The Guardian |
Commentary Magazine "Everyone knows that there is currently an ongoing wave of white-supremacist attacks against Asian Americans—but there isn’t. Following a genuine rise in violent crimes targeting Asians in 2020, major media outlets such as CNN have been consistently beating the drum of “pro-Trump” anti-Asian violence for months, while large urban marches have been organized around the theme of blacks and Asians together taking on the “white supremacy” allegedly threatening both communities. A few hours going through relevant data, however, puts the lie to this narrative.
. . . "Still, the idea that violence against Asians is the work of violent Trump supporters and fellow travelers—MAGA-hatted Proud Boys and the like—has become axiomatic. On March 18, 2021, CNN.com’s Stephen Collinson provided a comprehensive summary in a piece containing distinct subheads labeled “THE WHITE SUPREMACIST THREAT” and “HOW MUCH IS TRUMP TO BLAME?” Collinson summed up the nature of today’s violence against Asians accurately (“lives being taken”) before going on to describe Asian Americans as facing “a torrent of dangerous and racially motivated rhetoric by national figures on a cultural crusade” and as experiencing “the agony of yet another minority group left to question its place in America…amid cresting white nationalism.” . . .