Interviews with four deaf Asian-Americans on AAPI hate
Names, in order of appearance:
Patty Liang (Chinese American brunette in a dark green top with eyeglasses in front of a blue background)
Dr. Andy Tao (Chinese-Japanese American with red polo shirt, black glasses in front of a green wall)
Ariele Belo (Filipino American with dark blue top with a yellow background)
Takeshi Matsumoto (Japanese American with blue t-shirt in front of gray background)
Alex: I reached out to four deaf Asian-Americans to get their insights on the rise in attacks against Asian people in the U.S.
Patti Liang: Hi. My name is Patty Liang. I live in Seattle, Washington.
Dr. Andy Tao: Hello. I’m Dr. Andy Tao. I live in the DC/Maryland area.
Ariele Belo: My name is Ariele Belo. I live in Seattle, Washington.
Takeshi Matsumoto: I’m Takeshi. I now live in Washington.
Alex: My first question was on whether the shooter in the Atlanta-area spa shootings — in which eight people, six of them Asian women died — should be charged with hate crimes.
Patti Liang: You need to understand what “hate crime” means. That means prejudice, meaning a dislike for no reason against another person of a protected class such as related to gender, religion, sexual orientation, and race. That person intentionally went to specific locations owned and run by Asian women. That’s two things - gender and race. It’s obvious.
Dr. Andy Tao: The Atlanta police chief announced that this was not a hate crime, but that this was related to sex addiction. What? I believe that statement shook the Asian community to the core. For me, sexual addiction may be related to it, sure, but also the decision to shoot at multiple areas that were all filled with Asian people already shows targeting. Why can’t they connect it to sexual addiction plus as a hate crime too?
Alex: My second question was on whether they noticed an increase in hate towards Asian-Americans after the Covid-19 pandemic compared with before, and especially during the past two weeks.
Ariele Belo: Before, I’d keep my head down, but with the former president mentioning that word… I knew that it would worsen and it actually did make things even worse. I think there has been about a 140% increase in Asian hate. Wow. That’s a huge increase. That needs to stop. But how can it be stopped? That’s why we need to spread the message that this needs to stop.
Takeshi Matsumoto: Growing up, I didn’t understand Japanese culture. Some neighbors or friends would use this gesture about us and I would laugh, because I didn’t fully understand. As I got older, at around ten or twelve years old, the same people used tape on their eyes to make fun. My mom saw and got mad, so she yelled at them and told them it was insulting. I had no idea and didn’t understand at the time. She explained that pulling eyes back like that was an insult. I realized it’s not funny. When I entered MSSD, they taught us it wasn’t polite to pull our eyes back and insult Asians. I learned a lot about that. During COVID, of course some people blame us. Some would threaten me or avoid me. While working at DoorDash, sometimes people would cancel or decline their order because my name is clearly Japanese. Come on! That’s unnecessary. That had happened repeatedly, then it stopped for a while, but it started again after the shooting. Of course it’s tough. I have to be careful. I thought of covering myself up, but I have to be myself.
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Alex: My third question was on what is important for non-AAPI (Asian American Pacific Islanders) to understand during these times.
Dr. Andy Tao: This is not an Asian problem. This is an American problem. As Americans, all of us must work together to solve this. Racism must be dismantled. Our system of racism must be dismantled through actions, open discussions, and open minds and open hearts.
Ariele Belo: With my race and gender, and being deaf too, I’m cautious and always have been because my family has always told me to be careful. I’ve done that growing up. My parents have always told me to be careful. I have to be safe myself even as an independent person. I want to be able to go to places by myself. I know this year has been tough with masks, but I try to do my best to not let them make me stay home. If I want to go out, I go out.
Takeshi Matsumoto: I’ve been working at DoorDash. At a Pho restaurant I actually saw it being covered up because they’re scared. Wow. Tough. Once a month I go to a nail salon to get my feet done, and it was also covered up. I would usually wave through the windows, but they were actually boarded up. I checked in to see if everything was ok, and they said they were scared. Wow.
Patti Liang: I want to add that I wondered if America is the only place that experiences oppression against Asians, but after research I learned that other countries are the same, like Australia, the UK, and other places. There are other places with strong Asian communities that experience oppression and hate. A lot of other countries are trying to reduce and stop this. I hope America does the same thing. We’re in that process, but people still have internalized hate. I hope you can feel peace inside.
Alex: Thank you four, Patty, Ariele, Takeshi, and Andy very much for your time and willingness to be open. Clearly, we must recognize that this is a problem that we must work together to stop — to stop AAPI hate.