When Anti-Asian Hate Goes Viral

Last March, six Asian-American women were killed by a gunman in Atlanta. The murders focused the public, as never before, on violence against America’s Asian communities—but a lot of Asian Americans saw this spike in hate crimes coming. In this collaboration with the podcast Self Evident, we look at what happens when we ignore anti-Asian hate—and what happens when we mobilize against it instead. Self Evident co-founder James Boo takes us to New York City at the height of the pandemic and explains how he anticipated the latest wave in hate crimes. Then, Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Renee Tajima-Peña takes us to 1980’s Detroit, where anti-Japanese rhetoric fueled another burst of shocking violence. To learn more, check out Self Evident’s original series on anti-Asian hate, Renee Tajima-Peña’s documentary, Who Killed Vincent Chin?, and Tajima-Pena’s docuseries, Asian Americans. WARNING: There are curse words in this week's episode. Guests: James Boo, audio producer and co-founder of Self-Evident; Charlie Wang, photographer; Renee Tajima-Peña, Academy Award-nominated filmmaker and Professor of Asian American Studies at UCLA Hosts: Philip Yun, CEO, WorldAffairs; Ray Suarez, co-host, WorldAffairs If you appreciate this episode and want to support the work we do, please consider making a donation to WorldAffairs. We cannot do this work without your help. Thank you.