to anyone. She was a single mother who dedicated her whole life to providing for my brother and I. It is only my brother and I in the United States. The rest of my family is in South Korea and are unable to come. She was one of my best friends and the strongest influence on who we are today. Losing her has put a new lens on my eyes on the amount of hate that exists in our world. As much as I want to grieve and process the reality that she is gone, I have a younger brother to take care of and matters to resolve as a result of this tragedy. Frankly, I have no time to grieve for long. I will need to figure out the living situation for my brother and I for the next few months, possibly year. As of now I have been advised to move out of my current home within the end of March to save money and find a new place to live. My biggest priority right now is to put my mother to rest and plan out the funeral but due to some legal complications, I am unable to obtain my mother's body. I don't think I'll be able to figure out this whole situation along with legal matters if given 2 weeks to move out. Any donation will be used as funds for basic living necessities for my brother and I such as food, bills, and other expenses. I wish to stay in my current home for at least one more month to sort everything out. Any amount would be forever appreciated. Please everyone just stay safe and check up on your friends and loved ones that may feel endangered.

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In memory of HyunJungKim to support my brother & I, organized by Randy Park

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My mother, Hyun Jung Grant( maiden name Kim), was one of the victims of the shootings in Atlanta, Georgia at Gold Spa. This is something that should never happen to anyone. She was a single mother who dedicated her whole life to providing for my brother and I.

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Asian Health Services serves and advocate for the medically
underserved, including the immigrant and refugee Asian community, and to
ensure equal access to health care services regardless of income, insurance status, language, or culture.

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MAKE HEALTH POSSIBLE!

AHS relies on the generosity of donors like you to change the health of our immigrant, refugee, and low-income families.

AHS is a federally-qualified 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, and your donation is tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

Thank you for your support!

DONATE BY MAIL:

Please print, complete and mail the Donation Form to:

Asian Health Services
Development Department
101 8 th Street, Suite 100
Oakland, CA 94607

DONATE BY PHONE:

Please call Alice Lee-Osborne at 510-735-3176

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AHS relies on the generosity of donors like you to change the health of our immigrant, refugee, and low-income families. AHS is a federally-qualified 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, and your donation is tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. Thank you for your support!

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#TheyCantBurnUsAll is a movement to activate all Asians and allies to stand up and fight back against hate crimes and racism. While the Asian diaspora is incredibly diverse, Asians are generally treated the same. More than ever, there is a great need for unity and support among our communities.

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#TheyCantBurnUsAll is a movement to activate all Asians and allies to stand up and fight back against hate crimes and racism.

While the Asian diaspora is incredibly diverse, Asians are generally treated the same.

More than ever, there is a great need for unity and support among our communities.

#TheyCantBurnUsAll aims to bridge communities and create unity among all marginalized people

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
TheyCantBurnUsAll is a movement to activate all Asians and allies to stand up and fight back against hate crimes and racism. While the Asian diaspora is incredibly diverse, Asians are generally treated the same. More than ever, there is a great need for unity and support among our communities.

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The Consistent Anti-Asian American Hatred 

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The Consistent Anti-Asian American Hatred 

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Over the past year, attacks on Asian Americans have increased more than 150% over the previous year, including the March 16 murders of eight people, including six Asian American women, in Atlanta.

Some of these attacks may be classified as hate crimes. But whether they meet that legal definition or not, they all fit a long history of viewing Asian Americans in particular ways that make discrimination and violence against them more likely.

I have researched and taught on Asian America for 20 years, including on the pernicious effects of stereotypes and attacks on individuals. Race can play a role in violence and prejudice, even if the offender does not clearly express a racist intent.

Much remains unknown about the attacks in Atlanta, but the man charged with the murders has said he did not have a racial prejudice against people of Asian descent. Rather, he has claimed he has a sexual addiction. But that statement indicates that he assumed these women were prostitutes, whether that's true or not.

This assumption, and the resulting violence, is just one of many that Asian Americans have suffered through the years.

Mary Altaffer/AP

A long history of prejudice

The presupposed connection between Asian women and sex dates back almost 150 years: In 1875, Congress passed the Page Act, which effectively barred Chinese women from immigrating, because it was impossible to tell if they were traveling "for lewd and immoral purposes," including " for purposes of prostitution." The assumption that all Chinese women were of questionable moral character placed the burden on the women themselves to somehow prove they were not prostitutes before being allowed to immigrate.

The U.S. military contributed to this conception of Asian women as hypersexualized. During the wars in the Philippines at the start of the 19th century, and during the mid-20th-century wars in Korea and Vietnam, servicemen took advantage of women who had turned to sex work in response to their lives being wrecked by war.

In the 1960s, the U.S. government brokered a deal with Thailand to be a "rest and relaxation" center for military personnel fighting in Vietnam. That bolstered what became the foundations of Thailand's modern-day sex tourism industry, which attracts men from the United States and Europe.

This association of Asian women with men's sexual fantasies has permeated popular culture, such as a scene in the 1987 Stanley Kubrick movie "Full Metal Jacket" in which a Vietnamese woman entices two servicemen by saying, "Me love you long time," and regular themes in the animated comedy " Family Guy." This makes Asian women more desirable to sex traffickers, brought over to serve male desires in spas and massage parlors such as the ones attacked in Atlanta.

This history of sexualization of Asian women, shaped by the U.S. military and patriarchy, creates the backdrop to the Atlanta shootings. It helped create the conditions for the Asian spas and massage parlors to be there in the first place. It presents Asian American women as submissive, responsive agents of sexual temptation.

Race and gender inform what happened, and the public response to it, whether the alleged shooter articulates racist motives or not.

Ringo Chiu/AFP/Getty Images

Stereotypes and perceptions matter

Other crimes against Asian Americans may also lack clear evidence of racial bias, but still echo anti-Asian American stereotypes.

For instance, many elderly Asian Americans have been shoved to the ground in recent weeks, and Vicha Ratanapakdee, an 84-year-old man, died in one such incident in February in San Francisco.

The public defender representing the accused perpetrator in Ratanapakdee's death denies that race motivated the crime. But that is different from saying race was not a factor at all.

Practically all Asian Americans, but elderly men in particular, are often viewed as nonaggressive, meek and unable or unwilling to fight back, in contrast to men of other races. They are easy targets.

It's not always a crime

Other anti-Asian American racism isn't criminal at all, but still fits with the nation's racist history. As COVID-19 spread across the U.S., Asian-owned restaurants and stores were the first to experience declining revenue, even though most of the earliest cases in the U.S. came from Europe.

There is a long history of suspecting Asian Americans of carrying disease into the U.S., which made it seem natural for people to avoid Asian American-owned businesses. President Donald Trump's repeated public declarations that the "Kung Flu" virus came from China reinforced those feelings.

This race-based and erroneous assumption has resulted in Asian Americans having among the highest unemployment rates in the nation, though they had among the lowest before the pandemic.

It defies logic to claim that race isn't relevant in attacks on Asian Americans unless the perpetrator actively references it. Research has found that most Americans assume a person of Asian descent is foreign-born, unless there is some aspect of their appearance that clearly marks them as American - such as being overweight.

Asian Americans of all types experience this perception of being " forever foreigners " in a wide range of ways. Regardless of whether some or all - or none - of these latest assaults on Asian Americans are proved to be hate crimes or not, race plays a historic role.

[_ The Conversation's most important election and politics headlines, in our Politics Weekly newsletter.]

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Racism is behind anti-Asian American violence, even when it's not a hate crime

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Over the past year, attacks on Asian Americans have increased more than 150% over the previous year, including the March 16 murders of eight people, including six Asian American women, in Atlanta. Some of these attacks may be classified as hate crimes.

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Data for Anti-Asian Hate Crimes for the Past Year 

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Data for Anti-Asian Hate Crimes for the Past Year 

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New data has revealed over the past year, the number of anti-Asian hate incidents - which can include shunning, slurs and physical attacks - is greater than previously reported. And a disproportionate number of attacks have been directed at women.

The research released by reporting forum Stop AAPI Hate on Tuesday revealed nearly 3,800 incidents were reported over the course of roughly a year during the pandemic. It's a significantly higher number than last year's count of about 2,600 hate incidents nationwide over the span of five months. Women made up a far higher share of the reports, at 68 percent, compared to men, who made up 29 percent of respondents. The nonprofit does not report incidents to police.

Russell Jeung, professor of Asian American studies at San Francisco State University and the forum's founder, told NBC Asian America that the coalescence of racism and sexism, including the stereotype that Asian women are meek and subservient, likely factors into this disparity.

"There is an intersectional dynamic going on that others may perceive both Asians and women and Asian women as easier targets," he said.

The data, which includes incidents that occurred between March 19 of last year and Feb. 28 of this year, shows that roughly 503 incidents took place in 2021 alone. Verbal harassment and shunning were the most common types of discrimination, making up 68.1 percent and 20.5 percent of the reports respectively. The third most common category, physical assault, made up 11.1 percent of the total incidents. More than a third of incidents occurred at businesses, the primary site of discrimination, while a quarter took place in public streets.

According to the data, Asian women report hate incidents 2.3 times more than men. A further examination of the submitted reports showed that in many cases, the verbal harassment that women received reflected the very intersection of racism and sexism.

One Chinese American woman reported that a "man on the subway slapped my hands, threatened to throw his lighter at me, then called me a 'c---- b----.' He then said to 'get the f--- out of NYC.'" Another woman, who's Filipino American, reported that while in a Washington, D.C., metro station with her boyfriend, a man shouted "Chinese b----" at her, coughed at the couple and physically threatened them.

Jeung emphasized that women have always dealt with harassment from men and public safety issues more broadly. But the pandemic, he said, has provided another "excuse" for people to target Asian women.

"We've noticed that from the very beginning, it's been a real consistent pattern," Jeung said. "Bullies attack who they think are vulnerable, and we see this in our elderly and youth populations."

Jeung cautioned against describing the latest numbers as a sudden "surge" in hate incidents because many of the 2020 incidents were reported retroactively in 2021, according to the report, and there has always been a "clear" issue of underreporting in the community.

"We thought we had a lull or it seemed like there was a lull over the summer, but I think people were just reporting less and that it became sort of normalized," he explained. "But now with increased attention, I think people are reporting again. I think that there's been a continued harassment of Asians and now we're continuing to see that reported."

The wave of violence directed at Asian American seniors at the beginning of the year, particularly the graphic attacks that have been captured on video, have likely prompted more attention from both the community and mainstream media, Jeung said. And it's galvanized a vocal response that's likely led to more reporting.

While these attacks on elders have catalyzed calls for action, Jeung made a distinction between this particular violence, most of which has not been found to be explicitly racially motivated, and the racism those in the community have been facing due to the problematic link between the virus and Asian Americans.

"I think there are separate trends, the violence that we're seeing now and the racism we saw last year, but they are related," Jeung said. "We're really careful to note that this violence against Asian Americans in high-crime neighborhoods has always been high. And so the combination of both the racism from last year and crimes against Asian elderly are now significant enough to get national attention."

The scholar noted that this doesn't negate the possibility of implicit bias in these attacks on elders, but he cautioned against grouping the two trends as one issue.

"That's the problem - people conflate it," he said. "So decoupling them then helps diagnose different solutions."

Karthick Ramakrishnan, founder and director of demographic data and policy research nonprofit AAPI Data, previously also warned against defaulting to a "simplistic understanding of what's going on," adding that the violence cannot be neatly summed up by solely the heightened anti-Asian sentiment witnessed throughout the pandemic. He said a confluence of factors, including the effects of poverty and financial struggle exacerbated by the pandemic, as well as opportunity, could have played into it.

"There's a complex variety of factors, but the fundamental reality is that there's an increase in the number of Asian Americans who feel unsafe," he said.

Such issues have been elevated to the executive branch as President Joe Biden has addressed the issue of anti-Asian attacks. In addition to referencing the violence in his first national prime-time address Thursday night, he also signed a memorandum earlier this year that in part issued guidance on how the Justice Department should respond to the heightened number of anti-Asian bias incidents.

Jeung said addressing the root cause of the violence requires more education, more expanded civil rights protections and more restorative justice models. The memorandum - which focuses on hate incidents, rather than hate crimes - allows for a more holistic approach to combating racism against Asian Americans in public streets, transit, private businesses and other settings, he said.

"If you just narrowly focus on hate crimes, you only address a sliver of the racism that Asian Americans are experiencing," Jeung said. "Biden's memo that actually addresses hate incidents rather than hate crimes is actually helpful, because that gives us the opportunity to frame the issue comprehensively."

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There were 3,800 anti-Asian racist incidents, mostly against women, in past year

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"There is an intersectional dynamic going on that others may perceive both Asians and women and Asian women as easier targets," one professor said.

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Learn about the History of Anti-Asian Racism 

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Learn about the History of Anti-Asian Racism 

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A look at the long history of Asian Americans and its role in shaping US identity. The essay also looks at the push-pull factors that have helped define demographic trends in the United States to present day and also covers some darker periods of American history, including the Congressional Exclusionary Act restricting immigration based on race and the Japanese American Internment during WWII.

Our children should not be placed in any position where their youthful impressions may be affected by association with pupils of the Mongolian race. -San Francisco School Board, 1905

In response to the challenge of changing demographics more than a century ago, the San Francisco School Board established a segregated Chinese Primary School for Chinese children to attend, including those who were American-born. By the turn-of-the century after Japanese immigrants had settled in the wake of Chinese exclusion, the School Board also applied the Chinese segregation policy to Japanese students. School superintendent, Aaron Altmann, advised the city's principals: "Any child that may apply for enrollment or at present attends your school who may be designated under the head of 'Mongolian' must be excluded, and in furtherance of this please direct them to apply at the Chinese School for enrollment."

Throughout their history, Asian Americans have confronted a long legacy of exclusion and inequity in relation to school policies and practices, particularly during periods of changing demographics, economic recession, or war. In spite of historic, linguistic differences, distinct Asian nationalities have been grouped together and treated similarly in schools and in the larger society. The grouping of Asian Americans together, then, makes sense in light of historic links from the past to the present.

Beginning in the 1850s when young single men were recruited as contract laborers from Southern China, Asian immigrants have played a vital role in the development of this country. Working as miners, railroad builders, farmers, factory workers, and fishermen, the Chinese represented 20% of California's labor force by 1870, even though they constituted only .002% of the entire United States population. With the depression of 1876, amidst cries of "They're taking away our jobs!," anti-Chinese legislation and violence raged throughout the West Coast.

In 1882, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act-the only United States Iaw to prevent immigration and naturalization on the basis of race-which restricted Chinese immigration for the next sixty years. The "Chinese Must Go" movement was so strong that Chinese immigration to the United States declined from 39,500 in 1882 to only 10 in 1887.

By 1885, following Chinese Exclusion Act, large numbers of young Japanese laborers, together with smaller numbers of Koreans and Indians, began arriving on the West Coast where they replaced the Chinese as cheap labor in building railroads, farming, and fishing. Growing anti-Japanese legislation and violence soon followed. In 1907, Japanese immigration was restricted by a "Gentleman's Agreement" between the United States and Japan.

Small numbers of Korean immigrants came to Hawaii and then the mainland United States following the 1904-1905 Russo-Japanese War and Japan's occupation of Korea. Serving as strike-breakers, railroad builders, and agricultural workers, Korean immigrants faced not only racist exclusion in the United States but Japanese colonization at home. Some Korean patriots also settled in the United States as political exiles and organized for Korean independence.

South Asian Indian immigrants also entered the United States as laborers, following Chinese exclusion. Recruited initially by Canadian-Pacific railroad companies, a few thousand Sikh immigrants from the Punjabi region immigrated to Canada which, like India, was part of the British empire. Later, many migrated into the Pacific Northwest and California, and became farm laborers. Ironically decried as a "Hindu invasion" by exclusionists and white labor, the "tide of the Turbans" was outlawed in 1917 when Congress declared that India was part of the Pacific-Barred Zone of excluded Asian countries.

By 1924, with the exception of Filipino "nationals," all Asian immigrants, including Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, and Indians were fully excluded by law, denied citizenship and naturalization, and prevented from marrying Caucasians or owning land.

With all other Asians excluded, thousands of young, single Filipinos began migrating in large numbers to the West Coast during the 1920s to work in farms and canneries, filling the continuing need for cheap labor. Filipinos were not legally excluded by the immigration laws because the Philippines was already annexed by the United States as a result of the 1898 Spanish-American War. Racism and economic competition, intensified by the depression of 1929, however, led to severe anti-Filipino violence and passage of the Tydings-McDuffie Act of 1935 which placed an annual quota of fifty on Filipino migration-effectively excluding their entry as well. During the half century from 1882 to 1935, three waves of early Asian immigrants contributed their labor to the building of this country but were eventually denied entry and not granted naturalization rights until 1952. Though coming from different countries and cultures, the pioneering Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Indians, and Filipinos each faced similar conditions of exclusion which forged the beginnings of a common, shared Asian experience in America.

There are important parallels between European and Asian immigration history, especially in terms of how individuals responded to the "pushes" and "pulls" in their homelands and then faced contadictory experiences of discrimination and opportunity the U.S. However, the "push-pull" model commonly used to explain European immigration, like the melting pot paradigm of immigrant assimilation, does not explain the fundamental differences in patterns of Asian immigration and exclusion.

These differences can only be understood by recognizing critical features of the historical period, including:

the reality of western colonialism and unequal power relations in Asia;

the insatiable need for cheap labor that accompanied manifest destiny westward expansion and economic development in the United States; and

the influence on social policy and public attitudes that resulted from lack of knowledge about Asian peoples, and racist notions of white superiority.

Though many are familiar with Ellis Island as a symbol of America's immigration history, few realize that Angel Island-a comparable immigration detention center for the West Coast-was the site where immigration policy was enforced during the Asian exclusion years. Angel Island represents an important counterpoint to Ellis Island and the saga of American immigration history.

Between 1910 and 1940, hopeful Chinese immigrants were detained at Angel Island where they were required to undergo humiliating medical examinations and detailed interrogations. Questions ranged from "What are the birthdates of each member of your family?" to "Who lived in the third house of the second row of your village?" Failed answers were grounds for continued detainment and eventual deportation back to China.

In 1970, a park ranger discovered sets of Chinese characters carved into the wooden walls of the barracks. Now recognized as an historic Iandmark, the Angel Island detention center bears witness to the bitterness and frustration of excluded Chinese immigrants who carved more than one hundred poems into the walls.

Although minor reforms in immigration law, due to changing international relations, allowed for limited numbers of Asians to enter the United States following the World War II era, United States immigration laws remained discriminatory toward Asians until 1965 when, in response to the civil rights movement, non-restrictive annual quotas of 20,000 immigrants per country were established. For the first time in United States history, large numbers of Asians were able to come to the United States as families. In addition, due to the United States' eagerness for technology during the Cold War, foreign engineers and scientists were also encouraged to emigrate to the United States. The dramatic changes in the Asian Pacific American landscape during the past twenty years, particularly with the explosive growth of new Filipino, Korean, South Asian Indian, and Chinese populations have resulted from the liberalization of immigration laws in 1965.

Beginning in 1975, Southeast Asian refugees from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos have entered the United States after escaping from war, social chaos, discrimination, and economic hardship. Roughly one million Southeast Asians, including about 30,000 Amerasian children of American servicemen and their families, have entered the United States since then through a variety of refugee resettlement and immigration programs.

Refugees from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos each have distinct cultures, languages, and contexts of historical development. Although each country shares certain influences from their common history as a French colonial territory for nearly a century until 1954, Vietnam is much more culturally influenced by China while Cambodia and Laos have been more influenced by India. Within each country, there are Chinese and other ethnic minority populations such as the Hmong, Mien, and Khmer from Laos.

Many cases also link the present to the past. The experiences of personal struggle, economic contribution, racial harassment, and discriminatory legislation targeting Vietnamese fishermen in California's Monterey Bay during the 1980s, for example, are almost identical to those of earlier generations of Japanese and Chinese fishermen who successively fished in Monterey Bay during the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Additional Background Reading

International dispute over history textbooks in East Asia.

State governments sound off on lessons learned from nearly a decade of internationalizing school reform experience.

An essay about Korean women's role in society and its rapid change in the last century.

An overview of women's roles in Chinese society over time.

Southeast Asia women enjoyed relatively favorable position compared to neighboring states. Learn why.

As Mongolia finds its identity in the modern world, new challenges and opportunities face Mongol women.

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An overview on Asian American identity, demographics, perceptions, and misperceptions.

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An essay about Asian American bicultural identity, traditional values, and customs from root cultures.

A look at the long history of Asian Americans and its role in shaping US identity. The essay also looks at the push-pull factors that have helped define demographic trends in the United States to present day and also covers some darker periods of American history, including the Congressional Exclusionary Act restricting immigration based on race and the Japanese American Internment during WWII.

Our children should not be placed in any position where their youthful impressions may be affected by association with pupils of the Mongolian race. -San Francisco School Board, 1905

In response to the challenge of changing demographics more than a century ago, the San Francisco School Board established a segregated Chinese Primary School for Chinese children to attend, including those who were American-born. By the turn-of-the century after Japanese immigrants had settled in the wake of Chinese exclusion, the School Board also applied the Chinese segregation policy to Japanese students. School superintendent, Aaron Altmann, advised the city's principals: "Any child that may apply for enrollment or at present attends your school who may be designated under the head of 'Mongolian' must be excluded, and in furtherance of this please direct them to apply at the Chinese School for enrollment."

Throughout their history, Asian Americans have confronted a long legacy of exclusion and inequity in relation to school policies and practices, particularly during periods of changing demographics, economic recession, or war. In spite of historic, linguistic differences, distinct Asian nationalities have been grouped together and treated similarly in schools and in the larger society. The grouping of Asian Americans together, then, makes sense in light of historic links from the past to the present.

Beginning in the 1850s when young single men were recruited as contract laborers from Southern China, Asian immigrants have played a vital role in the development of this country. Working as miners, railroad builders, farmers, factory workers, and fishermen, the Chinese represented 20% of California's labor force by 1870, even though they constituted only .002% of the entire United States population. With the depression of 1876, amidst cries of "They're taking away our jobs!," anti-Chinese legislation and violence raged throughout the West Coast.

In 1882, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act-the only United States Iaw to prevent immigration and naturalization on the basis of race-which restricted Chinese immigration for the next sixty years. The "Chinese Must Go" movement was so strong that Chinese immigration to the United States declined from 39,500 in 1882 to only 10 in 1887.

By 1885, following Chinese Exclusion Act, large numbers of young Japanese laborers, together with smaller numbers of Koreans and Indians, began arriving on the West Coast where they replaced the Chinese as cheap labor in building railroads, farming, and fishing. Growing anti-Japanese legislation and violence soon followed. In 1907, Japanese immigration was restricted by a "Gentleman's Agreement" between the United States and Japan.

Small numbers of Korean immigrants came to Hawaii and then the mainland United States following the 1904-1905 Russo-Japanese War and Japan's occupation of Korea. Serving as strike-breakers, railroad builders, and agricultural workers, Korean immigrants faced not only racist exclusion in the United States but Japanese colonization at home. Some Korean patriots also settled in the United States as political exiles and organized for Korean independence.

South Asian Indian immigrants also entered the United States as laborers, following Chinese exclusion. Recruited initially by Canadian-Pacific railroad companies, a few thousand Sikh immigrants from the Punjabi region immigrated to Canada which, like India, was part of the British empire. Later, many migrated into the Pacific Northwest and California, and became farm laborers. Ironically decried as a "Hindu invasion" by exclusionists and white labor, the "tide of the Turbans" was outlawed in 1917 when Congress declared that India was part of the Pacific-Barred Zone of excluded Asian countries.

By 1924, with the exception of Filipino "nationals," all Asian immigrants, including Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, and Indians were fully excluded by law, denied citizenship and naturalization, and prevented from marrying Caucasians or owning land.

With all other Asians excluded, thousands of young, single Filipinos began migrating in large numbers to the West Coast during the 1920s to work in farms and canneries, filling the continuing need for cheap labor. Filipinos were not legally excluded by the immigration laws because the Philippines was already annexed by the United States as a result of the 1898 Spanish-American War. Racism and economic competition, intensified by the depression of 1929, however, led to severe anti-Filipino violence and passage of the Tydings-McDuffie Act of 1935 which placed an annual quota of fifty on Filipino migration-effectively excluding their entry as well. During the half century from 1882 to 1935, three waves of early Asian immigrants contributed their labor to the building of this country but were eventually denied entry and not granted naturalization rights until 1952. Though coming from different countries and cultures, the pioneering Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Indians, and Filipinos each faced similar conditions of exclusion which forged the beginnings of a common, shared Asian experience in America.

There are important parallels between European and Asian immigration history, especially in terms of how individuals responded to the "pushes" and "pulls" in their homelands and then faced contadictory experiences of discrimination and opportunity the U.S. However, the "push-pull" model commonly used to explain European immigration, like the melting pot paradigm of immigrant assimilation, does not explain the fundamental differences in patterns of Asian immigration and exclusion.

These differences can only be understood by recognizing critical features of the historical period, including:

the reality of western colonialism and unequal power relations in Asia;

the insatiable need for cheap labor that accompanied manifest destiny westward expansion and economic development in the United States; and

the influence on social policy and public attitudes that resulted from lack of knowledge about Asian peoples, and racist notions of white superiority.

Though many are familiar with Ellis Island as a symbol of America's immigration history, few realize that Angel Island-a comparable immigration detention center for the West Coast-was the site where immigration policy was enforced during the Asian exclusion years. Angel Island represents an important counterpoint to Ellis Island and the saga of American immigration history.

Between 1910 and 1940, hopeful Chinese immigrants were detained at Angel Island where they were required to undergo humiliating medical examinations and detailed interrogations. Questions ranged from "What are the birthdates of each member of your family?" to "Who lived in the third house of the second row of your village?" Failed answers were grounds for continued detainment and eventual deportation back to China.

In 1970, a park ranger discovered sets of Chinese characters carved into the wooden walls of the barracks. Now recognized as an historic Iandmark, the Angel Island detention center bears witness to the bitterness and frustration of excluded Chinese immigrants who carved more than one hundred poems into the walls.

Although minor reforms in immigration law, due to changing international relations, allowed for limited numbers of Asians to enter the United States following the World War II era, United States immigration laws remained discriminatory toward Asians until 1965 when, in response to the civil rights movement, non-restrictive annual quotas of 20,000 immigrants per country were established. For the first time in United States history, large numbers of Asians were able to come to the United States as families. In addition, due to the United States' eagerness for technology during the Cold War, foreign engineers and scientists were also encouraged to emigrate to the United States. The dramatic changes in the Asian Pacific American landscape during the past twenty years, particularly with the explosive growth of new Filipino, Korean, South Asian Indian, and Chinese populations have resulted from the liberalization of immigration laws in 1965.

Beginning in 1975, Southeast Asian refugees from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos have entered the United States after escaping from war, social chaos, discrimination, and economic hardship. Roughly one million Southeast Asians, including about 30,000 Amerasian children of American servicemen and their families, have entered the United States since then through a variety of refugee resettlement and immigration programs.

Refugees from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos each have distinct cultures, languages, and contexts of historical development. Although each country shares certain influences from their common history as a French colonial territory for nearly a century until 1954, Vietnam is much more culturally influenced by China while Cambodia and Laos have been more influenced by India. Within each country, there are Chinese and other ethnic minority populations such as the Hmong, Mien, and Khmer from Laos.

Many cases also link the present to the past. The experiences of personal struggle, economic contribution, racial harassment, and discriminatory legislation targeting Vietnamese fishermen in California's Monterey Bay during the 1980s, for example, are almost identical to those of earlier generations of Japanese and Chinese fishermen who successively fished in Monterey Bay during the late 1800s and early 1900s.

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A look at the long history of Asian Americans and its role in shaping American identity.

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Racial disparities in income and poverty remain largely unchanged amid strong income growth in 2019

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Racial disparities in income and poverty remain largely unchanged amid strong income growth in 2019

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Racial disparities in income and poverty remain largely unchanged amid strong income growth in 2019

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The Census Bureau report on income, poverty, and health insurance coverage in 2019 reveals impressive growth in median household income relative to 2018 across all racial and ethnic groups, but income gaps persist. While the Census cautions that the 2019 income estimates may be overstated due to a d…

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Income Inequality in the U.S. Is Rising Most Rapidly Among Asians

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Income Inequality in the U.S. Is Rising Most Rapidly Among Asians

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Pew Research Center's Social & Demographic Trends Project

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Income inequality, a measure of the economic gap between the rich and poor, has risen steadily in the United States since the 1970s. More recently, the issue burst into public consciousness with the Occupy Wall Street movement in 2011 and subsequent calls for a $15 minimum wage. An important part of the story of rising income inequality is that experiences within America's racial and ethnic communities vary strikingly from one group to the other.

Today, income inequality in the U.S. is greatest among Asians. From 1970 to 2016, the gap in the standard of living between Asians near the top and the bottom of the income ladder nearly doubled, and the distribution of income among Asians transformed from being one of the most equal to being the most unequal among America's major racial and ethnic groups.

In this process, Asians displaced blacks as the most economically divided racial or ethnic group in the U.S., according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of government data. While Asians overall rank as the highest earning racial and ethnic group in the U.S., it is not a status shared by all Asians: From 1970 to 2016, the gains in income for lower-income Asians trailed well behind the gains for their counterparts in other groups.

An increase in income inequality matters because of the potential for social and economic consequences. People at the lower rungs of the income ladder may experience diminished economic opportunity and mobility and have less political influence. Researchers have also linked growing inequality to greater geographic segregation by income. In addition, there is evidence that rising inequality may harm overall economic growth by reducing consumption levels, causing excessive borrowing by lower- to middle-income families, or limiting investment in education.

The income gap between Americans at the top and the bottom of the income distribution widened 27% from 1970 to 2016. Among all Americans, those near the top of the income ladder had 8.7 times as much income as those near the bottom in 2016, $109,578 compared with $12,523. In 1970, Americans near the top had 6.9 times as much income as those near the bottom, $63,512 compared with $9,212. (All income estimates are adjusted for household size and expressed in 2016 dollars.)

This measure of inequality, known as the 90/10 ratio, takes the ratio of the income needed to place among the top 10% of earners in the U.S. (the 90th percentile) to the income at the threshold of the bottom 10% of earners (the 10th percentile). It is a simple measure of the gap in income between the top and the bottom of the income ladder and is commonly used by researchers and government agencies. (See text box for more on measuring inequality.)

The 90/10 ratio varies widely by race and ethnicity. In 2016, Asians at the 90th percentile of their income distribution had 10.7 times the income of Asians at the 10th percentile. The 90/10 ratio among Asians was notably greater than the ratio among blacks (9.8), whites (7.8) and Hispanics (7.8).

This pattern of inequality across groups represents a significant shift from the past. In 1970, the 90/10 ratio among Asians was 6.1, about as low as among whites (6.3). But the top-to-bottom gap in income among Asians increased 77% from 1970 to 2016, a far greater increase than among whites (24%), Hispanics (15%) or blacks (7%). This marked difference in the growth in inequality reflects the fact that Asians near the top experienced more growth in income from 1970 to 2016 than any other group while Asians near the bottom experienced the least growth.

The Asian experience with inequality is partly driven by immigration. Immigrants accounted for 81% of the growth in the Asian adult population from 1970 to 2016, and the foreign-born share among Asians increased from 45% to 78% in this period. The surge in Asian immigration followed the Immigration and Nationality Act in 1965, which favored family reunification, and the end to the war in Vietnam in 1975, which brought in a wave of refugees. One result was that the share of new Asian immigrants working in high-skill occupations decreased from 1970 to 1990, and the share working in low-skill occupations increased.

More recently, the Immigration Act of 1990 sought to increase the inflow of skilled immigrants. Coinciding with a boom in the technology sector, a new wave of Asian immigrants, many from India, followed under the auspices of the H-1B visa program. Thus, since 1990, there has been an increase in the share of Asian immigrants employed in high-skill occupations.

Education levels and incomes vary widely among Asians living in the U.S. In 2015, the share with at least a bachelor's degree, among adults ages 25 and older, ranged from 72% among Indians to 9% among Bhutanese, median household income varied from $100,000 among Indians to $36,000 among Burmese, and poverty rates ranged as high as 35% among the Burmese and 33% among the Bhutanese. This diversity in their origins and experiences is reflected in the relatively high level of income inequality among Asians.

These are among the key findings from a new Pew Research Center analysis of American Community Survey (ACS) data from the U.S. Census Bureau in conjunction with decennial census data. The period of analysis is 1970 to 2016, from the decade marking the rise in inequality in modern times to the latest available data. The sample for the analysis is the U.S. adult, civilian household population, with some omissions.

The focus of this report is on income inequality within the major racial and ethnic communities in the U.S., and on the gaps in income across people in these groups at the bottom, middle and upper points of the income distribution. Income inequality is measured using the 90/10 income ratio and the Gini coefficient (see text box). The term "income" in this report refers to what is afforded a person by the combined resources of his or her household, whether the person had personal earnings or not. Thus, people's incomes are represented by their household's income adjusted for household size. All members of a household have the same income, or standard of living.

The standard of living of lower-income Asians stagnated from 1970 to 2016

As evidenced by the rise in inequality from 1970 to 2016, higher-income adults in the U.S. experienced more of an increase in income than lower-income adults within all racial and ethnic groups, and this disparity was most pronounced among Asians.

The income of higher-income Asians - those at the 90th percentile - nearly doubled from 1970 to 2016, rising 96%. Asians at the median-income level (50th percentile) experienced a 54% increase in income. But the income of Asians at the 10th percentile increased only 11% over this period.

Thus, inequality among Asians increased overall as those at the top of the income ladder pulled away from those at the middle and bottom, and Asians at the middle also pulled away from those near the bottom. Moreover, the gains for lower-income Asians lagged behind the gains for lower-income blacks (67%), whites (45%) and Hispanics (37%).

Whites, blacks and Hispanics at the 90th percentile also experienced relatively large gains in income (80%, 79% and 58% respectively). These improvements in the standard of living were greater than the gains at the median: 52% for whites, 66% for blacks and 36% for Hispanics. Lower-income whites, blacks and Hispanics, while losing ground to those at the top, mostly kept pace with those at the middle of their income distributions.

The trends in income growth also show that blacks made some progress in closing the gap with whites. Blacks at the median and at the 10th percentile experienced more of an increase in income than similarly situated whites, and blacks at the 90th percentile kept pace with whites. Hispanics experienced smaller increases in income than whites at all percentiles, however. Thus, lower-, middle- and upper-income Hispanics all lost ground to their white counterparts from 1970 to 2016.

As it has with Asians, immigration has been an important part of the Hispanic experience in recent decades. In 2016, 47% of adult Hispanics were foreign born, up from 34% in 1970. The inflow of immigrants accounted for 50% of the total increase in the Hispanic adult population from 1970 to 2016 and was tilted to the lower ends of the income distribution. In 2015, 47% of foreign-born Hispanics 25 and older had not graduated from high school, compared with 13% of Americans overall of this age. The influx of lower-skill, lower-income immigrants likely exerted a drag on the measured growth in income for Hispanics.

The majority of Asians have a higher standard of living than other groups, but some lag behind

Differences in income within racial and ethnic groups are not the only sources of inequality in the U.S., of course. The gaps in the standard of living across whites, blacks, Hispanics and Asians are also sizable and longstanding. These gaps are usually measured through differences in the mean or median incomes of groups. However, the sizes of the gaps are different at different tiers of the income ladder.

In 2016, Asians at the middle of their income distribution earned more than white, black or Hispanic adults at the middle of their income distributions. The median annual income for Asian adults was $51,288, compared with $47,958 for whites, $31,082 for blacks and $30,400 for Hispanics (incomes are adjusted for household size and expressed in 2016 dollars).

Asians also held the edge in standard of living over other groups at the top of the income distribution. The income of Asians at the 90th percentile was 13% higher than the income of whites at the 90th percentile in 2016, $133,529 versus $117,986. Upper-income blacks ($80,502) and Hispanics ($76,847) had a similar standard of living in 2016, and both were outdistanced by Asians and whites by a wide margin.

In contrast, lower-income Asians lagged behind lower-income whites. Asians at the 10th percentile of their income distribution lived on $12,478 in 2016, 17% less than the income of whites at the 10th percentile ($15,094). Lower-income blacks and Hispanics trailed by even more, with incomes of $8,201 and $9,900, respectively.

Income inequality and income gaps: Two windows into the well-being of racial and ethnic groups

The state of income inequality within racial and ethnic groups and the gaps in incomes across them provide complementary, yet distinct, insights into the well-being of these groups of Americans. The fact that inequality increased within each racial and ethnic group shows that no community was immune to the factors said to have raised U.S. inequality since 1970. These factors include technological change, globalization, the decline of unions and the eroding value of the minimum wage.

At the same time, the drivers of income inequality appear to have had a disproportionate impact on some racial and ethnic groups, as evidenced by the differences in the level of inequality and the degree to which it increased for each group. That could be because of differences in the characteristics of workers, such as educational attainment (greater among Asians and whites) and the share foreign born (greater among Asians and Hispanics). Also, larger societal forces may have affected some groups more than others, such as the disparately high rate of incarceration among black men (see text box).

The aforementioned differences in worker characteristics also contribute to the gaps in incomes across racial and ethnic groups. In addition, the historical legacy and current impact of discrimination are considered to be important factors in these gaps. Some scholars hold the view that discrimination not only distorts the hiring practices of employers but also contributes to gaps in skills across groups, disadvantaging racial minorities prior to their entry into the labor market.

It is worth noting that overall income inequality in the U.S. would persist even if the gaps in income across racial and ethnic groups were eliminated. For example, suppose that blacks, Hispanics and Asians had the same income distribution as whites. In that case, everyone at any given rung of the income ladder - lower, middle or upper - would have the same income regardless of race or ethnicity. However, the 90/10 ratio for the U.S. would fall only from 8.7, its actual level, to 7.8, the level that currently prevails among whites.

Conversely, easing income inequality within racial and ethnic groups may have little impact on the gaps across groups. Suppose that incomes at the lower rungs of the ladder are raised 10% and incomes at the top are reduced 10%. This would reduce inequality overall and within each group, but the gaps in income across groups would be unchanged.

Inequality in the U.S. is higher than in other advanced economies

The level of inequality in the U.S., and the fact that it is comparable with the levels that existed in the 1920s by at least one measure, is of concern to many. Then-Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen remarked in 2014, "The extent of and continuing increase in inequality in the United States greatly concern me." But others are more sanguine, arguing that the trends in U.S. inequality do not constrain opportunities for those at the bottom of the income distribution.

In the midst of this debate, it is worth noting that income inequality in the U.S. is higher than among other advanced economies and has also increased more rapidly in recent decades. Cross-national comparisons of income inequality are often based on the Gini coefficient, a widely used measure of inequality (see text box). The Gini coefficient in the U.S. stood at 0.435 in 2016 (based on gross income and on a scale of 0 to 1), according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). This was the highest of any of the G-7 countries, which ranged from 0.330 in France to 0.388 in the UK.

Indeed, OECD estimates show that the Gini coefficient for the U.S. is closer to the Gini for India (0.495) than to most of the G-7 countries. The level of inequality in the U.S. is also higher than the level of inequality in other OCED countries, with the exceptions of Chile, Mexico and Turkey. Globally, inequality is highest in countries in southern Africa (Gini coefficients of about 0.6) and lowest in eastern Europe and parts of northern Europe (Gini coefficients of about 0.25), according to World Bank estimates.

Researchers interested in the economic progress of black Americans in the post-Civil Rights era have expressed concern that an increase in incarceration in recent decades may affect the estimated trends. According to them, incarceration amounts to selective removal of individuals with limited earnings potential from the labor market. This could inflate statistical measures of the economic status of a group, such as its mean income, if the potential earnings of the incarcerated population are not accounted for in the analysis.

This issue is of particular concern to researchers focused on the economic status of black men relative to that of white men. As noted in one study, the share of black men ages 25 to 54 who are institutionalized increased from 3% in 1970 to 6% in 1990. Meanwhile, the share of white men ages 25 to 54 who are institutionalized held steady at 1%.

The institutionalized population consists of people residing in correctional institutions, mental institutions, homes for the elderly and other similar institutions. Currently, public-use versions of decennial census data and American Community Survey data do not separately identify the incarcerated population. But, according to Census Bureau estimates, nearly 60% of residents of institutional facilities were in correctional institutions in 2010. This share was about 20% in 1980.

To determine the impact of incarceration, researchers generally include the institutionalized population in their analysis, assigning people in institutions a wage based on a statistical imputation of their potential labor market earnings. In effect, this amounts to the construction of a hypothetical counterfactual economy in which there is no incarceration, or no difference in incarceration rates by race and ethnicity.

The main inference is that there has been little to no reduction in the black-white male earnings gap in recent decades if one accounts for the higher rate of incarceration among black men. Incarceration is also found to have had a negative impact on other labor market outcomes, such as employment, for black men. (See " Is the Convergence in the Racial Wage Gap Illusory?", " The Prison Boom and the Lack of Black Progress after Smith and Welch," " The Socioeconomic Status of Black Males: The Increasing Importance of Incarceration," and " Incarceration & Social Inequality.")

Although incarceration is an issue in analyses of the economic well-being of black men, its role in analyses of the economic well-being of the broader population is less certain. In part, that is because institutionalization rates for the broader population are smaller. In the household sample used in this report, 1.2% of the U.S. adults were institutionalized in 2016, compared with 1.6% in 1970 (see Appendix B). By race and ethnicity the share in 2016 was highest among blacks (3.7%), followed by Hispanics (1.5%), whites (0.8%) and Asians (0.3%).

From 1970 to 2016, income growth skews to the top, more so among Asians

Among Americans overall, those at the 90th percentile of the income distribution earned $109,578 in 2016. That compared with $43,049 at the median (the 50th percentile) and $12,523 at the 10th percentile. The income at the 90th percentile in 2016 was 73% higher than in 1970, compared with an increase of 44% in the median income and an increase of 36% in the income at the 10th percentile. (Incomes are adjusted for household size and expressed in 2016 dollars.)

The pattern observed nationally is also present among whites, blacks, Hispanics and Asians, but to varying degrees. Whites at the 90th percentile of their income distribution earned $117,986 in 2016. Meanwhile, the median income for whites was $47,958 and their income at the 10th percentile was $15,094. From 1970 to 2016, the 90th percentile income for whites increased 80%, notably greater than the increase of 52% at the median and an increase of 45% at the 10th percentile.

Changes in income at the various points of the income distribution were somewhat more balanced among blacks. For blacks, the income at the 90th percentile was $80,502 in 2016, compared with $31,082 at the median and $8,201 at the 10th percentile. Compared with 1970, these income levels represented an increase of 79% at the 90th percentile, 66% at the median, and 67% at the 10th percentile.

Income growth for Hispanics lagged behind the growth for other racial and ethnic groups at most points of the income distribution. In 2016, Hispanics at the 90th percentile earned $76,847, some 58% more than in 1970. The income of Hispanics at the median stood at $30,400 in 2016, up 36% from 1970. Meanwhile, Hispanics at the 10th percentile earned $9,900 in 2016, 37% higher than in 1970. These gains in income were less than the gains for other groups at the three points of the income distribution, except for Asians at the 10th percentile.

The Asian experience is distinguished by sharp differences in the growth in incomes across the distribution. In 2016, incomes for Asians ranged from $12,478 at the 10th percentile to $133,529 at the 90th percentile, with a median of $51,288. The income at the 90th percentile of the Asian income distribution in 2016 was roughly double the income at that percentile in 1970, rising 96% over the period. That stood in sharp contrast with the growth at the median (54%) and at the 10th percentile (only 11%).

Income growth slowed for all from 2000 to 2016, but income inequality continued to rise

A hallmark of income growth in the U.S. this century is the marked slowdown that ensued with the economic recession in 2001 and the Great Recession of 2007-09. This slowdown affected people in all racial and ethnic groups and at all rungs of the income ladder.

Nationally, the income at the 90th percentile increased 65% from 1970 to 2000, but it increased only 4% from 2000 to 2016. Likewise, the median income in the U.S. increased 47% from 1970 to 2000, compared with a decrease of 2% from 2000 to 2016. At the 10th percentile, an increase of 53% from 1970 to 2000 was followed by a decrease of 11% this century.

The two periods are of different durations, of course. But the decrease in total growth at any percentile is well in excess of what the difference in years might explain. For example, the average annual rate of growth at the 90th percentile was 1.7% from 1970 to 2000 and fell to 0.3% from 2000 to 2016.

The trend observed nationally repeated within each racial and ethnic group. Among Asians, for instance, the income at the 90th percentile increased 16% from 2000 to 2016, compared with 69% from 1970 to 2000; the median income increased 7% this century, compared with 44% from 1970 to 2000; and the income at the 10th percentile decreased 3% from 2000 to 2016, compared with an increase of 14% in the earlier period.

The slowdown in income growth this century did not alter the general trajectory toward a rise in income inequality, however. Those at the top of the economic ladder fared better than those at the bottom through the economic slowdowns this century. The one exception was among blacks, with those at the 10th percentile experiencing slightly higher growth in income from 2000 to 2016 than those at the 90th percentile, 4% compared with 1%.

Following a rapid increase from 1970 to 2016, income inequality is highest among Asians

Asians are the highest-earning racial and ethnic group in the U.S., on average. However, their overall prosperity conceals a wide and rapidly growing economic divide between higher- and lower-income Asians. As noted, Asians at the 90th percentile had an income of $133,529 in 2016, compared with $12,478 for those at the 10th percentile. Thus, in 2016, the ratio of these two incomes - the 90/10 ratio - stood at 10.7 for Asians.

The level of income inequality among Asians was greater than among other racial and ethnic communities in 2016. Income inequality among blacks was the second highest - with a 90/10 ratio of 9.8 - followed by whites and Hispanics, each with a 90/10 ratio of 7.8. Nationally, the 90/10 ratio in 2016 is estimated to be 8.7.

The pattern of inequality revealed by the 90/10 ratio is mirrored in the Gini coefficient. The Gini coefficient takes a value from 0 to 1, by construction. A value of 0 indicates a state of perfect equality, with everyone holding an equal share of aggregate income. A value of 1 implies that all income created in the economy is in the hands of one person, a state of absolute inequality. In essence, the estimated value of the Gini coefficient measures the deviation from perfect equality. (See the text box on measuring inequality.)

Looking within racial and ethnic groups in 2016, the Gini coefficient for the distribution of income among Asians was 0.451, followed by blacks (0.446), whites (0.428) and Hispanics (0.425). Thus, as also revealed by the 90/10 ratios, Asians and blacks are more economically divided than whites and Hispanics and, in this respect, there is a meaningful degree of separation between these two pairs of racial and ethnic groups.

Asians have not always experienced the highest level of income inequality, however. In 1970, the 90/10 ratio among Asians was 6.1, similar to the ratio of 6.3 for whites and lower than among Hispanics and blacks. But inequality among Asians increased every decade since 1970, propelling the 90/10 ratio for them to 10.7 in 2016, an increase of 77%.

Blacks experienced the highest level of income inequality in 1970, and through most of the period examined. In 1970, the 90/10 ratio for blacks stood at 9.1, well above the ratios for the other groups. But after peaking around 10 in 1990, the 90/10 ratio for blacks edged down to 9.8 in 2016. Over the period from 1970 to 2016, income inequality among blacks increased only 7% by this measure. That was the smallest increase in inequality among the major racial and ethnic groups.

The increase in inequality among whites and Hispanics was greater than among blacks. For whites, the 90/10 ratio increased from 6.3 in 1970 to 7.8 in 2016, a 24% increase. The 90/10 ratio for Hispanics increased from 6.7 in 1970 to 7.8 in 2016 (15%). Despite the increase, whites and Hispanics had the lowest levels of income inequality in 2016.

Changes in the Gini coefficient show the same pattern of change in income inequality. Among Asians, the Gini coefficient increased from 0.353 in 1970, the lowest at the time, to 0.451 in 2016, the highest of all groups. A key difference is that the increase in the Gini coefficient for Asians is less than the increase in the 90/10 ratio, 28% compared with 77%.

Nonetheless, the increase in the Gini coefficient for Asians was notably greater than the increase for other racial and ethnic groups. The Gini coefficient for whites increased 19%, from 0.361 in 1970 to 0.428 in 2016, followed by an increase of 14% for Hispanics, from 0.373 to 0.425, and an increase of 10% for blacks, from 0.406 to 0.446. These percentage changes are similar to the changes in the 90/10 ratios for these groups.

Immigration looms large in defining the Asian experience

Asians are America's fastest growing major racial and ethnic population. The Asian adult civilian household population in the U.S. increased fourteenfold from 1970 to 2016, compared with an eightfold increase in the Hispanic population, the second-fastest growing group. The overall adult civilian household population roughly doubled from 1970 to 2016.

The increase in the Asian population is fueled by immigration. From 1970 to 2016, immigrants accounted for 81% of the increase in the Asian adult population, and the immigrant share in the Asian population increased to 78% in 2016, from 45% in 1970. The change in the economic profile of the Asian population in recent decades reflects the immigrant experience to a large degree.

Overall, Asian immigrants have higher levels of education than native-born Americans. In 2015, 29% of immigrants from South and East Asia, ages 25 and older, held a bachelor's degree, compared with 19% of native-born Americans this age. Another 23% of these immigrants had an advanced college degree, about double the rate among native-born Americans (11%).

As a result, many Asian immigrants are settling in at the top of the income distribution and likely stretching its boundaries into higher reaches. As of 2016, the foreign-born population among the top 10% of earners in the Asian income distribution had increased to 26 times what it was in 1970, compared with a nineteenfold increase in the overall Asian foreign-born population in the U.S.

At the same time, the Asian immigrant population includes many with lower levels of education and income. From 1970 to 2016, the foreign-born population among the bottom 10% of earners in the Asian income distribution increased seventeenfold. This change is not as sharp as the change at the top of the income distribution but is of notable magnitude nonetheless.

In 2015, some 15% of immigrants from South and East Asia lacked a high school diploma, compared with 9% of native-born Americans. Meanwhile, poverty rates were as high as 35% among Burmese, 33% among Bhutanese, and 28% among Hmong and Malaysians, compared with 15.1% in the U.S. overall. The wide diversity in the education and income profiles of Asian origin groups is reflected in the relatively wide gap in their income distribution.

The growth in income inequality among Asians also reflects shifting trends in immigration to a degree. In recent decades, Asian immigration was first driven by the Immigration and Nationality Act in 1965 and the end to the war in Vietnam in 1975. These events brought in a wave of refugees and other immigrants under the family reunification program. As a result, the share of new Asian immigrants working in low-skill occupations increased from 1970 to 1990. A second wave of Asian immigration followed the passage of the Immigration Act of 1990. This act, in concert with a boom in the technology sector, led to a new wave of higher-skilled Asian immigrants under the H-1B visa program.

Income gaps across racial and ethnic groups persist and, in some cases, are wider than in 1970

America's major racial and ethnic groups are divided into two distinct income brackets. Whites and Asians are in the bracket at the top and blacks and Hispanics, with incomes largely comparable with each other, are in the bracket below. The gaps between the two brackets are sizable and the shifts since 1970, with few exceptions, have been modest.

Whites and Asians out-earn blacks and Hispanics at all rungs of the income ladder

In 2016, Asians earned more than other groups at the middle and near the top of the income distribution. Asians at the 90th percentile of their distribution had an income of $133,529, considerably higher than the incomes of 90th percentile whites ($117,986), blacks ($80,502) and Hispanics ($76,847). (Incomes are adjusted for household size and expressed in 2016 dollars.)

The same ranking by income exists at the median (50th percentile). The median income of Asians in 2016 - $51,288 - was higher than the median income of whites ($47,958) and considerably greater than that of blacks ($31,082) and Hispanics ($30,400).

Asians did not hold the same edge over all other groups at the lower rungs, however. Asians at the 10th percentile of their income distribution had an income of $12,478 in 2016, trailing whites, who had an income of $15,094 at the 10th percentile. Hispanics ($9,900) earned more than blacks ($8,201) at the lower end of the income distribution.

Hispanics and blacks switched positions near the top of the income ladder from 1970 to 2016. In 1970, the 90th percentile income of Hispanics ($48,719) was greater than the 90th percentile income of blacks ($44,960). In 2016, blacks at the 90th percentile ($80,502) earned more than Hispanics at the 90th percentile ($76,847).

At the median, Hispanics earned more than blacks in 1970, $22,396 compared with $18,719. But this gap eroded over time, and by 2016 the median incomes of Hispanics ($30,400) and blacks ($31,082) were similar. The influx of Hispanic immigrants in recent decades, many with less education, likely played a role in shaping these trends (see below).

Another notable change from 1970 is in the relative standing of lower-income Asians. In 1970, the 10th percentile income for Asians ($11,270) was similar to the 10th percentile incomes for whites ($10,440). But the income of Asians at this percentile increased just 11% from 1970 to 2016. As a result, whites had the highest income at the 10th percentile in 2016, and lower-income blacks and Hispanics narrowed the gap with lower-income Asians in recent decades.

Blacks inch closer to whites in earnings, Hispanics fall behind more, and Asians see mixed results

From 1970 to 2016, higher-income Asians moved further out in front of higher-income whites, but lower-income Asians did not keep pace. At the 90th percentile, Asians earned 4% more than whites in 1970, and this gap stretched to 13% in 2016. At the 10th percentile, Asians earned 8% more than whites in 1970, but in 2016, they earned 17% less, a considerable turnaround.

The gaps in income between whites and blacks are large, but they narrowed slightly from 1970 to 2016. In 1970, blacks at the 90th percentile of their distribution earned 68% as much as whites at the 90th percentile of their distribution. Nearly five decades later, this gap was unchanged in 2016. However, at the median, blacks earned 65% as much as whites in 2016, up from 59% in 1970. Similarly, lower-income blacks narrowed the gap from 47% in 1970 to 54% in 2016.

While the gap between blacks and whites closed a bit from 1970 to 2016, Hispanics fell even further behind, whether at the 10th percentile, the median or the 90th percentile. Near the top, Hispanics earned 65% as much as whites in 2016 compared with 74% in 1970. Near the bottom, the income of Hispanics slipped from 69% of the income of whites in 1970 to 66% in 2016.

Gaps in income across the entirety of the income distribution

A closer look at the gap between whites and other groups across the income distribution reveals the diversity of experiences from 1970 to 2016. The majority of Asians, especially those at the lower rungs of the income ladder, ceded ground to whites from 1970 to 2000, but all experienced a rebound to some extent this century. Hispanics, regardless of where they were in the income distribution, fell behind from 1970 to 2000, but lower-income Hispanics recovered some ground from 2000 to 2016. Among blacks, some of the gains from 1970 to 2000 were erased since 2000.

In 1970, Asians, as long as they were situated above the 5th percentile of their income distribution, had incomes equal to or greater than the incomes of whites. Asians at the 5th percentile earned 96% as much as whites at the 5th percentile in 1970, but Asians at other points of their income distribution earned about as much as or more than whites (income ratios equal to or greater than the parity level of 100).

However, from 1970 to 2000, incomes in the bottom half of the Asian income distribution did not grow at the same rate as incomes in the bottom half of the white income distribution. In 2000, Asians at the 5th percentile earned only 63% as much as whites at the 5th percentile, compared with 96% as much in 1970. At the 25th percentile, the income of Asians as a proportion of the income of whites fell to 92% in 2000, from 104% in 1970. Indeed, the incomes of about half the Asian adult population - those with incomes less than the median (the 50th percentile) - were less than the incomes of whites in 2000. Asians with incomes above the median still out-earned whites in 2000, but often by smaller margins than in 1970.

Since 2000, Asians gained on whites all across the distribution, reversing the trend from 1970 to 2000. In 2016, Asians at the 5th percentile earned 73% as much as whites, up from 63% in 2000. Also, Asians at the 95th percentile earned 109% as much as whites, compared with 98% in 2000. About one-in-four Asians, those at the 25th percentile of income and below, earned less than whites at similar points in the income distribution in 2016, however.

As noted, the ebb and flow in the economic status of Asians, compared with whites, is perhaps related to the ebb and flow in the skill characteristics of Asian immigrants. Asians who came to the U.S. as part of the wave spurred by the Immigration and Nationality Act in 1965 and the end of the war in Vietnam in 1975 were relatively low-skilled, but a second wave driven by the technology boom in the 1990s and the H1-B visa program brought relatively high-skilled workers.

Most blacks, with the exception of those at the 95th percentile, saw gains relative to whites from 1970 to 2016. But there were two distinct episodes in this period, with gains from 1970 to 2000 followed by setbacks from 2000 to 2016. For example, the median income of blacks increased from 59% as much as the median income of whites in 1970 to 69% as much in 2000. But the median for blacks decreased to 65% of the median for whites in 2016. A similar regression describes the experience of most blacks with incomes above the 25th percentile of the income distribution from 1970 to 2016.

The reversal for blacks this century may reflect the impact of the Great Recession of 2007-09. Although no group was immune to the effects of the recession, the unemployment rate for blacks spiked to a high of 16.8% in March 2010, meaning one-in-six blacks in the workforce did not have a job. Also, the employment of blacks dipped below its potential (what it might have been absent a recession) more so than among whites during the Great Recession.

It is worth noting that the economic downturns this century came on the heels of a record-long expansion in the 1990s that yielded noticeable benefits for blacks. The unemployment rate for blacks dropped to a then-historic low of 7% in April 2000, narrowing the gap in unemployment with respect to whites. Meanwhile, the median household income for blacks, as reported by the Census Bureau, increased by 24% from 1990 to 2000, compared with a gain of 12% for whites.

For Hispanics, incomes sagged in comparison with whites at all points of the distribution from 1970 to 2000. The slippage was almost uniformly high across the distribution, near 10 percentage points whether at the 5th percentile, the median or the 95th percentile. There was little change from 2000 to 2016, with the notable exception of gains for lower-income Hispanics. While they continue to earn much less than their white counterparts, Hispanics at the lowest percentiles of the income distribution experienced an improvement in their relative position from 2000 to 2016.

Immigration helped shape the Hispanic experience from 1970 to 2016

The regression in the economic status of Hispanics relative to whites may be driven by the characteristics of immigrants in recent decades. Immigration accounted for 50% of the total increase in the Hispanic adult population from 1970 to 2016, and the share of the Hispanic population that is foreign born increased from 34% to 47% during the period.

The Hispanic immigrant population tilts to the lower end of the income and skill distribution, however. In 2015, 47% of foreign-born Hispanics 25 and older had not graduated from high school, compared with 13% of Americans overall. Also, only 11% of Hispanic immigrants had attained at least a bachelor's degree, compared with 31% of Americans overall.

The result is that Hispanic immigrants streamed into the lower rungs of the income ladder at a faster rate than into the higher rungs. From 1970 to 2016, the foreign-born population among the bottom 10% of earners in the Hispanic income distribution increased tenfold, compared with a fivefold increase in the foreign-born population among the top 10% of earners.

Another characteristic of the Hispanic foreign-born population is the sharp rise in the number of unauthorized immigrants in recent decades. From 1990 to 2015, the Hispanic foreign-born population (all ages) increased from 7.8 million to 19.4 million, by 11.6 million. Meanwhile, from 1990 to 2014, the number of unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. who arrived from Latin America increased from an estimated 3.0 million to 8.6 million, by 5.6 million. Thus, unauthorized migration accounts for almost half of the increase in the Hispanic foreign-born population since 1990.

The increase in the unauthorized immigrant population from Latin America leveled off in 2007, however. In 2007, there were 9.8 million unauthorized immigrants from Latin America in the U.S., compared with 8.6 million in 2014, the latest available estimate. The decrease in new arrivals meant that unauthorized immigrants increasingly are likely to have been in the U.S. for 10 years or more - 66% in 2014, compared with 41% in 2005.

The rapid rise and more recent leveling off of the unauthorized immigrant population may explain some of the change in the economic status of Hispanics relative to whites. Because the earnings of unauthorized immigrants are much lower than average, their initial influx likely dampened the earnings potential of Hispanics, which explains at least some of the widening of the income gap with whites since 1970. More recently, unauthorized immigrants are a declining share of the Hispanic population, and those who remain are longer tenured in the U.S., likely with higher potential earnings. That could help explain some of the improvement in the economic status of lower-income Hispanics relative to whites since 2000.

"Income" in this report refers to what is afforded a person by the combined resources of his or her household, whether the person had personal earnings or not. Thus, people's incomes are represented by their household's income adjusted for household size. All members of a household have the same income. Incomes are expressed in 2016 dollars.

Income is the sum of earnings from work, capital income such as interest and dividends, rental income, retirement income, and transfer income (such as government assistance), before payments for income taxes and social security contributions. The terms "income" and "earnings" are used interchangeably in this report.

The 90/10 ratio, a widely used measure of income inequality, is the ratio of the income at the 90th percentile of the income distribution to the income at the 10th percentile.

The Gini coefficient, another commonly used measure of income inequality, is derived from the share of aggregate income held by each individual. In a perfectly equal world, everyone has the same income, or the same share of aggregate income, and the Gini coefficient equals zero. In a perfectly unequal world, one individual holds all of the aggregate income and the Gini coefficient is equal to one.

Income distributions, incomes at various percentiles, and measures of inequality are computed separately for each racial and ethnic group.

Whites, blacks and Asians include only the single-race, non-Hispanic component of those groups. Hispanics are of any race. Asians include Pacific Islanders. Other racial/ethnic groups are included in all totals but are not shown separately.

"Foreign born" refers to people born outside of the United States, Puerto Rico or other U.S. territories to parents of whom neither was a U.S. citizen, regardless of legal status. The terms "foreign born" and "immigrant" are used interchangeably in this report.

Differences between numbers or percentages are computed before the underlying estimates are rounded.

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Income Inequality in the U.S. Is Rising Most Rapidly Among Asians

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The gap in the standard of living between Asians near the top and the bottom of the income ladder nearly doubled from 1970 to 2016. Amid rising inequality overall, Asians displaced blacks as the most economically divided major U.S. racial or ethnic group.

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A3PCON is a coalition of more than forty community-based organizations that serve and represent the 1.5 million Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the greater Los Angeles area, with a particular focus on low-income, immigrant, refugee, and other vulnerable populations.

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March 17, 2021

We, the faculty of Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University, are heartbroken and outraged at the deadly violence that occurred in Georgia on March 16, 2021. We send our deepest condolences to the families of the eight people killed in Acworth and Atlanta. You are in our thoughts.

What happened in Atlanta was one example of the many attacks on our communities and reflects the escalation of anti-Asian violence in the U.S. since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Six out of eight of the people killed were Asian American women, and this act of violence is based in anti-Asian hate. As Asian American Studies scholars and educators, we recognize that hate and violence directed towards our community are rooted in white supremacy and racism. In our research we've found that aggressors often act against Asians because of long-standing stereotypes that paint us as "illegal" perpetual foreigners, model minorities, spreaders of illness and disease, and as exoticized sexual objects. The Atlanta killings also demonstrate the horrifying consequences of those attitudes when they are compounded by misogyny.

In addition, these attitudes often pit communities of color against each other. We reject these divide-and-conquer tactics and instead call for community, allyship, education, and dialogue.

Like many Asian Americans, we too have experienced anti-Asian incidents and hate crimes in our daily lives here in the San Francisco Bay Area. Just this morning our department received an email that expressed hatred towards Asian Americans and blamed us for our own victimization. This shows that, although we live in a very diverse region, we are not immune to the effects of anti-Asian violence. In addition, members of the SFSU Asian American community have shared with us their many experiences with bias and exclusion- in supermarkets, in restaurants, and on public transportation -and these experiences are often not reported in the media. Although some still perceive Asian Americans as foreign and threatening, we are not a "yellow peril" to be feared or subjugated.

We respond to this violence by directing our energies to stopping AAPI hate through our teaching and by locating resources for our students and community. Below are several ways that students and community members can get involved:

San Francisco State University Resources

The Asian American and Pacific Islander Student Services and Associated Students at SFSU held two forums on March 4th and 9th for students to address and respond to anti-Asian violence. Another student forum is scheduled for April 2021. More details here: https://aspire.sfsu.edu.

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March 17, 2021 We, the faculty of Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University, are heartbroken and outraged at the deadly violence that occurred in Georgia on March 16, 2021. We send our deepest condolences to the families of the eight people killed in Acworth and Atlanta.