2022 reports from the Asian American Foundation hghave found that Asian hate mostly relates back to the start of COVID, as many Asian kids have stated getting called names such as “Chinese virus” or “bat eater.” At the outset of the pandemic, Kaila Nghiem, a junior at Overland High School in Aurora, was roaming the aisles of a grocery store when another shopper coughed the phrase “bat eater” as she walked by. Her father told her to keep quiet because he didn’t want anything worse happening (The Colorado Sun, 2021).
Asian discrimination can lead to negative effects on youth’s mental health, The Center for American Progression found that 2 in 5 Asian youth who also are a part of the LGBTQ community chose to skip school or choose online school instead. In California, which is home to most of the Asian youth in the country, Asian students are more likely to experience race-based bullying at school than students of other races or ethnicities, according to the latest data from the California Healthy Kids Survey (2017–2019). Another report from Breunlin (2021) noted that Asian American students in Colorado have long been the target of racism. They’ve been mocked for the shape of their eyes. They’ve been bullied about their skin color. They’ve been asked if they eat dogs. They’ve been verbally abused, called “chink” and “Jap.”
This information represents national events of discrimination against AA and NHPI populations, but what is happening locally? Does such discrimination on this level exist across Colorado high school environments in Denver and other Colorado communities?
Erica Breunlin, an education writer for the Colorado Sun, focused on this question in 2021 while the pandemic was still prevalent. She documented the experiences of Asian students in Denver and the Ft. Collins area and found that such discrimination does exist. She interviewed a total of 5 students from Denver DSST: College View, Overland, and Ft. Collins Fossil Ridge high schools. Breunin found multiple examples of how these students had experienced discrimination, racial slurs, bullying, threats, and feelings of fear due to being of Asian heritage. For example, Kaila, 17, said “it’s as though I live in a world that literally was created for me to not succeed. And as a woman and a member of the LGBTQ community, in addition to being a minority, she said she faces even more barriers to success and to creating systemic change.
Interviews with two Denver area Asian students– Jayden Lin, sophomore at East, and Preston Lee, sophomore at Regis Jesuit High School, both stated they noticed fewer incidents of bullying, discrimination and threats than the students in the Breunlin article. Why do Lin and Lee think this? Lee said, “Since Regis is located closer to a suburban white neighborhood, Asian students face less discrimination as Regis has fewer Asian students.” He went on to say, “Asian discrimination is seen more as a challenge that you can overcome.” Lin made similar observations about East, stating, “it is because the Asian community at East is smaller compared to other races at the school.” Lin also thought the smaller Asian community could explain why Asian discrimination at East “goes unnoticed” or “has become normalized.”
However, both Lin and Lee agreed discrimination towards Asians has increased since the COVID pandemic. Lin said, “I have noticed how discrimination towards Asians has risen since COVID, since everyone wanted to blame Asians for causing the virus.” Sadly, Lin noted, “since first being called out on a stereotype, I have gotten used to hearing words like “Chink” and “Bat Eater.”
Seeing discrimination as a form of a joke can be a coping strategy: a way to discount the hurtful aspects of discrimination. During Lee's interview he stated “Most of the time I hear kids joking about it.” Lin noted, “Most racial jokes are more normalized because of social media apps like Twitter, Snapchat, Tiktok, and Instagram. ”Kelly, a junior at DSST: College View High School in 2021 remembered telling herself that making jokes about acts of discrimination had become her go-to coping mechanism.
Another coping strategy is to not report events or pretend it didn’t happen. The 2021 Act To Change survey (The Center for Public Integrity) noted in their research, “. . . the majority of bullied Asian students didn’t tell an adult about their experience. The reverse was true of bullied students from other racial groups.” Therefore, Asian acts of bullying are less likely to be reported and recorded, making them appear less frequent than they actually are. Lin stated that “East has less Asian students than other minorities, which is why discrimination towards Asians might go unnoticed.” He also thought fewer Asian students at East could explain why Asian discrimination has become normalized.
While there is little doubt Asian hate has increased since the COVID pandemic, students at East and Regis may be less likely targeted than others. However, only two students were interviewed and other Asian students might have different experiences.
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