Violence and harassment against Asian Americans has increased significantly over the past year nationwide 鈥� and in the Pacific Northwest.
The most prominent example was a string of vandalism against businesses in the Jade District, an outer Southeast Portland neighborhood that is home to a number of businesses that are owned by and cater to Asian-American customers.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 know the direct motivation behind the vandalism, but we do know that a lot of those businesses were Asian owned,鈥� Allie Yee, development and communications director at APANO, a nonprofit that works with immigrant communities, told OPB鈥檚 Think Out Loud recently.
Jade District businesses suffered at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. And even before the pandemic reached the United States, business owners in the neighborhood reported a drop in customers and a rise in both vandalism and verbal harassment.
鈥淭here was a lot of misinformation and disinformation about the virus at that time,鈥� Yee said. 鈥淭hat I think led to avoidance of Asian businesses or kind of fear or targeting of Asian community members 鈥�
鈥淧eople were experiencing threats, intimidation, even physical violence.鈥�
Yaejoon Kwon, an assistant professor of sociology and comparative race and ethnicity studies at Reed College, said the rhetoric of former President Donald Trump 鈥� such as his false claims about the Chinese government鈥檚 role in the origins of COVID-19 鈥� exacerbated the situation. Kwon noted that heated historical moment and racist rhetoric aimed at one ethnic group, such as the rise of the Japanese car industry in the 1980s or the 9/11 attacks by Islamic terrorists, tend to lead to a rise in racism and discrimination aimed at a far broader population.
Artthew Ng, a sociology student at Portland State University, has experienced the spike in racism firsthand. He told OPB host Dave Miller about an incident last summer in which he was accosted in Vancouver, Washington, on his way to his sister鈥檚 wedding. The drive from his home in North Portland had taken an especially long time because of traffic, and after parking in the neighborhood near the venue, he sat in his car for a few minutes to check his phone.
鈥淪uddenly this old white guy burst out of his house, runs out and starts knocking on my door,鈥� Ng said. 鈥淗e barges into my car and he starts screaming at me: 鈥榃hat are you doing? What are you doing? This isn鈥檛 your property.鈥�
Ng said he and the man yelled at each other for a few minutes. Then the man walked back to his house. On the way, he looked back at Ng and made a choking motion with his hands.
鈥淚 took this as a threat, a lynching threat,鈥� Ng said. 鈥淚 was terrified, so I moved my car, and I didn鈥檛 even tell anyone about it until much, much later.鈥�
President Joe Biden recently issued an order denouncing discrimination against Asian American and Pacific Islander communities.
But experts note that racism against Asian Americans is built into public life in the United States, and in the Pacific Northwest. A series of federal laws and decisions, punctuated by the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, essentially barred Chinese immigrants from becoming citizens. Congress and President Franklin Roosevelt repealed that in 1943, but during that same period, almost 120,000 Japanese Americans were being held in World War II internment camps.
Oregon was founded , and laws that made it difficult for people of color to own property existed well into the 20th Century.
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