Anti-Asian Racism

Nationwide anti-Asian racism has surged in the past few weeks, incited in part by COVID-19-related prejudice and xenophobia and the recent celebration of Lunar New Year on Feb. 11. Among the most visible incidents have been the fatal assault of 84-year old Thai elder Vicha Ratanapakdee, the slashing of 61-year-old Filipino man Noel Quintana, and the street assault of a 91-year old man in California— few among a greater trend of violent anti-Asian attacks.

Principal William Rawson addressed the increase in anti-Asian racism in an all-school email Tuesday under the subject line “Anti-Asian Violence.” On Tuesday, February 16, Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Stephanie Bramlett condemned anti-Asian racism in an email reminding students of anti-racist mini-courses beginning the next morning. On Wednesday, February 24, Bramlett sent a second email to all anti-racist mini course facilitators, requesting them to acknowledge the rise of anti-Asian racism at the beginning of their sessions.

On Friday, Feb. 19, Woo joined Dean of Multicultural Affairs Sherry Hernandez, Director of Counseling and Psychological Services Szu-Hui Lee and History Instructor Hannah Lim in hosting an affinity space for Asian students during the Assembly block. Later that day, at 7 p.m., Asian Voices hosted a student-led discussion space.

Rawson’s email to the Exeter community stated: “We stand by and support our Asian community members. We oppose racism and anti-race violence in all its forms, and are committed to preparing our students for the work they must do throughout their lives to that end.” Rawson committed to sending a report on Exeter’s anti-racist initiatives, which was sent to all students, alumni, parents, and employees on Wednesday, Feb. 24.

When asked how the Academy would center Asian and Asian American perspectives in anti-racism work, Rawson said: “We have a shared responsibility to ensure that our anti-racism work is inclusive, just as we have a shared responsibility to ensure that our broader DEI work is fully inclusive, in line with our DEI vision statement. I do not have specific proposals to mention here, but I will want to hear from those who are in leadership positions, including students, to understand ways that we are falling short, and how we can do better.”

Students at the Academy recounted their personal experiences with anti-Asian racism and how increased attention to anti-Asian attacks has impacted their lives.

“Even though my family resides in a small, safe town, my parents are still scared to go outside due to the racism towards Asians,” prep Daniel Hu said.

“I wouldn't call these events recent— they have begun since the COVID pandemic affected the U.S., which has been ongoing for over a year now,” Asian Voices (AV) co-head and senior Emily Kang said. “My family has been cognizant of the violence, rhetoric and xenophobia since last March and have had conversations about our concerns.”

Many Asian students felt personal concern for their family members and friends. “I’m from San Francisco, and a lot of these acts of violence have happened in the Bay Area, so they hit particularly close,” AV co-head and senior Sarah Huang said. “I live with my grandparents, and my grandma goes on a lot of walks around the city. The rise in attacks makes me scared for her.”

Before Rawson’s email on Tuesday, students expressed concern that Asian clubs and affinity groups were the only ones addressing the anti-Asian attacks.

“While I am totally here to provide love and support in AV and for friends/classmates, the Academy is asking for emotional labor when it asks AV to explain what it should be doing for us. This is not to say that we don’t want institutional support—it’s that what we ask for rarely gets done in the first place,” Huang said.

AV co-head and senior JaQ Lai expressed a desire for the Academy to have addressed anti-Asian racism in parallel to AV’s work. “I think in a perfect world, our response would be a unified approach that includes action from administrators. It was difficult to sort of have that sense of unity when, in the meeting, it felt as if the only response that we could provide to our students was on the level of our own small sphere of the affinity space.”

“My approach going in was that we would do the best job that we can within the bounds of our job. What we realized during the meeting with the experiences that students shared was that in spheres outside of our affinity group, they felt like their experience was unseen and unheard,” Lai said.

Many students expressed their desire for the Academy to have addressed anti-Asian racism earlier than Rawson’s Wednesday email. “I wish we saw an email from Principal Rawson [earlier],” upper Siona Jain said. “I’m unhappy that the only group that got a full formal email [prior to Wednesday] was Asian, Asian-American, and Pacific-Islander identifying students."

English Instructor and Asian Student ​Program Coordinator Wei-Ling Woo heard similar requests from students. “I know some students in the Asian student community I have spoken to wished for swifter communication to the entire school, to affirm the school's commitment to anti-racism and to highlight the issue of anti-Asian racism to the entire school.”

E. Kang agreed. “I have noticed minimal to no discussion about anti-Asian racism within non-Asian communities, which I believe is a reflection of how much work the school needs to do to create an anti-racist instituion.”

“In my experience, all of my conversations around this wave of anti-Asian violence have been initiated by Asian students,” Huang said.

“In the future, I would like to promote more communication between students and faculty, as well as administrators, in dealing with these issues, not only for the benefit of students in terms of addressing their well being but also for the benefit of adults in terms of enriching their perspective to include those that they might not naturally consider,” Lai said.

Many have applauded the work of Asian faculty members and clubs in organizing spaces to discuss and process anti-Asian racism. “The Asian community has done a great job in creating conversation. For example, Asian-identifying faculty, as well as Asian Voices, created discussion space for students to process their feelings and thoughts about the rising anti-Asian (especially anti-Chinese) rhetoric, xenophobia, and violence across the U.S,” E. Kang said.

Bramlett applauded the work of campus leaders in fostering spaces for the Asian community to gather. “Hannah Lim, Wei-Ling Woo, Szu-Hui Lee, and Sherry Hernandez have held multiple affinity processing spaces for students over the past couple of weeks,” she said. “We'll continue to make the space and time for students to gather in the community for support throughout affinity groups.”

“I know that our Asian affinity group leaders and adult advisers to those affinity groups are carrying a tremendous load in supporting those students in the community who are seeking connection and comfort. I thank them for their leadership and generosity,” Bramlett said.

“These past few weeks I’ve drawn strength from my fellow Asian identifying colleagues, allies, and from Dr. Stephanie Bramlett,” Lee said. “I am proud of this group of adults and the students who attended the forum and our collective willingness to be vulnerable with one another. It is important that we create our own spaces and seek support from one another. Power comes in our ability to advocate, empower, and lean on one another. We don’t need permission to do that.”

Hernandez agreed, expressing appreciation for her colleagues and students who gathered in affinity spaces. “One of the most powerful moments I’ve ever experienced at the Academy was standing alongside Ms. Woo, Dr. Lee and Dr. Lim when we provided a space for Asian-identifying students to process and be in community with one another to discuss the recent increase in Anti-Asian violence,” Hernandez said. “During these times of isolation as a result of the pandemic and compounded by the lack of media coverage of these attacks, it has been difficult to find a sense of community. Through the planning and hosting of this event, we were able to lean on one another as we showed up for our students.”

Despite feeling deeply affected by the incidents of anti-Asian racism, some students felt ambivalent towards calling attention to the attacks. “I can't help but feel a sense of guilt,” senior Sarah Kang said. “Sometimes, I can't help feeling selfish for wanting more eyes on the recent attacks against Asian Americans or feeling ashamed for wanting to take up more space in America’s dialogue. During Asian Voices, I was surprised how many of my peers felt the same way I did.”

“The members of the discussion found it interesting how this guilt was essentially based on the belief that Americans didn't have the space or mental energy to think about more than one racial issue at a time,” S. Kang continued. “I think I'm still unsure of my opinion on that concept.”

Woo encouraged students to not see speaking out against anti-Asian racism as distracting from other social issues. “One thing that I have heard Asian-identifying students expressing is this desire not to distract from Black History Month by highlighting this issue, or how comments on social media will downplay the violence in a bid at ‘Oppression Olympics,’ and I guess I would just like to say that I hope our empathy and compassion, our politics, are wide enough to encompass multiple things at once,” Woo said.

“All racism (including anti-Asian and anti-Black racism) is ultimately grounded in white supremacy. I think this idea that we can only have the bandwidth for one racial issue at a time is itself borrowed from white supremacist thinking, and I reject it. Highlighting the oppression of one community shouldn't take away from the oppression facing another; but, we do need to find our inter-connected struggles in order to reach the solidarity that Dr. [Roxane] Gay so beautifully raised for us during her MLK Day keynote,” Woo continued. “Solidarity also means that the Asian community has to show up (or continue to show up) for others if we want others to show up for us.”