Beyond #StopAAPIHate: Expanding the Definition of Violence Against Asian Americans

ABSTRACT

A woman in Brooklyn, NY, suffered chemical burns after acid was poured on her while she took out the trash.1 An adolescent boy was sent to the emergency room after being attacked by bullies at a high school in San Fernando Valley, California.2 Six women were murdered by a gunman at their place of work in Atlanta, GA.3 These are just three examples out of more than 9000 anti-Asian hate incidences documented since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.4 Since 2020, the United States has seen an immense rise in anti-Asian violence. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, hate incidents could spread COVID-19 through close contact, further exacerbate mental health issues, and add additional burden to already strained health care systems. Systemic violence can include poverty and unemployment-Asian American women have had some the highest joblessness rates during the COVID-19 pandemic.7 It can include the US health care system, which bars permanent residents from Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program eligibility until they've held a green card for five years.8 SLOW VIOLENCE "Slow violence" is a term coined to describe the often unnoticed, slowmoving impacts of environmental pollution and racism.9 It can include disparities in the built environment, such as highways that have notoriously been purposefully built in low-income areas, crossing through Chinatowns across the country.10,11 It can include the effects of climate change, such as the fact that nearly all of those who died in New York City's basement flooding because of Hurricane Ida were Asian residents.12 STATE VIOLENCE State violence includes police violence, which targets Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Expanding our conceptualization ofviolence and deepening our understanding of the racism and oppression faced by the Asian American community will allow us to truly stop Asian American and Pacific Islander hate. ,4JPH CORRESPONDENCE Correspondence should be sent to Carolyn A. Fan, BA, Department of Health Systems and Population Health, University of Washington Schoolof Public Health, 1959 NE Pacific St, Magnuson Health Sciences Center, Seattle, WA, 98195 (e-mail cfan5@ uw.edu).