Corona Crisis Exposing Minnesota Racism Against Asian- Americans

Something I Said 

By DWIGHT HOBBES 

For a place touted as a bounty of multiculturalism, Minnesota can be downright reactionary and racist. It is doubtful, for instance, that had the corona virus originated in, say, Sweden or Switzerland, blue eyed blondes would be targeted for harassment. Yet, the Minnesota State Bar Association (MSBA) has had to denounce increasing racist attacks and xenophobic profiling of Asian-Americans, backlash for the pandemic against people who, for all they know, had never even been to China much less caused this crisis. 

Consider. A St. Paul-based nonprofit held an online discussion on discrimination against Asian Americans during this pandemic, but scrapped it due to the overwhelming presence of derogatory remarks posted. Hardly in keeping with locale known for being socially progressive and ethnically inclusive. Xaria Vang, 23, bought a Taser gun after a stranger confronted her in a St. Paul butcher shop. Vang isn”™t even of Chinese extraction: she”™s Hmong. 

Clearly, this state, the Twin Cities in particular, which breaks an arm patting itself on the for supposedly standing for equality is just as backwardly Neanderthal in its attitudes and behavior as places like: New York City where a woman was punched and called “diseased”; Plymouth, Indiana where a pair of Hmong men were refused hotel accommodations; a Texas town where an Asian family were knifed (father and son slashed across the face) while trying to grocery shop.… Read the rest “Corona Crisis Exposing Minnesota Racism Against Asian- Americans”