Thread by @MelissaMayBorja

Six Asian American women were killed in Atlanta today. We're still learning about the motive. However, you should know this: most racist attacks against Asian Americans this past year have targeted women, and Asian American women are on edge. (1/15)

@StopAAPIHate (an organization with which I am an affiliated researcher) found that 68% of the attacks on Asian Americans in the past year targeted AAPI women. (2/15) nbcnews.com/news/asian-ame…

My research team with the Virulent Hate Project @UMich found a similar pattern. Analyzing 4600+ news articles, we identified 1100+ incidents of anti-Asian racism reported in news media in 2020. Women were the victim in 61% of the incidents. (3/15)

For the incidents for which we know the gender of the perpetrator, men were the perpetrator in 68% of the racist attacks. (4/15)

These incidents have varied. They have involved Asian American women being shoved, beaten, burned, screamed at, spat upon, coughed at, shunned, and subjected to discrimination. (5/15)

Importantly, many of these attacks on Asian American women reveal that coronavirus-related racism has often been gendered. (6/15)

For example, an Asian American woman on a Chinatown Grand Street subway was attacked by a man who pushed her into a wall, hit her on the head, and called her a “diseased b****”. (7/15) nypost.com/2020/02/05/wom…

On a bus in the Bronx, a 51-year-old woman was attacked by a group of teenagers, who yelled, "You caused coronavirus, b****." The woman was later taken to the hospital for stitches. (8/15) nypost.com/2020/03/29/hat…

Even nurses - frequently valorized as healthcare heroes during the pandemic - have been subjected to racist treatment by their own patients and called "chink" and "Chinese b****." (9/15) richmond.com/opinion/column…

None of this is surprising to me. As an Asian American woman, I have firsthand experience with how my gender and race are used against me. (10/15)

There was that time when I was on my way to a business lunch in Washington, DC, and a group of construction workers working on the second floor of a building yelled down at me, "Hey little China doll, do a dance for me." (11/15)

And the time a leering male student cornered me during office hours, made comments about Asian women, and, in a panic, I had to call a male colleague for help. (12/15)

To be sure, this type of harassment is by no means on the same level as the horrific violence that we saw today in Atlanta. In addition, we still don't know if the killings today were racially motivated. (13/15)

But my point is this: we can't talk about the surge in racism, violence, and harassment against Asian Americans in the past year *without* talking about the particularly virulent hatred directed toward Asian American women. (14/15)

Nor can we talk about Covid-related racism without talking about how Asian American women are leading the fight for safe, inclusive communities. Across the country, it is Asian American women who are at the forefront of these efforts. That gives me hope. (15/15)

Addendum: please continue to report hate incidents to @StopAAPIHate and to relevant agencies in state and local government. stopaapihate.org