On anti-Asian racism: 14 April 2020
For audio-only, find the podcast on Status or SoundCloud.
This podcast takes you to several cities/countries affected by COVID-19 to discuss social, economic, and political challenges facing their societies, with emphasis on the most vulnerable groups and on what this pandemic reveals about the human condition (wow, big phrase). Based on personal and incisive conversations with various interlocutors on location, we hope both to learn from others and to provide some solace as we address how we are collectively experiencing and dealing with similar challenges.
We will be speaking with our guests, one or several at a time, via Skype, and will try to have brief, informative, and non-draining calls within 20-30 minutes.
Look out for upcoming episodes in the coming week(s). Listen to the previous episodes in the series on Gaza here, Dublin here, Cairo here, the first interview on Iran here, the second interview on Iran here, on San Francisco here, on Doha here, on Vancouver here, on punishment in Palestine here, and on Germany here.
Hosted by Noura Erakat and Bassam Haddad
Production Set by Khalid Namez
Edited by Alicia Rodriguez
Directed by Bassam Haddad
Research by Naim Mousa
Stats: Coronavirus and Anti-Asian Racism in the United States
All data shown is with regards to coronavirus related racism and harassment incidents from 19-25 2020.
- 100 daily hate crimes against Asian Americans on average according to reports.
- Over 2,000 incidents of xenophobia and racism against Asian Americans.
- In New York City, Chinese businesses have seen a drop of 30-80 percent in sales.
- 47% of incidents against Asian-Americans have occurred in businesses.
- Over 30% of the incidents have occurred in public spaces.
- Asian women were disproportionately targeted by racist incidents, with 70% of victims being female.
- 40% of incidents have been directed towards people of Chinese descent.
- Over ⅔ of incidents have involved verbal harassment.
- For a full report by the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council on anti-Asian coronavirus related incidents, click here.
Connie Wun
Connie Wun, PhD is the co-founder and Executive Director of AAPI Women Lead. She is also the founder of Transformative Research, a community-driven research consultancy. Her work on ending racial and gender-based violence is rooted in her personal experiences and political commitments. She’s been practicing yoga for 20 years and is a Muay Thai enthusiast.
Bassam Haddad
Bassam Haddad is Director of the Middle East and Islamic Studies Program and Associate Professor at the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University. He is the author of Business Networks in Syria: The Political Economy of Authoritarian Resilience (Stanford University Press, 2011) and co-editor of the forthcoming book, A Critical Political Economy of the Middle East (Forthcoming, Stanford University Press, 2021). Bassam serves as Founding Editor of the Arab Studies Journal and the Knowledge Production Project. He is co-producer/director of the award-winning documentary film, About Baghdad, and director of the series Arabs and Terrorism. Bassam is Co-Founder/Editor of Jadaliyya Ezine and Executive Director of the Arab Studies Institute. He serves on the Board of the Arab Council for the Social Sciences and is Executive Producer of Status Audio Magazine. Bassam is Co-Project Manager for the Salon Syria Project and Director of the Middle East Studies Pedagogy Initiative (MESPI). He received MESA's Jere L. Bacharach Service Award in 2017 for his service to the profession. Currently, Bassam is working on his second Syria book titled Understanding The Syrian Tragedy: Regime, Opposition, Outsiders (forthcoming, Stanford University Press).
Noura Erakat
Noura Erakat is an Assistant Professor at Rutgers University in the Department of Africana Studies and the Program in Criminal Justice where she teaches topics such as human rights law, humanitarian law, national security law, refugee law, social justice, and critical race theory. Her scholarly interests include humanitarian law, human rights law, refugee law, and national security law. She earned her BA and JD from Berkeley Law School and her LLM in National Security from the Georgetown University Law Center. She is a Co-Founder/Editor of Jadaliyya e-zine. Prior to beginning her appointment at GMU, Noura was a Freedman Teaching Fellow at Temple Law School and has taught International Human Rights Law and the Middle East at Georgetown University since 2009.
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