Anti-Asian Violence Shows That Socioeconomic Status Doesn’t Protect From Racism

The rise in anti-Asian violence andthe stories of the Asian and Asian American women谁在亚特兰大杀害了亚洲美国人与美国社会地位的复杂关系。心理学助理教授斯蒂芬·陈研究与一些种族，社会地位和亚裔美国心理健康问题发表讲话。在这里，他与歧视，社会经济划分等经验分享了他的思想。

You teach a course called Asian American Psychology. Asia spans a huge portion of the globe. Does that present complications, or does the experience of discrimination for Asians in America tend to be similar?

我会说这两者都有：它带来了亚裔美国人经验的独特和共同的元素。我们在本课程中的一天解决的主题之一是亚洲美国经验的多样性以及定义亚洲美国人的挑战。然而，跨亚裔美国人团体共享的一个共同的线程是刻板印象和歧视的经验。

One of these shared experiences is the perception of being a “forever-foreigner”—that no matter how many generations one’s family may have been in the United States, Asian features are interpreted by others as a signal that we don’t belong here. We've struggled with that for generations now in American history, and we’re unfortunately seeing similar rhetoric accompanying the recent acts of anti-Asian violence.

There's a very long history of anti-Asian and anti-Asian American discrimination and violence in this country. The number of hate crimes against Asian Americans has skyrocketed in the past year. Can you talk a bit about the psychological effects of such discrimination?

We’re seeing emerging research linking anti-Asian discrimination and violence with a wide range of mental health problems, from specific symptoms of depression and PTSD to general concerns for physical safety. The Asian American Psychological Association recently provided书面证词为本月早些时候举行的亚裔美国人歧视和暴力事件的房屋司法委员会。这是一个非常有用的资源，总结了这一新兴数据的大部分资源。

“As difficult as these times are, I’m encouraged by the growing attention to these issues…We have a critical opportunity to stand alongside other marginalized communities.”

Stephen Chen

我自己的研究侧重于亚裔美国人的社会地位的经历及其对发展和心理健康的影响。And the events from Atlanta and the rise in anti-Asian violence over the past year both underscore how important it is to distinguish between more objective indicators of socioeconomic status—levels of education, income, or the general prestige of one’s occupation—and perceived, relative social status, where we see ourselves relative to others in a social context.

来自亚特兰大，我们看到移民和社会流动故事的聚光灯与亚裔美国人的刻板印象作为高度教育，高收入的“少数群体”。我发现了类似的社会经济分裂在我与中国美国移民家庭的工作中：在我们的样品中，我们通常发现毕业学位的成年人百分比与只有高中教育水平的成年人的百分比大致相同。

然而，过去一年中，所有这些反亚洲暴力和种族主义的事件都向我们展示了社会经济地位无关紧要的所有方式：高收入和毕业生学位不保护您反对种族主义和歧视。这就是为什么考虑这些经历如何塑造亚裔美国人的看法，为什么对他们在美国之间的立场相对于其他人之间的看法进行了重要意义。在我们的研究中，我们发现即使在移民到美国的中国美国人经历了实际社会经济地位的上升转变时，他们常常认为它们在美国的相对地位低于亚洲。这是对较低的相对社会地位的看法，与成人的抑郁症症状有关，以及更多在控制其实际社会经济地位之后，即使在控制其实际的社会经济地位之后，也有更多的孤独和社会孤立的经验。

What about the perception that if you immigrate to Europe, you’re always associated with your country of origin—but if you come to America, you’re American, no matter what?

我认为区分我们自己的看法和对他人的看法是至关重要的。正如我们所看到的，这么多种反亚洲暴力行为植根于亚洲美国人如何被视为美国人。

And of course, there are variations in the ways that we perceive ourselves: Are we Asians living in the United States, Asian Americans, or just Americans? One of the things I love about our Asian American Psychology class is that it brings together students who identify as Asian American, international students from Asia, and students who identify as neither Asian nor Asian American. So it’s always an interesting discussion when we tackle the classic “Where are you from?” microaggression: To what extent does it depend on how we perceive ourselves? To what extent does it depend on the person asking the question and how they perceive us?

Any final thoughts?

As difficult as these times are, I’m encouraged by the growing attention to these issues, particularly as we look ahead to Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) Heritage Month in May. I’m also encouraged by the mobilization that we’re seeing in AAPI communities, but my hope is that it isn’t contained there. We have a critical opportunity to stand alongside other marginalized communities, rather than simply looking out for our own.