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Over the recent months, I have become more aware of the ethnic situations that had occurred in the United States’ past history, as well as the ongoing issues we are encountering today. The ethnic situation I want to specifically talk about is the hate received by the AAPI, also known as Asian-American and Pacific Islanders. I believe reforms need to be made for AAPI because they are the target of hate crimes both in the past and in today’s modern world. 

About 80 years ago, during the peak of World War II, the Japanese were seen as enemies to the U.S. for conspiring with the other side. What did this mean for Japanese-Americans; are they traitors, or are they just being used as scapegoats for the Americans to target. Japanese-Americans who have been living citizens of the U.S. were being restricted from doing their normal everyday activities and were segregated from other Americans deemed “normal.” Japanese-Americans were being given a “curfew from 8 PM to 8 AM… their loyalty being questioned.” Despite not doing anything of mistrust, Japanese-Americans were being given curfews and having their loyalty questioned which made life much harder. This hate towards AAPI is unacceptable and cannot be justified because they are just as equal as any other American. 

One of the earliest born Asian-American and daughter of entrepreneurial immigrant parents, Mamie Tape was “denied entry because she was Chinese.” Tape was being discriminated against for the sole reason of being of Asian descent, despite being born American. This segregation is a big issue because all Americans are born with equal opportunities and equal rights. This racially motivated targeting should not be tolerated and is unfair to Tape. Tape found her denied entry unethical and “brought her legal case, Tape v. Hurley (1885), to the California Supreme Court… and contested the racial segregation of schools.” This legal case was a large moment in the history of the U.S. because it brought a successful reform that allowed minorities to attend school without the segregation that Mamie Tape had received.  

In today’s modern time, I have experienced hate towards AAPI myself. At the height of quarantine, in October 2021, a rise in Asian-American hate crimes skyrocketed. Men and women of Asian descent, despite being American citizens, were the target of attacks and verbal abuse. As of 2022, “Anti-Asian hate crime increased by 339 percent last year compared to the year before.” These numbers are uncanny and need to be changed. More reforms need to be pushed through and the hate toward AAPI needs to be stopped. Although many minorities are being discriminated against, not just AAPI, I wanted to talk about how AAPI hate crimes were a problem in the past and still continue to be a problem today.