The rise of anti-Asian sentiments since 2020 has led to increasing advocacy to address and combat racial discrimination against the Asian American Pacific Islander community, according to Aalok Kanani, the digital director of the Asia Society. On Feb. 27, Kanani spoke at a Digital Media and Design event titled “Invisible Asians: How Underrepresentation Creates Otherization and Fuels Hate.”
During this talk, he discussed his role at Asia Society, where he works to amplify the voices of Asian communities, challenge stereotypes and drive positive change through social media.
Kanani first noticed increased violence and hate against Asian Americans in 2020 while working for the Biden campaign.
“At the time we knew it was largely due to the pandemic and xenophobia around attributing it to Asian Americans – Chinese Americans – but also it was, in my opinion at least, driven by the other side,” Kanani said. “And so it became part of our job on the Biden campaign to try and counter it.”
However, Kanani saw how little people cared about Asian American issues, he said.
“I also quickly realized there isn’t a ton of political value to speaking out for Asian Americans,” Kanani said. “That really stuck with me after the campaign ended.”
About a year later, Kanani got involved in the Asia Society, a non-profit organization looking to “pivot to digital” and change its audience. While it was originally founded to inform White people about Asia and Asians, the organization wanted to create more content celebrating Asians, Kanani explained.
“Specifically, we’ve made it a core pillar of ours to do more to stand up against Asian hate and platform Asians,” Kanani said.
Despite the decrease in the pandemic, political polarization and a lack of downturn in the economy, hate and discrimination against Asians have increased between 2020-2022, Kanani said, citing the 2022 STAATUS report from The Asian American Foundation.
One of the reasons for this increase is the attribution of COVID-19 to Asians. According to the report, Americans increasingly consider anti-Chinese names for COVID-19, like “Wuhan virus,” to be appropriate.
“At the time we knew it was largely due to the pandemic and xenophobia around attributing it to Asian Americans – Chinese Americans – but also it was, in my opinion at least, driven by the other side. And so it became part of our job on the Biden campaign to try and counter it.”
Aalok Kanani, digital director of the Asia Society
The percentage of Americans who believe that Asian Americans are more loyal to their country of origin also increased sharply from 20% in 2021 to 33% in 2022, according to the report.
“It’s that trend of increasing otherization of Asians coupled with the fact that Asians continue not to be represented in media,” Kanani said.
Even when Asians are portrayed in media, they are shown in harmful ways, Kanani said. For example, according to the report, Asian American women are often seen in “less desirable roles,” like sex workers, martial artists and maids.
“There’s a high degree of sexualization, of violent portrayals, of otherization,” Kanani said. “That was a really worrisome trend.”
Stereotypical and harmful portrayals in the media are especially problematic with a new trend of Americans increasingly getting information about ethnic and racial groups from social media, Kunani said.
“This area where Asians are totally unrepresented or badly represented is shaping how we see Asians, Kanani explained. “The problem becomes clear of why otherization is being caused.” .
According to Kanani, digital media students can work to combat anti-Asian hate in their content by using their voice and skills to “give lens” to Asian American issues and being thoughtful about content creation.
“It’s that trend of increasing otherization of Asians coupled with the fact that Asians continue not to be represented in media.”
Aalok Kanani, digital director of the Asia Society
“Content can have a huge impact on shaping hearts and minds of every generation,” Kanani said.
Combatting these problems is essential, with Asians being the fastest-growing racial group in the United States today, with nearly 25 million Asian Americans, according to Asia Society.
That is why the Asia Society has made it their mission to combat these issues, Kanani said.
Mari Sachs, an eighth-semester DMD student who interviewed Kanani during the event, asked Kanani what campaigns the Asia Society was involved in that Kanani is proud of.
“We were able to raise several thousand dollars for the Monterey Park shooting victims fund and, more recently, the earthquakes in Syria and Turkey,” Kanani responded.
Kanani has also worked for the Obama administration at the United Nations and the private sector at Lyft.
The event was hosted online via UConn DMD’s YouTube channel as part of their “Diverse Perspectives in Digital Media & Design Speaker Series.”
