The Anxiety of Being Asian American: Hate Crimes and Negative Biases During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Open accessAbstract
In this essay, we review how the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic that began in the United States in early 2020 has elevated the risks of Asian Americans to hate crimes and Asian American businesses to vandalism. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the incidents of negative bias and microaggressions against Asian Americans have also increased. COVID-19 is directly linked to China, not just in terms of the origins of the disease, but also in the coverage of it. Because Asian Americans have historically been viewed as perpetually foreign no matter how long they have lived in the United States, we posit that it has been relatively easy for people to treat Chinese or Asian Americans as the physical embodiment of foreignness and disease. We examine the historical antecedents that link Asian Americans to infectious diseases. Finally, we contemplate the possibility that these experiences will lead to a reinvigoration of a panethnic Asian American identity and social movement.
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Low-income Chinese American families quickly contended with specific damage to Chinatown-based small business economies.
“In addition to stress from direct discrimination, low-income Chinese American families quickly contended with specific damage to Chinatown-based small business economies [14, 15].”
From Material Hardship and Stress from COVID-19 in Immigrant Chinese American Families with Infants (2022) · cites this paper as [14]
In “The Color Line and the Positionality of Asian Americans” (page unavailable), the paper reports that restaurants and businesses in New York City’s Chinatown suffered immediate profit losses after the first COVID-19 reports. It does not identify the affected businesses as belonging to low-income Chinese American families or establish that those families bore the losses. (LLM, conf=0.87)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredChinese American families were vulnerable to racism-driven disparities.
“Chinese American families were vulnerable to racism-driven disparities.”
From Material Hardship and Stress from COVID-19 in Immigrant Chinese American Families with Infants (2022) · cites this paper as [14]
The Introduction and “Fear and the Mental Health of Asian Americans” describe racism, discrimination, and vulnerability to attack among Asian Americans during COVID-19. The paper does not specifically establish disparities experienced by Chinese American families; its discussion is principally about Asian Americans more broadly. (LLM, conf=0.84)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
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- Authors
- Tessler, H., Choi, M., & Kao, G.
- Affiliations
- Yale University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Tessler, Hannah
- Venue
- American Journal of Criminal Justice
- Published
- 2020-06-10
- Volume
- 45
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 636-646
- ISSN
- 1066-2316 (ISSN-L)
- 1936-1351
- PMC
- PMC7286555
- OpenAlex
- W3033229567
- Cited by
- 472
- References
- 27
- Citations by year
- 2026: 17 · 2025: 46 · 2024: 77 · 2023: 126 · 2022: 112 · 2021: 86 · 2020: 8
- FWCI
- 987.44
- Type
- book chapter
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- American Journal of Criminal Justice (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Yale University
- Korean Studies Promotion Service (AKS-2016-LAB-2250002)
- Ministry of Education (AKS-2016-LAB-2250002)
- Academy of Korean Studies (AKS- 2016- LAB- 2250002)
- Faculty of Arts and Sciences
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Cultural Studies › Asian American and Pacific Histories
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Racial and Ethnic Identity Research
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Race, History, and American Society
- Keywords
- Asian Americans, hate crimes, COVID-19 pandemic, anti-Asian racism, microaggressions, vandalism, foreignness, social movements, historical antecedents
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