On Thursday, April 29, the Pew Research Center held an online panel discussing recent changes in Asian American demographics.
The panel, which was moderated by Janelle Wong — a professor of American studies at the University of Maryland — began with two presentations covering newly-discovered data about Asian Americans.
Neil Ruiz, the associate director of race and ethnicity research at the Pew Research Center, primarily discussed how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted Asian Americans.
According to Ruiz, eight in 10 Asian Americans say violence against them in the U.S. is increasing. Additionally, nearly half of Asian Americans say they experienced an incident tied to their racial or ethnic background since the pandemic began.
“About a third feared someone might threaten or physically attack them, over a quarter [said] people acted as if they were uncomfortable around them, and also about a quarter have been subject to racial slurs or jokes,” Ruiz said.
Something Ruiz noted, however, is that racism against Asian Americans didn’t start because of the pandemic — even before COVID-19 became widespread, Asian Americans still faced discrimination.
“We see the same results as when we asked back in 2019, last June 2020 right in the beginning of the pandemic and now,” Ruiz said. “It’s virtually been the same.”
Additionally, Ruiz said Asian Americans are the largest growing ethnic group within America.
A report published after the panel went further into detail on the changing demographics of Asian Americans.
“Six origin groups – Chinese, Indian, Filipino, Vietnamese, Korean and Japanese – accounted for 85% of all Asian Americans as of 2019,” the report wrote.
Furthermore, Ruiz said there were large disparities between each different ethnic group, differences that most Americans tend to ignore, thanks to the model minority myth.
“When you look at Asian Americans as a whole, you see that the median household income of all Asian Americans is about $88,000,” Ruiz said. “People think, ‘Oh, that’s great, they’re doing well,” but actually, when you disaggregate [the data], you see that Indian Americans may have a high household income of $199,000, but Burmese Americans have a much lower income [$44,000].”
Russell Jeung, a professor of Asian American studies at San Francisco State University, added on to Ruiz’s data with his own findings on hate against Asian Americans.
Jeung found that the most common form of discrimination was verbal harassment or name calling, which about 68% of respondents reported experiencing.
Jeung said the reason why Asian Americans have faced increase discrimination since the start of the pandemic is thanks to the yellow peril stereotype.
“This all harkens back to the yellow peril, the perpetual foreigner stereotype that Asian are a threat and an outside threat,” Jeung said. “I think this perpetual foreigner stereotype is really operative, much more than the model minority stereotype.”
“People aren’t hitting our grandparents because they think they’re so smart,” Jeung said, “They’re attacking us because they think we don’t belong.”
All the racism Asian Americans have had to endure has brought drastic consequences to their mental health, Jeung said. There has been a 155% increase in depression, 94% increase in stress and 93% increase in anxiety among Asian Americans during the pandemic.
Additionally, Asian Americans report that their number one concern during the pandemic has not been the disease itself but rather something else: racism.
“Asian Americans are more concerned about racism than they are about a pandemic that has killed half a million people,” Jeung said.
And because of the pandemic, Jeung said over 233,000 Asian-owned businesses have been forced to close, and Asian Americans currently have the second highest unemployment rate in the U.S.
Finally, Jeung said the recent trend in anti-immigrant policies specifically targeting Asians points to anti-Asian hate becoming larger than just personal conflicts.
“It’s clear that the racism goes beyond interpersonal violence but has become institutionalized in our policies,” Jeung said.
While the data both Ruiz and Jeung have discovered about Asian Americans is helpful in painting a better picture on how demographics have shifted and how Asian Americans have faced an uptick in hate, the panelists acknowledged limitations in their methods.
Ruiz said that although Pew’s surveys were sent out in English, the hope is to do them in different languages in the future to gather a better variety of responses.
In a discussion with other panelists, Wong asked how the data on Asian Americans can be used and interpreted in other fields.
Naomi Underwood, executive director of the Asian American Journalists Association, commented on how the data covered in the panel was vital in aiding reporters on synthesizing and framing their data.
Lorna Randlett, the founder of Leaders Forum, also pointed out the importance of data in not just journalism but business as well.
“When you talk about important data, leaders want to be transformative,” Randlett said. “They want to make sure that they can make a difference, and that has to be grounded in empathy. The type of data that Pew [and Jeung are] providing that shows how these leaders can be empathetic is critical.”
Patricia Eng, the president and CEO of Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy, said she noticed specifically that a news outlet writing about increases in poverty and unemployment omitted data on Asian Americans, despite that data being included in the original set.
“When there is data, we are also invisibilized and marginalized,” Eng said. “It makes me think that it’s the model minority kicking in.”
The panel concluded with an audience question and answer session.
