Harassment and hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have gone up significantly over the past year. Largely fueled by the racist rhetoric used by former President Donald Trump to deflect attention away from his administration’s failure to manage the COVID-19 pandemic, hostility against people of Asian descent has been displayed in a large string of public incidents and even violent attacks. Last week’s killings of eight mostly Asian workers and patrons in three Atlanta-area massage parlors is the most horrific of such hostility toward the Asian American community in recent years. Meanwhile, hostility towards Black people -- from racism to discrimination to police brutality -- remains a huge problem within the United States. While Black and Asian Americans have many reasons to find common cause in mutual struggles against racism and xenophobia , much of the narrative of late has focused on divisions or tensions between the communities. Such narrative is not only...
