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Differences between #StopAAPIHate and #StopAsianHate

Vicky Shiu, Jane Huang, Fariha Ahmed

INTRODUCTION

RESEARCH AREA

Where do the hashtags #StopAsianHate and #StopAAPIHate originate from?

How are social media users utilizing these hashtags?

What are the differences between the two hashtags?

TOPICS

Why is #StopAAPIHate used?

Twitter
TikTok

Differences between #StopAsianHate and #StopAAPIHate

The effects of counterspeech and social media activism

The objective of our research project was to explore how social media, specifically hashtag activism, brings attention to and combats anti-asian hate. The hashtags #StopAsianHate and #StopAAPIHate are particularly prominent in the online documentation of Asian hate crimes and will be the center of our research.

BACKGROUND

Racism against Asian Americans is not new; however, following the pandemic, there was a dramatic rise in hate crimes against them.
False information about covid-19 and China spread through social media fueling the hate crimes.
Hashtag activism played a key role in tackling these hate crimes. Hashtags like #StopAsianHate and #StopAAPIHate began circulating.

Photo taken by Andrew Ratto via Riverkeeper

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Introduction

What is your motivation for doing research that focuses on AAPI communities?

Vicky: My motivation for doing research on AAPI communities is my encounters with xenophobia and racism during the pandemic. Additionally, seeing the news about hate crimes against Asian Americans motivated me to conduct research on this important issue.
Fariha: As an Asian-American woman, I have experienced racism and was alarmed by the rise in hate crimes against the community following the pandemic. I wanted to explore this issue to spread awareness so more people can prevent these crimes.
Jane: My motivation for doing this research stems from my use of social media. During the Covid-19 pandemic, I frequently saw videos related to the history of xenophobia and racism aimed at Asians in America. This casual scrolling prompted my interest in researching the ways marginalized communities reacted to hate and the methods they used to fight back against it. I hope that our research brings awareness to the relatively new field of social media analytics and their role in social research.

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Introduction (cont.)

What is an interesting or significant piece that you learned and its importance for the overall project?

Vicky: An interesting piece I learned about was the difference between the two hashtags #StopAsianHate and #StopAAPIHate. Initially, I thought the two terms were interchangeable, but I learned about their differences while conducting research for this project. Its significance lies in the terms’ inclusivity and origins.
Fariha: Social media played a role in the rise of hate crimes against Asian Americans as racist hashtags scapegoating them for the pandemic surfaced. However, it has also proven to be a powerful political outlet to spur action and diffuse negativity regarding these hates crimes.
Jane: I learned about the history of Asian Americans in the US and the different theories of why Pacific Islanders were grouped together with Asian Americans, which has drastically shaped the way I view AAPI discourse and inclusivity.

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Introduction (cont.)

How do you hope your project will impact the broader community (e.g., research, practitioner, ethnic, study population, etc.)? OR, how has the project impacted you personally?

Vicky: I hope my project will contribute to a larger network of research pertaining to Asian American hate. I hope it will bring awareness to this important issue and will educate others about important media terminology. The project has broadened my perspective on the experiences of Asian Americans and how their issues are perceived by others.
Fariha: Asian Americans are often times held as the ‘model minority’ and their racial issues are often ignored and there does not seem to be much research on it. I want our findings to spur a discussion on race-based traumatic stress Asian Americans experience.
Jane: This project has given me insight into the ways social media can be used to both combat prejudicial messages and start grassroot movements to advocate for change in public policy. It’s fascinating to see how social media activism, specifically hashtag activism, can have huge impacts nationally and across the world.

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#StopAsianHate and #StopAAPIHate Movement on Twitter

State-level Racially Motivated Hate Crimes Contrast Public Opinion on the #StopAsianHate and #StopAAPIHate Movement

This article examines the use of the two hashtags #StopAsianHate and #StopAAPIHate and their success in ending hate crimes against the Asian American and Pacific Islander community

A social media study of public opinion on the #StopAsianHate and #StopAAPIHate movement on Twitter across 30 US states from March to April of 2021
Denotes who the primary users of these hashtags are and how they use them

Source: https://arxiv.org/abs/2104.14536

Vicky

This publication examines the use of the two hashtags #StopAsianHate and #StopAAPIHate and their success in ending hate crimes against the Asian American and Pacific Islander community. The authors conducted a social media study of public opinion on the #StopAsianHate and #StopAAPIHate movement on Twitter across 30 US states from March to April of 2021. It denotes who are the primary users of these hashtags and how they use them.

For instance, the study found that 51.56% show direct support, 18.38% retweet news about anti-Asian crimes, 14.69% denounce anti-Asian racism, 8.37% discuss issues about double standard, 1.56% explicitly demand for policy change, while 5.43% express negative opinion against the #StopAsianHate and #StopAAPIHate movement.

They also found that among the states with most racial bias motivated hate crimes, the negative attitude towards the #StopAsianHate and #StopAAPIHate movement is the weakest. In other words, there was more support for the hashtags in areas where racially motivated hate crimes were prevalent. The rate of racial bias motivated hate crimes has a significant effect on negative opinion. People who have not encountered hate crimes might express negative opinions because they do not have the related-experience, along with the negative emotions.

Public opinion varies across user characteristics including gender, age, race/ethnicity as well as political affiliation. Women focus on specific issues while men discuss in a more general way. The Black and White communities point to each other as the ones to blame for the anti-Asian hate crimes. The White community resists by retweeting tweets that attribute the anti-Asian crimes to the Black community.

Black adults tend to retweet tweets that criticize white supremacy, more likely to discuss solidarity between them and Asian community. On the contrary, White adults are more likely to retweet tweets that attribute the anti-Asian crimes to Black community instead of white supremacy.

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#StopAsianHate and #StopAAPIHate Movement on Twitter

The #StopAsianHate Movement on Twitter: A Qualitative Descriptive Study

This article describes the origins of the hashtag #StopAsianHate as a nationwide counter movement to combat the Asian American hate crimes that had risen since the start of the pandemic

Found five common themes among #StopAsianHate tweets

“Asian hate is not new”
“Address the harm of racism”
“Get involved in #StopAsianHate”
“Appreciate the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community’s culture, history, and contributions”
“Increase the visibility of the AAPI community.”

Source: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/7/3757

BTS’ #StopAsianHate and #StopAAPIHate Tweet was the one of the most retweeted Tweets in 2021

Vicky

This article describes the origins of the hashtag #StopAsianHate as a nationwide counter movement to combat the Asian American hate crimes which have rapidly risen since the start of the pandemic.
It examines the contents of the tweets containing the hashtag #StopAsianHate. They screened 31,665 tweets to find 904 tweets were eligible for thematic analysis. Their analysis revealed five themes: “Asian hate is not new”, “Address the harm of racism”, “Get involved in #StopAsianHate”, “Appreciate the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community’s culture, history, and contributions” and “Increase the visibility of the AAPI community.”
Importance of the hashtag #StopAsianHate: #StopAsianHate tweets provide a viable starting point to enhance understanding of the lived experience of racism against AAs.
Importance of Twitter as a platform for research: Since its inception in 2006, Twitter has stood out as a unique source for big data because of its real-time nature and the ease of accessing and searching its publicly available information. Discussions about race and racism on Twitter are extremely rich, and the Twitter Developer Platform allows users to capture data in a convenient way. This allows researchers to track, capture, and analyze tweeters' responses and activities.
Tweets acknowledge that the COVID-19 pandemic has provided an opportunity for anti-Asian hate and other forms of racism to surface, often violently. Vulnerable groups in the AAPI community were disproportionately affected, including women and older adults.

BTS tweet touches upon two ideas: “Asian hate is not new” and “Address the harm of racism”

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#StopAsianHate: A content analysis of TikTok videos focused on racial discrimination against Asians and Asian Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic

This study presents a snapshot of the pressing issues and concerns present in a sample of TikTok videos supporting the movement to stop Asian hate. Prevalent themes in this sample included sharing incidents of Asian abuse and emphasized the desire to spread awareness on hate crimes Asians continue to experience.

Sinophobic hashtags referencing COVID-19 may be the first “mass violence” attempt waged on an entire racial/ethnic group through social media. While the violence reported in the media could have harmful effects on Asians and other marginalized groups , social media has proven to be a powerful political outlet to spur action and diffuse negativity

The data supports existing evidence on the prevalence of Asian hate and its association with COVID-19. The challenges and trauma faced by the Asian community from the sinophabia experienced after the start of the pandemic have gained national attention. Through spreading awareness on TikTok, racial discrimination and abuse stories are amplified.

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Beyond #StopAAPIHate: Expanding the Definition of Violence Against Asian Americans

Since 2020, the United States has seen an immense rise in anti-Asian violence. Large US cities have seen major increases in hate incidents against Asian Americans, with occurrences increasing by 150% between 2019 and 2020 In response, a public wave of support has erupted, with protests taking place across the country and the hashtag #StopAAPIHate being shared far and wide across the Internet.

Hate incidents have major impacts on the health of marginalized communities. They not only can impact physical and mental health at the immediate individual level but also can cause downstream effects on the long-term health of communities. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, hate incidents could spread COVID-19 through close contact, further exacerbate mental health issues, and add additional burden to already strained health care systems. As such, stopping and preventing anti-Asian violence is a crucial issue for the public health field to grapple with.

Historical violence
Systemic violence
Slow violence
State violence
Colonial violence
Internalized violence

Fariha

Since the pandemic, there has been a significant rise in anti-Asian violence, large cities like NY and SF especially saw 150% increase in hate crimes. As a response the public protested and #stopAAPIhate went viral. Hate incidents can have detrimental effects on the mental and physical healths of the affected communities.

Historical violence-The historical trauma of Japanese internment camps, the “yellow peril,” the Chinese Exclusion Act, and post-9/11 Islamophobic violence will continue to impact the health and well-being of generations to come.

Systemic violence- Systemic violence can include poverty and unemployment—Asian American women have had some the highest joblessness rates during the COVID-19 pandemic.7 It can include the US health- care system, which bars permanent residents from Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program eligibility until they’ve held a green card for five years.

Slow violence- another term for environmental pollution. disparities in the built environment, such as highways that have notoriously been purposefully built in low-income areas, crossing through Chinatowns across the country. It can include the effects of climate change, such as the fact that nearly all of those who died in New York City’s basement flooding because of Hurricane Ida were Asian residents.

State violence- Police violence

Colonial violence- Inextricably linked to state violence, war and imperialism have irrefutably shaped Asia and the US perception of Asian Americans. Much of Asian American hate is rooted in Sinophobia, Orientalism, and xenophobia. In addition, the state of Hawai’i and islands in the Pacific such as Guam and the Marshall Islands were ruthlessly colonized and used for acts of war by the United States.

Internalized violence- self-hate

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Aggravated Anti-Asian Hate Since COVID-19 and the #StopAsianHate Movement: Connection, Disjointness, and Challenges

“Thanks China Bat soup Coronavirus China virus Covid 19 Kung flu Wuhan clan Ch*ng Ch*ng coughs Flat faced fever Shanghai shivers Kung pow killer Sweet and sour sickness Poo poo lung Wet market weakness…” ***

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Aggregate data on topics likely to be associated with #StopAsianHate, using currently available data and predictive modeling
Sharp, obvious spike in social media support directly following an event perceived as Anti-Asian hate

Atlanta Spa Shooting: March 17, 2021

AND

After celebrity interaction

On March 29th, 2021, K-pop group BTS tweeted in support of #StopAsianHate and #StopAAPIHate
Popular topics linked with the #StopAsianHate movement include Asian celebrities such as Mark Tuan, Jay B, Eric Nam, Jackson Wang, Red Velvet, Wang Yibo

Counterspeech and Reactions to Hate

Jane

So, we’ve seen hate speech, but what about responses to anti-asian hate?

These two graphics might look familiar BUT they model support of the #StopAsianHate movement.

On top is the same word associated visualization, which tells us what phrases and topics are likely to be used in conjunction with #StopAsianHate

On the bottom is a graph that models tweets in support of #StopAsianHate in March of 2021

We can see two spikes in support, one from March 17th 2021, directly after the Atlanta Spa Shooting, which has been a heavily covered event frequently associated with Asian Hate, and one from March 29th 2021, right after KPop group BTS tweeted in support of #StopAsianHate and #StopAAPIHate.

I think it’s interesting to see just how impactful celebrities and people of influence can in a movement

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Whither the Asian American Coalition?

Rise of the Pan-Asian cultural identity in the 1960s
No longer just Japanese-American, Chinese-American, or Filipino-American but Asian-American
But how did this “Asian-American” label become the norm?
Orientalism? Racism? Solidarity within Asian communities? Socio-Political Reasons?
The evolution of the term Asian-American to AAPI-is it inclusive?

AANHPI (Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders) and APIDA (Asian Pacific Islander Desi Americans)-new terminology to specifically include certain groups

Flyer for the Yellow Symposium hosted by AAPA in 1969

AAPA at a Black Panther Rally in 1968

“We figured that if we rallied behind our own banner, behind an Asian American banner, we would have an effect on the larger public” ~Yuji Ichioka, co-founder of the AAPA

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Conclusions

Throughout different social media platforms, there were common themes among how the two hashtags were used. They were generally used to bring awareness to issues Asian Americans face and to show support for the Asian American community.

On Twitter, it was also used as a call for action. Many cited measures the government and people could take to alleviate or address the issue.
Video content related to hashtags

The two hashtags are viewed as interchangeable in studies on social media
Origins of the term: AAPI (Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders)

Social and Political Power?
Diversity and Inclusion?

Consolidation of AAPI as a group to combat hate

Are contemporary racists able to tell us apart?

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Citations

#StopAsianHate: A content analysis of TikTok videos focused on racial discrimination against Asians and Asian Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic

Author links open overlay panelErin T. Jacques a et al.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772653322000892

2023-06-09 Covering Hate Crimes Part 1.mp4

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1h-GuBJ9h3r2kfjK9tYfc5TsMR9Sj2LbM/view