Lee is the co-chair of the San Diego Asian Pacific Islander (API) Coalition and executive director of Pacific Arts Movement (presenter of the San Diego Asian Film Festival), and lives in Mira Mesa.
The Asian Pacific Islander (API) community commemorated Lunar New Year on Friday, almost one year after the United States reported its first case of COVID-19 community transmission. Yet long before the pandemic’s inevitable spread, API communities were already dealing with another insidious disease — racism and xenophobia.
As early as January 2020, reports surfaced of small businesses facing declining patronage and individuals across the country being victims of hate as the novel coronavirus began to spread globally. Fueled by the former president’s penchant for applying labels rather than applying strategic solutions, the uptick in anti-API sentiment was documented by the national Stop AAPI Hate campaign — which saw 1,497 reported incidents in its first four weeks of existence.
San Diego was certainly not immune to either disease. As our hospitals began to see the initial strain of COVID-19’s spread, API communities were reporting incidents ranging from verbal harassment to the racially charged Zoom bombing of an SDSU student group to threats of physical violence against a 65-year-old mother, her daughter and granddaughter.
Alarmed by incidents both locally and nationally, the San Diego Asian Pacific Islander Coalition was formed — drawing more than 70 organizations for an initial t statement denouncing API hatred. Shortly thereafter, the coalition helped craft a San Diego City Council resolution, put forward by then-Council President Georgette Gomez and Councilmember Monica Montgomery, condemning anti-API sentiments while encouraging additional city action. The coalition also advocated for an Asian Pacific Islander-representative seat on the county’s newly re-established Human Relations Commission.
Despite all that has been accomplished thus far, our true work as a coalition and as a community has just begun. We have much work left to do.
Today, nearly one year into the pandemic, we again face an alarming increase in anti-API sentiment, including numerous recently documented attacks on the elderly. These latest acts of hate and cowardice are especially heartbreaking. No communities should have to protect their seniors from violence. No communities should have to offer their elderly self-defense classes just to walk down the street or to shop at their local store. Or any other basic human rights.
Even as we react to these incidents with horror, it is important to consider that for each act of hate captured and shared on video or social media, there are likely dozens, if not hundreds more, that remain unreported.
In San Diego, advocates have called for more disaggregated data to show the disparate impact of COVID-19 on multiple fronts, including a focus on the toll on Filipino frontline healthcare workers and communities. In general, the lack of publicly collected data means the extent of anti-API racism and xenophobia here in our communities remains largely unknown.
What is clear, however, is that while the new year brings renewed hope in fighting the pandemic, racism and xenophobia remain largely unabated and unchecked. Especially following the U.S. Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6, we can now see that hate has established new footing, impacting far more than just Asian Pacific Islander communities.
As a result, the San Diego API Coalition has begun 2021 assessing where API voices are necessary to contribute to the overall well-being of the region. Whether it is a result of the model minority myth or the diasporic nature of immigrant API communities, we often remain invisible and overlooked. Although the API community is often perceived as silent, we now speak collectively to challenge anti-API sentiment.
Given the lack of API representation in locally elected offices, among elected staffs, and even on boards and commissions throughout the region, we must step up and speak for ourselves rather than depend on others to call attention to — and to address — our collective issues.
Now, as much as ever, representation matters.
The San Diego API Coalition was formed to foster stronger collaboration, communication and advocacy in one of the most diverse demographic communities in the San Diego region. Collectively, we seek not only to uplift API voices but to also strengthen our work in solidarity with numerous marginalized communities — many for which the pandemic has only exacerbated existing economic and health access disparities.
Now we ask the San Diego community as a whole to take action. Let us call out hate in all forms — wherever we see it. Encourage victims to report their experiences and demand data that reflects the depth of the pandemic’s impact. minority- and immigrant-owned businesses who have suffered disproportionately throughout the pandemic.
Only by working together can we build a stronger, more comionate and more inclusive San Diego. Only together can we begin to develop “herd immunity” against racism and xenophobia.
