Every May, Kent State University at Geauga and the Twinsburg Academic Center celebrates Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month. This year, the observance is weighted by current Asian-American animosity fueled by misinformation and xenophobia. As the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic are associated with countries in Asia, the racial language and the acts of hate and violence against those of Asian descent have intensified. Kent State Geauga stands in solidarity with Asian-Americans to celebrate their heritage and to help dissolve the hate rooted in misinformation.
Two professionals from Kent State Geauga, along with several colleagues, traditionally participate in the cultural heritage events throughout the month of May. Professor Mahli Mechenbier is a senior lecturer of English at the Kent State University Twinsburg Academic Center (TAC). She also was adopted by a German American couple after being rescued from a roadside in South Vietnam. She was brought to the United States as part of Operation Baby Lift during the Fall of Saigon.
Susan Mark-Sracic, Counseling Specialist in Enrollment Management and Student Services, provides academic success support, counseling, wellness and mental health services to students at the Twinsburg Academic Center. Born in America to Chinese immigrant parents, Mark-Sracic says that the cultural differences between herself and Professor Mechenbier may be more plentiful than their similarities, but to the common eye, they are lumped together in one group.
RACISM: CREATING DIVISION WITHIN THE HUMAN RACE
“There are so many voices and cultural differences within this Asian American-Pacific Islander group,” Mark-Sracic says. Regardless, individuals within this broad group have all experienced exclusion — if not racism — simply due to their visual features, she explains. It speaks to society’s desire to pull ‘different’ people apart, to segregate and exclude them.
As Prof. Mechenbier puts it, “Whatever you look like is what you are,” according to popular perception in America. In other words, “Society dictates how they interpret you — by hue.
Both Prof. Mechenbier and Mark-Sracic describe slights and insults they and their family members have endured over the years, but have taken on more aggressive overtones since the onset of the pandemic.
Mark-Sracic has entered public places only to have other people turn around and leave or intimidate her with comments such as, “Go home” or “You don’t belong here.” Never mind that she is in her home country. She does belong here!
One of her daughters, who is biracial but looks predominantly Asian, works in the health care field. She has had patients request that they not be treated by her.
This has been going on for years, but shame and embarrassment keep such incidents unaddressed, unreported, and uncounted. “As a collective personality, Asian women don’t speak up,” says Prof. Mechenbier.
“Our gut response is to be silent so we don’t get sucker-punched,” adds Mark-Sracic “We just keep our head down, keep quiet and survive. Now, while the older generation keeps quiet, the younger generations want justice. Now is the time to be vocal; to look out for and speak up for one another. Our silence has actually damaged our survival.”
QUIET DISCOMFORT ESCALATES INTO VIOLENT RACISM
While uncomfortable interactions in public places have been tolerated for generations, subtle slights have accelerated into outright racist violence across the country since the pandemic broke out in Wuhan, China at the close of 2019.
Usage of the derogatory terms “Wuhan virus,” “Wuhan flu” and “China virus” have stoked animosity toward people of Asian descent. (The official designation of “COVID-19” was deliberately chosen to prevent anti-Asian sentiment and racial targeting.) Anti-Asian hate crimes have been on the rise across the country, as recently evidenced by the killing of six Asian women in March by a gunman in Atlanta.
Also, despite the fact that overall hate crimes in America dropped 7% in 2020, anti-Asian hate crimes more than doubled (according to a study from California State University, San Bernardino’s Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism).
NO HOME FOR HATE AT KENT STATE
Due to these uncomfortable social interactions at best — and racist violence at worst — Kent State Geauga is providing a safe place to build support and address the discomfort of the current anti-Asian American climate in society.
First, in celebration of diversity, virtual cultural awareness events in observance of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month are as follows at Kent State Geauga/TAC:
Timeless Traditions: Expressions of the Divine in Indian Art - Asian Art Museum
Monday, May 3, 2021
12:30 - 1:30 p.m.
Register Now for Timeless Traditions
Hidden Meanings in Chinese Art - Asian Art Museum
Wednesday, May 5, 2021
3:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Register Now for Hidden Meanings in Chinese Art
Throughout the Kent State University system, a new Asian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander Faculty and Staff Alliance has been formed. This group will raise the profile of the large, diverse and valuable Asian and Asian American community at Kent State, increase their appreciation on campus and give them the power and support of a united front.
On April 7, a Stand Together Against Hate Rally was organized by the alliance to memorialize and support victims of hate violence. For more information about the alliance, contact Amoaba Gooden, Ph.D., Interim Vice President for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, at agooden@kent.edu.
University-wide, additional resources can provide support, including the Geauga and Twinsburg Academic Center Counseling Services, and the Counseling Center, the Psychological Clinic, Counseling and Psychological Services and Kent State Police Services. Visit the Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion’s website for additional resources for combating racism and learning to serve as an ally to others.