Asian-White Mixed Identity after COVID-19: Racist Racial Projects and the Effects on Asian Multiraciality

Abstract

With the onset of the Coronavirus and racist statements about the origins of COVID-19 in 9 China there has been a surge in anti-Asian discrimination in the United States. The U.S. case is worthy of special focus because of former President Trump’s explicit racist rhetoric, referring to the 11 Coronavirus as the “China virus” and “Kung-flu”. This rise in anti-Asian discrimination has led to 12 a heightened awareness of racism against Asians and a corollary increase in AAPI activism. Based 13 on survey and in-depth interview data with Asian-White multiracials, we examine how recent 14 spikes in anti-Asian hate has shifted Asian-White multiracials to have a more heightened awareness 15 of racism and a shift in their racial consciousness. We theorize how multiracials intermediary sta-16 tus on the racial hierarchy can be radically shifted at any moment in relation to emerging racist 17 racial projects, which has broader implications for the status of mixed people globally.

1. Introduction

In 2020, anti-Asian hate crimes in the United States rose more than 73%, according to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report, a disproportionate increase compared to the 13% increase in hate crimes in general (Yam 2021). AAPI Data, a non-profit policy and research group, reports that over 2 million AAPI (Asian American/Pacific Islander) individuals have been victims of hate crimes since the COVID-19 pandemic began (Stop AAPI Hate 2021). Another policy and research organization, Stop AAPI Hate (SAH), reports a total of 10,370 hate crimes against AAPI individuals between 19 March 2021 and 30 September 2021. Pew Research Center also reported on the increase in racism against Asian Americans. The 2021 report shows that 81% of Asian Americans say violence against them is increasing, and 45% reported that they experienced an incident tied to their racial or ethnic background since the pandemic began (Ruiz et al. 2021). This rise in anti-Asian hate is linked to the racist rhetoric that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic, which blamed the origin of the virus on China and on AAPI communities in general. Partisan media bias that debated the seriousness of the pandemic and its consequences on the economy led to the stigmatization of Asian Americans (Cho et al. 2021). Many of these sentiments were spurred on by U.S. President Trump. In March of 2020, he posted a tweet that read, “The United States will be powerfully, supporting those industries, like Airlines and others, that are particularly affected by the Chinese Virus. We will be stronger than ever before!” Then, in June 2020, Trump referred to the virus as the “kung flu” (BBC News n.d.). Such comments and subsequent similar ones from Trump and his administration fueled already existing anti-Asian bias and stereotypes, particularly in social media (Chiu 2020). According to Hswen et al. (2021), the weeks before and after Trump’s tweets saw a significant increase in anti-Asian hashtags: one-fifth of hashtags mentioning #covid19 included anti-Asian views and one-half of hashtags with #Chinesevirus included anti-Asian sentiments.

Given these events, we are interested in how this pandemic-invoked racism against Asian communities has affected the racial awareness and racial identity of Asian-White multiracials. Prior to the pandemic, many scholars suggested that Asian Americans and, in particular, Asian-White multiracials were increasingly moving toward Whiteness and possibly merging into the White racial group (Alba 2020; Bonilla-Silva 2006; Gallagher 2004; Strmic-Pawl 2016). However, we theorize that recent anti-Asian hate has operated as a racist racial project that has interrupted this process and shifted the racial logics of Asian-White multiracials. Through 40 survey responses and five in-depth interviews with participants who identify one biological parent as Asian and one biological parent as White, we find a significant portion of our sample report increased awareness of and sensitivity to racism and do not feel they are White. By focusing on how racism is sha** racial awareness and, thereby, racial group membership, this article projects that pandemic-related racism has altered the movement of Asian-Whites away from Whiteness.

2. Literature Review

We briefly review three areas of scholarship that frames our findings: the formation of Asian Americans as a group, the general characteristics of Asian-White mixedness, and the debate over Asian-Whites assimilating or moving into Whiteness. Together, these areas of scholarship inform our study of how anti-Asian hate shapes the contemporary experiences of Asian-White multiracials and, thereby, their status on the racial hierarchy.

2.1. Asian Americans

Asian American is a pan-ethnic identity that encapsulates a wide range of national backgrounds such as Chinese, Indian, Japanese, Korean, Laotian, and Vietnamese. While many perceive Asian Americans as a relatively new population in the United States, this “forever foreigner” attribution is a long-standing stereotype and a myth. Asian communities have been in the United States since the 1800s, on agricultural farms and then later hel** to build the railroads and opening up their own independent shops (Espiritu 2000; Takaki 1993). Asians were racialized as soon as they came to the United States, with Whites describing Chinese men who arrived in the mid-1800s as morally inferior, savage, and untrustworthy, while Chinese women were condemned as a depraved class (Chan 1991; Childs 2009; Espiritu 2000; Takaki 1993). Asian communities were targeted with anti-immigration acts and limited pathways to citizenship in the 1800s and early 1900s. For example, in 1875, Congress passed the Page Law that denied entry to Chinese and Mongolian women who were defined as prostitutes, and later laws (1903, 1907, 1917) allowed for Chinese women to be deported if suspected of prostitution. Chinese women were singled out as prostitutes based on a White racist fear that they would bring in virulent strains of diseases, particularly venereal ones (Chan 1991; Childs 2009; Espiritu 2000). These racialized stereotypes were further used as justification to ban interracial marriage between Whites and Asians in 14 states (Childs 2009; Curington 2016).

It was not until after the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 that a new wave of Asian immigrants came to the United States, many of whom were highly educated and middle to upper class. Since then, the Asian population in the United States has dramatically increased, from 11.9 million in 2000 to 22.4 million in 2019 and a projected population of 46 million by 2060; currently, Asians are about 7% of the nation’s population (Budiman and Ruiz 2021). The success of these recent waves of Asian immigrants and their descendants led to the contemporary imagery of a “model minority” that depicts AAPIs as high achieving in terms of education and income, which is then used to imply they are a “model” for other communities of color to subscribe to (Chou and Feagin 2015; Wu 2015). In reality, many AAPI communities do succeed in these areas. For example, over half of all Asians in the United States (25 and older) have a Bachelor’s degree or higher compared with 33% of the general population, and the median household income for all U.S. households is USD $61,800 but USD $85,800 for Asians. Yet, such statistics can gloss over important differences among Asian Americans; for example, the annual household income of Burmese is USD $44,000, and only 15% of Bhutanese have a college degree compared to an average household income of USD $94,000 for Filipinos, and 75% of Indians with a college degree (Budiman and Ruiz 2021). Furthermore, Asian Americans are projected to be the fastest-growing immigrant group in the United States, but most Japanese are U.S.-born, at 73%, while the vast majority of Bhutanese are foreign-born. We emphasize the differences within Asian American communities to highlight the distinct barriers and opportunities that different Asian ethnic groups face while also recognizing that Asian Americans, as a recognized collective, face anti-Asian discrimination.

The formation of a pan-ethnic Asian American identity, sometimes also known as Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI), is partially a response to discrimination and an effort to bring attention to the collective. Asian Americans uniquely face a set of contradicting stereotypes that center on being a model minority and yet forever foreigner at the same time (Lee and Kye 2016; Ng et al. 2016). For example, on the one hand, they are told they should receive Affirmative Action because they have too many spots in elite colleges, and yet they are presumed to not be proficient in English. Likewise, Asian Americans are the group whom Whites segregate from the least, and yet many of their cultural traditions are not understood, appreciated, or integrated into White society (Alba 2020; Chang 2016; Chong 2021; Chou and Feagin 2015). It is important to recognize that Asian Americans have not been passive in accepting such labels and presumptions. There is a long history of activism with Asian American communities, especially protests and demonstrations as a tool of political action among new immigrant groups (Ông and Meyer 2008). Previous research emphasizes the connection between racial self-awareness and activism among Asian Americans, finding that Asian Americans who strongly connect to their racial group are more likely to engage in political activism. Several other factors are indicators of Asian American activism, including personal experiences with race and racism and awareness of structural racism (Tran and Curtin 2017). The activism of the Asian American community is not limited to in-group action; in recent times, the rise of Asian discrimination in the face of COVID-19 has influenced a larger racial awareness and an alignment of values with the BLM movement (Litam and Chan 2021; Merseth 2018).

2.2. Asian-White Mixedness

While much of the mixedness scholarship centers on Black-White communities, the second most studied mixed-race group is that of Asian and Whites. Historically speaking, like other mixed-race communities, Asian-White children were considered “mongrels,” and mixed Asian-White children often ended up in orphanages (Spickard 1989; Takaki 1993). After WWII, the perception of mixed Asians began to shift, and laws changed that allowed military personnel to bring their wives and children to the U.S. (Min 2006; Takaki 1993). Furthermore, as Asian communities began to increasingly do well in education and income, both monoracial Asian Americans and Asian-White communities were more welcomed among Whites. Currently, the Asian-White population is significant as it is the second-largest two-race, part-White population at 22%, and 14% of the Asian population identifies as multiracial, non-Hispanic (Pew Research Center 2015).

The factors that have been shown to shape Asian-White identity are similar to those documented for other mixed communities: family socialization, cultural celebrations, and phenotype (Chang 2016; Khanna 2004). For Asian-Whites specifically, a few factors tend to exert a strong influence: language acquisition, cultural knowledge, and phenotype. First, whether Asian-Whites are fluent in, or at least familiar with, an Asian-based language shapes how connected one feels to Asian identity. Those who are fluent in an Asian-based language are more likely to see themselves as Asian or multiracial (Saenz et al. 1995). Two, general cultural knowledge of a particular ethnic background also plays a factor. For example, the celebration of a festival such as Chinese New Year or knowing how to cook certain foods makes an Asian multiracial identity more common. Third, one’s phenotype, including skin-tone complexion but also eye shape, nose shape, and hair color, also plays a significant role. Asian-Whites’ own perception of their phenotype, as well as how they believe others perceive their racial identity affects to what degree they see themselves as Asian American and have commonalities with other Asian Americans (Khanna 2004).

When it comes to racial identity and perceived closeness with Asian Americans and with Whites, previous research shows a complex picture. On the one hand, Asian-Whites often report feeling significant commonalities with Whites, and Asian-Whites often mark White on the Census (Harris and Sim 2002; Saenz et al. 1995, ** White-like racial attitudes befitting their new social position and differentiating (distancing) themselves from the ‘collective black’” (Gallagher 2004, p. 937). We refer to this shift in thoughts on race and racism as racial logics.

In a previous study that examined the racial logics of Asian-White multiracials, one of the authors of this paper, Strmic-Pawl (2016), reveals how Asian-Whites exhibit racial logics similar to Whites. She built upon research on White racial ideologies by scholars such as Bonilla-Silva (2006), Doane (2003), and Hale (2010) to identify White racial logics with which Asian-White multiracials tend to align: a sense of “feeling normal” and non-racialized, a perception that residential segregation among Whites is natural, and a belief that racism in contemporary society is not a massive barrier to people of color. Based on their adoption of these White racial logics, strmic-pawl thus described Asian-White multiracials’ status on the racial hierarchy as “White Enough” rather than “Honorary White”. “White Enough” more accurately captures how “Asian-Whites are White enough on most occasions to feel normal and attain the benefits of White networks, but their Asianness can still be highlighted at will by others” (Strmic-Pawl 2016, p. 90). Indeed, what we saw over the course of the pandemic was how Asianness was “highlighted at will” by Whites and how Asian Americans were re-racialized as deviant. In this vein, we see anti-Asian hate spurred by the pandemic as a racist racial project (Omi and Winant 2014). This racist racial project then connected to a shift in Asian-Whites’ racial awareness and movement away from White racial logics. Moreover, we also saw the potential for AAPI communities to align themselves (more) with the fight for justice through their attendance at Black Lives Matter events. Recent conversations on how AAPI communities are coalition building with Black Lives Matter while Black communities are supporting “Stop Asian Hate” and related events support our finding that Asian-White multiracials are not aligned with the majority of Whites who lack support for BLM (Asian American Advocacy Fund n.d.; Browning and Chen 2021; Horowitz 2021; Song and O’Donnell 2021). If this trend were to continue, it would pose a significant rupture in the projection of Asian-White multiracials merging into Whiteness.

The anti-Asian hate, largely spurred by the hate rhetoric and racialization of COVID as the “China virus”, was directed at all Asians, regardless of ethnicity, including Asian-White multiracials. We thus saw how this racial discrimination was linked to participants embracing their Asianness, feeling distance from Whites, and identifying as multiracial (not White). It is, therefore, possible that Asian-White multiracials are undergoing a (re)racialization as further from Whiteness. Racialization is a layered process in which race and ethnicity are combined with changing social, economic, and demographic realities to construct racial groups in ways that benefit Whites. Just as Middle Easterners were racialized as Brown, foreign, and more specifically as anti-American Muslim terrorists after 9/11 (Beydoun 2018; Zopf 2018), Asians went from “model minority” and arguably “honorary White” right back to being perceived as a “foreign virus” or “disease” as a result of the Coronavirus global pandemic. These are markedly the same racialized stereotypes Asian immigrants struggled against in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

While we are still early in documenting the myriad effects of how the pandemic affected monoracial and multiracial AAPI communities, there are already many studies that align with our findings. For example, Wu et al. (2021) document the disproportionate impact on the mental health of Asians and Asian Americans; Roberto et al. (2020) theorize how Asian communities have been “othered” and the negative treatment they have faced; Wang et al. (2021) show how Chinese communities in France have united in taking more activist roles against racism; and Elias et al. (2021) “contextualize racism under COVID-19” to show the effects of the increase in pandemic-related racism on group relations and boundaries. Furthermore, the newly drawn boundaries between Asian Americans and Whites are supported by research on Asian Americans that shows how an increase in felt racial discrimination against one’s group is highly linked to more restrictive group boundaries (Casarez et al. 2022; Gibson 2022). We thus argue that Asian multiracials’ intermediary status on the racial hierarchy can be radically shifted at any moment in relation to emerging racist racial projects, which is what occurred during the pandemic. We also argue that this finding has broader implications for the status of mixed people globally as backlashes against progress occur across different national contexts.

5.2. Limitations and Future Research

We recognize that our findings are limited by our reliance on a survey that was mostly composed of closed-ended questions. While the survey resulted in a large response rate, it limited the types of questions we could ask. However, we were able to ask some questions that reflected temporal shifts in thinking by referring to pre and post pandemic. We also conducted five follow-up interviews that resulted in the affirmation of our survey findings. Our data thus serve as an important indication and step in the direction of further research that needs to occur. We suggest several particular areas for future research: comparisons between Asian-White multiracials of different class statuses as it is possible those of a lower SES may feel this shift in their racial consciousness even more acutely; comparisons among Asian-White multiracials and other mixed Asian communities to see the effects of recent anti-Asian hate on non-White multiracial Asians; and investigations into how Asian-White multiracials may be more supportive of BLM and related movements in connection with their own experiences of anti-Asian hate.