What is the Asian Diaspora?

The word diaspora is defined as “people settled far from their ancestral homelands.” It is those of us that are no longer in our “home” land or in the space where our ethnic rituals, cultures, foods, religions and/or social practices are the majority. There are 48 Asian countries, each with separate and distinct identities within those countries. While some of our cultural practices, foods, and beliefs may overlap, we each have profound and historically rich and vastly varying differences. 

In China alone, there are eight major Chinese dialects. They include Putonghua (Mandarin), Yue (Cantonese), Wu (Shanghainese), Minbei (Fuzhou), Minnan (Taiwanese), Xiang, Gan and Hakka and many sub-dialects (that number into the hundreds). Because I am ethnically Chinese but my mother is from Taiwan and my father from Malaysia, my identity has long been fraught with understanding which spaces I feel akin or (dis)agree because of my American status, with Chinese culture, much less Chinese policy. 

When I visit my mother’s family, they would not understand my father’s dialect Hakka and vice versa with my mother’s dialect of Taiwanese. As an English-speaking American, you are not expected to speak German when you step off the plane, and as such, Asian languages are so vastly different, they would not be expected to understand one another, even within a main language. 

Burmese Family in Midland, Texas

On March 24, 2020, a perpetrator believing a Burmese family to be of Chinese-descent, took two knives while shopping from Sam’s Club. He punched a father with knife in hand and then slashed his 6 year old’s son, R.C.’s face, 2 mm from his right eye, through his ear to the back of his skull. The perpetrator also stabbed a Sam’s Club who tried to stop him from (he later admitted), killing R.C. while his 2 year old brother witnessed the violence. When the attempted murderer was apprehended he yelled “Get out of America.”

Vicha Ratanapakdee in San Francisco, CA

Thai-American, Vicha Ratanapakdee, 84, was walking the morning of January 28, 2021 in San Francisco when he was forcefully pushed to the ground, hitting his head on the pavement and succumbing to his injury shortly after in the hospital. On June 14th, 2022, his family and friends started a rally to mark the 500th day since his death, calling for justice and action on the days the hearings for his murderer take place.

The Murders of Delaina Ashley Yaun, Paul Andre Michels, Xiaojie Tan, Daoyou Feng, Hyn Jung Grant, Suncha Kim, Soon Chung Park, and Yong Ae Yue outside of Atlanta, GA

On March 16, 2021, a madman committed atrocities at three massage businesses, killing 8 people, 6 of them of Asian descent. Acts of violence against Asian-Americans spiked again after the reporting of this incident.

The first occurred at Young's Asian Massage, a massage parlor near Acworth at 3:38 pm ET and lasted for 1 hour and 12 minutes. The victim’s names were Delaina Ashley Yaun, 33; Paul Andre Michels, 54; Xiaojie Tan, 49; and Daoyou Feng, 44. At 5:47 pm ET, 30 miles away from the site of the first shooting, police responded to a robbery call at Gold Massage Spa and found the bodies of  Hyun Jung Grant, 51; Suncha Kim, 69; and Soon Chung Park, 74. Immediately following they received calls of a shooting across the street Aromatherapy Spa, where Yong Ae Yue, 63 was found dead.

According to a report from national Korean newspaper The Chosun Ilbo, a Gold Massage Spa employee who escaped from the store during the shooting stated that the shooter said, "I'm going to kill all Asians.”

Xiao Zhen Xie in San Francisco, CA

On March 17, 2021, Chinese-American Xiao Zhen Xie, 75,  was waiting to cross the street when her assaulter punched her in the face. She found a wooden plank and hit him squarely in the face with it. He was later taken away by stretcher and charged with Xiao and another elder’s hate act he had committed earlier in the day. On a viral video, Xia can be heard saying “This bum, he hit me!” With her mounting medical bills a GoFundMe page was started which is now nearing $1 million.

Michelle Go in New York City, NY

On January 15, 2022 at 9:40 am, 40 year old, Chinese-American Michelle Go was waiting for the New York City subway R train at Times Square/42nd Street when she was pushed from behind onto the tracks of the oncoming subway. Michelle worked for Deloitte in mergers and acquisitions and was a volunteer at the New York Junior League for over a decade.

Christina Yuna Lee in New York City, NY

Korean-American Christina Yuna Lee, 35, was followed into her apartment on February 13, 2022 after entering her building at around 4 a.m. and was stabbed more than 40 times. She was found dead in her bathtub by police at 4:30 a.m. after screams for help brought no one in the building to her defense. Christina was  a senior creative producer at the digital music platform Splice with an art history degree from Rutgers University.

Unidentified Vietnamese-American woman in Yonkers, NY

On March 11, 2022, a 67 year old Vietnamese-American woman was entering the vestibule of her Yonkers, NY apartment building when her neighbor knocked her to the ground, punched her over 125 times, kicked her 7 times and spat on her while yelling derogatory Asian expletives. The unnamed victim suffered “sustained broken bones in her face, bleeding on the brain and numerous cuts and bruises on her head and face,” according to officials. This was captured on surveillance camera.

Four Asian Women in Manhattan, NY

On June 11, 2022, four Asian women were pepper-sprayed in the face by a female assailant while she yelled xenophobic comments on the street because they stood near where she was sitting. The assailant has been indicted on eight counts of assault in the third degree as a hate crime and four counts of aggravated harassment in the second degree.

Anders Fung in San Francisco, CA

On June 12, 2022, Chinese-American Anders Fung was hiking in San Francisco with his family when a large chunk of concrete was dropped from a bridge above and hit Anders in the head, — leaving him with a cervical disc herniation to his neck and a 2-inch gash to his skull.

Loi Nguyen in Philadelphia, PA

On June 21, 2022 at around 5 a.m., Vietnamese-American Loi Nguyen, 77, was shot in the head while going out for his morning walk in Philadelphia. Loi was a beloved community member known for exercising before sunrise.