Sampan: Prof. Hahm Cited in “Local Institutions Openly Discuss Increased Visible Anti-Asian Hate in America”
As anti-Asian hate crimes continue to rise across the United States, educators and educational institutions are calling for a more open discussion of Asian discrimination. Prof. Hyeouk Chris Hahm was quoted among other leaders in the educational community in an article that covers both the recent increase of anti-Asian crimes and the long history of discrimination.
According to a Boston University (BU) professor, some of these incidents can be attributed to the former president’s disparaging comments about the origins of COVID-19 and the Chinese people. As BU professor Hyeouk Chris Hahm noted, then-President Trump branding COVID-19 ‘the China virus’ was largely responsible for the rise in discrimination. ‘We all felt it,’ said Hahm, who is Korean-American. ‘I live in Newton, which is a nice community, but even in Newton, there were incidents. My Asian friends were yelled at: “Go back to your country!”‘
While some of this might be new, there has been a long history of anti-Asian discrimination in this country and many local academics are doing their best to expose the history that often goes untaught in schools.”