Have you ever wondered why there are Anti-Asian hate crimes continuously rising nationwide?

The answer to this question is not easy to respond. The incident of racial abuse has strongly impacted the Asian community in the United States. Anti-Asian hate is sharply increasing; we can hear in the news, social media platforms, and other online media that people of Asian origin get impacted due to racist behavior toward them. The unpleasant anti-Asian rhetoric was pointed at Japan in 1980; nowadays, China is blamed for the COVID pandemic, societal ills, and global economic turmoil. On the other hand, Asian Americans have been insulted, hated, harmed, and killed because of the wave of hate nationwide. Most often, girls, women, and the elderly have been targeted. We can hear that these types of racial attacks occur on the streets, on public transportation, at work, in shops and parks, and in the worst-case scenario, Asians and Asian Americans are stalked in their apartment buildings and homes (Helen, 2022). Incidents such as the death of Vincent Chin in 1982, the Atlanta spa shootings in 2020 where innocent Asian Americans were killed, and many other cases throughout the country depict the continuous attacks against Asians and Asian Americans.

Based on the national report, anti-Asian hate incidents have been increasing, and there were 42.5% of incidents occurred in 2020, whereas in 2021, they increased by 57.5%. Also, the report stated that the majority of incidents took place in public parks (8.0%), public transit (8.4%), businesses (26.9%), and public streets (31.2%). All ethnic groups, approximately 42.8 percent of Chinese Americans, are the ones who report the most hate incidents, followed by 16.1% Korean, 8.9% P/Filipinx, 8.2% Japanese, and 8.0% Vietnamese Americans. Around 69.8% of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) women report more harassment than AAPI men (63.0%). In addition, according to Stop AAPI Hate, verbal harassment accounted for 63%, making up the highest percentage of reported incidents (Yellow Horse et al., 2022). The following are data on the 20 states with largest number of hate incident, national trends of types of discrimination, reasons for discrimination, and sites of discrimination.

Minoru Yamasaki stated that “If Asian people in America don’t learn to stand up for themselves, these injustices will never cease.”

(Helen, 2022).

Vincent Chin’s death is one example of intense anti-Asian hate. He was killed in Detroit, Michigan, in a racially motivated assault by two white men. Vincent Chin arrived in the United States as a child, and C.W. Hing Chin and Lily adopted him. Vincent, a young man full of dreams working two jobs to fulfill his dream, unexpectedly, a week before his wedding, while enjoying a night out with his friends for his bachelor party, encountered the horrific incident of racism that took his life. As Vincent’s killers were released without punishment, it ignited a new civil rights movement. Asian Americans united with a multicultural and multiracial coalition for equal human dignity and justice. The American Citizens for Justice (ACJ) was created to advocate for Asian Americans’ rights. ACJ wants to make Asian Americans visible in political and social policy contexts and domestic and international economics (Helen, 2022).

“Asian Americans, the supposed “good minority,” are not believed to experience racism-even in the face of anti-Asian hate”

(Helen, 2022).

As stated in the national report, in order to stop AAPI hate, states need to invest in community-based efforts to support victims and survivors of hate. For example, offering mental health support, supporting programs for victim and survivor, providing culturally responsive health resources, and language translation access. Moreover, educating people can help to prevent racism. Additionally, this can decrease bullying and harassment in schools and promote solidarity and racial empathy. Stop AAPI Hate is working with educators, policymakers, and experts on the topic to create Asian American framework for states to adopt and follow (Yellow Horse et al., 2022).

Furthermore, creating a statewide framework can help to prevent street harassment. Harassment on the street affects people’s feelings of safety, freedom of movement, and mental health. It is vital to strengthen civil rights protections against hate at businesses.

It is essential to stand up against hate, and the following are the steps that can be helpful.

Support: It is vital to support each other.

Acknowledge: Recognizing that anti-Asian racism occurs; therefore, it is paramount to educate yourself and others.

Oppose and reject: It is essential to stand against hateful languages and policies.

Prepare family members and friends: Discuss buying, name-calling, and racial prejudice with family members and friends. Empowering family members and friends with language and actions to respond.

Accountability with consequences: Engaging local, state, and national officials.

Practice: It is essential to practice your own strong defenses and reaction.

Report: It is considered valuable to report racial incidents and alert media authorities. 

References

Yellow Horse, A.J., Jeung, R., & Matriano, R. (2022). Stop AAPI Hate National Report. Stop AAPI Hate. https://stopaapihate.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/22-SAH-NationalReport-3.1.22-v9.pdf

Helen, Z. (2022). The Vincent Chin Legacy Guide: Asian Americans building the movement. Vincent Chin & American Citizens Justice. https://www.vincentchin.org/legacy-guide/english

The COVID pandemic has been disrupted, impacting our lives in various ways. There has been a tremendous effect of COVID in our communities. The type of communication, either high or low context, has played a vital role in people’s COVID vaccination decisions. The communication style can influence how people perceive information among cultures. Communities need to have access to information that is easy to understand because health literacy level of so many people varies. Also, it is paramount to consider the cultural aspects of many communities because all cultures have their own beliefs. Vaccination hesitancy has been one factor that caused high COVID cases.

The decision-making process for vaccination is context-specific and complex. There have been many drivers and barriers that affected people’s vaccination decisions. People’s vaccine decisions might be influenced by their feelings, moral values, belief, and thoughts. The communication method used, how, and who spread the information related to COVID plays a vital role for many communities of color. Communities of color comprehend information that is in their native language more easily. 

“A different language is a different vision of life”. – Federico Fellini

(Milincic, 2020)

High-context communication needs additional information to connect with the context, whereas low-context communication is simple and straightforward. High-context communication makes it more challenging for people to understand the information or messages that they intend to transmit. High-context type of communication method has been used to spread essential information, but it might not achieve the goal due to its content complexity. As we know, when this type of communication is used, it may increase the difficulty of accessing important information related to COVID. Therefore, this causes disparities across communities while grasping valuable information associated with COVID. On the other hand, low context communication works best for people’s understanding due to its simplicity.

Low-Context Communication Examples:

Presenting information in a very scientific and statical way: scientific evidence and statical data indeed support efficacy and safety, and this information makes direct connection with the content. Studies have stated that when information is presented in clear way help to build better understanding .

Using a language that is easy to understand: when information is expressed in a way that is simple, it does not leaves people with confusion and question in mind.

High-Context Communication Examples:

Telling stories: Using stories helps to engage and to convince information that eases individuals’ understanding because the overwhelming scientific evidence and statistical facts are not as compelling as the storytelling strategy. Also, when a story is used to transmit a message, it helps in effectively delivering a message.

Using credible communicators: Communities of color believe when leaders or health workers from their communities transmit information in their language and at the level of their understanding. When most trusted community leaders spread the knowledge, people of that community increasingly accept and trust the information.

Building trust: Studies have shown that trustworthiness acts better than expertise when addressing misinformation.

Connect with people’s values: As we know, vaccination decision is value-based. Connecting with the right people is very influential when we talk about values, and our values help us to make decisions.

The context of communication impacts people’s decisions regarding the COVID vaccine. The vaccine data on the Minnesota Department of Health website provides information about the percentage of race and ethnicity who have been vaccinated. Therefore, choosing the appropriate communication style depending on the audience is vital. As noted above, high context communication needs educational background knowledge to understand the information. However, low context communication is explicitly stated, which makes a better understanding. 

References

COVID-19 Vaccine Data. (n.d.). COVID-19 Updates and Information – State of Minnesota. Retrieved April 28, 2022.

Milincic A. (2020, November 20). Differences in high-context and low-context communication styles. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/differences-high-context-low-context-communication-styles-milincic . Retrieved September 3, 2022

Singleton, K., & Krause, E. (2009). Understanding cultural and linguistic barriers to health literacy. The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 14(3). https://ojin.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ANAMarketplace/ANAPeriodicals/OJIN/TableofContents/Vol142009/No3Sept09/Cultural-and-Linguistic-Barriers-.aspx

UNICEF. (2020). Vaccine Messaging Guide.https://www.unicef.org/media/93661/file/Vaccinemessagingguide.pdf . Retrieved September 3, 2022

When it comes to cultural medicine, we have to mention chinese medicine and western medicine. This article will analyze these two culture that the differences. The following points are some of my personal views.

Traditional Chinese medicine has been practiced in China for thousands of years. traditional Chinese medicine, is a label that covers a broad range of traditional medicine practices spread throughout Asia, including various forms of herbal medicine, acupuncture, massage therapy, and dietary therapy. In the past decade, there have been intensive debates in China about the nature of this ancient practice and its future development. Some critics argue that Traditional Chinese medicine theories are inaccurate descriptions of the human body that verge on imagination, and so have no place in modern healthcare systems. Other, however, say that Traditional Chinese medicine has a lot to offer to Western science and medicine and that emerging analytical tools hold great potentials in bridging the gap between the two worlds with contrasting philosophy and approaches.

Western medicine is the term used to describe the treatment of medical conditions with medications, by doctors, nurses and other conventional healthcare providers who employ methods developed according to Western medical and scientific traditions. Other names for Western medicine include traditional medicine or allopathic medicine. It differs from Eastern, or alternative, medicine, in its approach to treatment, which relies heavily upon industrially produced medications and a strict adherence to the formal scientific process.

A Chinese medicine doctor treats illness by the way of generalization, emphasis entirety and dialectical treatment, so some people view it as holistic medicine. A western medicine doctor treats illness by the symptoms. For instance, if you have a sore throat, the western medicine doctor consider it as a throat problem, while a Chinese medicine doctor may link it to your stomach trouble.An objective comparison of Eastern and Western approaches to medicine is necessary to further evaluate the validity of Oriental medical techniques such as acupuncture. The development of medicine in Western nations follows the way of hypothetical deduction and the Eastern approach uses the inductive method. The Western approach clearly divides the health from the disease, yet the Eastern approach considers health as a balanced state versus disease as an unbalanced state. The Western approach tends to change the environment and the Eastern way is to prefer to adapt to the environment. There are numerous difficulties in comparing these two approaches. The same terminology may apply to entirely different facts, the teaching and learning methods are quite different, and the evaluation of the treatment is almost not comparable.

To Borrow Arrows with Thatche ‘d Boats

This is an episode from the Three Kingdoms. Zhou Yu ordered Zhuge Liang to manufacture 100,000 arrows within ten days. Zhuge said,“Give me three days.” He also signed a pledge placing himself liable for punishment should he fail to complete the order. Zhou Yu ridiculed that Zhuge Liang was looking for self-destruction.On the one hand, Zhou Yu ordered his troops not to provide Zhuge Liang with materials to make the arrows.He also sent Lu Su to spy on him to find out what was going on. In fact, Zhuge Liang had already realized that this was a plots room, Zhuge said to Lu Su,“Save me please.” He asked Lu Su to lend him 20 boats, each lined with straw-made scarecrows and manned by 30 soldiers. He requested that Lu Su not tell Zhou Yu what was happening.

When Lu Su came again to see Zhuge Liang he did not find anything unusual. Nothing happened on the second day either. In the small hours of the third day that Zhuge Liang invited Lu Su for a boat ride. The 20 boats were tied together with strong ropes. Zhuge’s fleet sailed toward the camp of Cao Cao. A thick mist had spread over the surface of the river. People could hardly see each other on the river. When Zhuge’s fleet got close to the Cao Cao camp before dawn, Zhuge Liang ordered his soldiers to shout and beat drums to fake an attack. Zhuge and Lu Su simply sat inside one of the boats and drank wine to enjoy themselves. As soon as the Cao Cao camp heard the shouting and drum beating, they mistook it for a surprise attack by the Zhou Yu camp. Since they could see nobody on the river, they gathered 3,000 bow men and ordered them to shoot arrows towards where the shouting and drum beating came. The front of the scarecrows was quickly shot full of arrows. After a while, Zhuge Liang had his fleet turned around to expose the other side of the scarecrows. When this side was also shot full of arrows when the day broke. Zhuge Liang ordered his soldiers to retire. Zhuge Liang got the 100,000 arrows and solved the shortage of military supplies.

The first day I came to the United States, my biggest feeling is that Americans are very enthusiastic and friendly. At the airport, everyone took the initiative to help us, seeing that we were holding the fast track sign and letting us move forward. It was very late when I arrived in the Minneapolis / Saint Paul airport. The host family took the sign to pick me up. They asked me if I was tired and hungry, and I felt very enthusiastic. When we arrived at the host family’s house, they introduced me to the layout of the home, which was great. The next day, the host family took me to their church and introduced me to many of their friends. Those who I was not introduced to would greet me on their own initiative.

   Although I have only been here for a few days, I can also feel some differences between the United States and China.

   First, in terms of religious beliefs. Most Americans believe in religion and believe in God. According to Christian beliefs, every person is the son of God. Christianity pays attention to fraternity, and this value is also reflected in the relationship between people. Christianity emphasizes that human happiness stems from the grace of God. However, only a minority in China believes in Christianity.

    Second, in terms of friendship. The education of Chinese people is usually to avoid direct conflicts, open criticism, and controversial topics.They want to maintain harmony among people around them and leave ”faces” for others; on the contrary, Americans are usually willing to face problems directly, criticize, discuss controversial issues, and insist on what they consider to be ”facts”.

  Third, in the terms of living habits.  Lifestyle choices between the United States and China are also different. For example, Americans like to use forks and knives when eating, Chinese people generally use chopsticks; Americans like to eat burgers, Chinese people like to eat dumplings, Americans usually like to bathe in the morning, Chinese people prefer to take a shower at night, etc.

    Although there are many cultural differences between the United States and China, there are still many things that I need to learn. There are many places that China needs to learn from. We learn from each other and believe that we will do better in the future.

Nowadays, Bicultural Healthy Living is more and more popular all over the world. As a Chinese volunteer, I feel honored to experience the two cultures of the United States and China, which are quite different from each other.

As far as diet is concerned, most Chinese food is fried and boiled, while after spending time with native people in the United States, I found the food is mostly roasted. American people eat fresh vegetable salad to add vitamins but Chinese people prefer scrambled eggs with tomatoes or fried cabbage.They like butter or cheese but Chinese people like salt or sauce to make food delicious. I think we should use a small amount of salt or cheese to supplement the protein needed for one day. In addition, Chinese people usually drink hot water not cold water to promote metabolism in the body. People go to the restaurant to eat, where warm water is generally available.

When it comes to living habit, different people hold different attitudes. From my point of view, in China, people use slippers at home and don’t like to walk barefoot on the marble floor at home otherwise they will feel the cold into the body and think it is uncomfortable. But in the United States, people like to walk barefoot on the wooden floor at home. In order to keep biculturally healthy, I would recommend that keep your feet warm in winter and comfortable in summer.

In America, I think most people regard cars as main transportation.They just drive their cars to go sightseeing or order food at McDonald’s. However, in China, especially in Beijing, because of the large population, some vehicles are restricted to travel to control traffic jam, which depends on number plates. A lot of people walk to and take the subway or go to a bus stop. Sometimes buses and subways are more convenient. In my opinion, bicycles are also great ways to get around and keep fit. If the destination is far away, we can choose to drive, if the road is closer, riding a bicycle is better.

Historical Dietary Guidance Digital Collection (HDGDC)! The HDGDC allows you to access over 900 historical posters, brochures, and other documents from as early as the 1890s that have been collected and digitized at the National Agricultural Library.