SAG-AFTRA Stands Against Hate

Verbal Harassment. Vandalized businesses. Brutal physical assaults. Since the rise of the coronavirus at the beginning of this year, Asian Americans have been the targets of hostile behavior.

The fuel is a dangerous cocktail of fear, ignorance and racism, and the catalyst has been an atmosphere that’s increasingly permissive of overt racism. Rhetoric from cable news commentators and leaders in Washington, D.C., has been filled with references to COVID-19 as the “Kung Flu,” “Chinese virus” or the “Wuhan virus.”

SAG-AFTRA leaders knew they needed to take a stand. In a statement from Gabrielle Carteris, the SAG-AFTRA president said, in part, “We are seeing a shocking increase in hate crimes against Asian Americans, including shunning, racial profiling, verbal harassment and even physical assault. This is a time of high stress, but that is no excuse for discriminatory behavior. We are all Americans and we are all in this together.”

Carteris also called out the work of the SAG-AFTRA Asian Pacific American Media Committee, which has been instrumental in the union’s ongoing support of diversity and the Asian American Pacific Islander community.

Ren Hanami, the chair of that committee, grew up in Huntington Beach as a mixed-race girl in a community with little diversity. Her classmates derisively called her an “alien.”

“I wasn’t Asian, I wasn’t Japanese and I wasn’t white,” she said. “I was teased because I had curly hair and freckles, but I had almond-shaped eyes.”

Hanami has been a target of racism her whole life, and she is appalled by the recent resurgence of anti-Asian discrimination. But she also understands the powerful influence of SAG-AFTRA members to change hearts and minds.

In a SAG-AFTRA-produced video, several high-profile Asian American SAG-AFTRA members urge all members to speak out against xenophobia. Among them are broadcasters and performers, including Nightline anchor Juju Chang, actor Tzi Ma (Arrival), Lucy Liu (Elementary), Ken Jeong (Masked Singer), Hudson Yang (Fresh Off the Boat) and Carrie Ann Inaba (Dancing with the Stars).

Hanami said members should call out hateful actions and speech, and speak up to friends, colleagues and on social media.

“Spread the word and educate, educate, educate,” she said. “People have stood up for other people in public and saved lives.”

Sadly, the persecution of minority groups has plenty of historical precedence in America. “It’s as if people really haven’t learned anything. I can go back to World War II, where [people] — especially on the West Coast — were so hostile to anyone with an Asian face because they figured you were the enemy,” said SAG-AFTRA Vice President, Los Angeles, Clyde Kusatsu.

In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which relocated more than 100,000 people of Japanese ancestry — most of whom were American citizens — into internment camps. Sixty years earlier, President Chester A. Arthur signed the Chinese Exclusion Act, which prohibited immigration of Chinese laborers.

But whether it is Asians, Latinos, African Americans, or other groups, the cycles of hate can be predictable.

“I remember when 9-11 happened, the members of the Japanese American community knew what was coming down the road,” he said. They reached out to their Muslim friends and told them to be prepared for a wave of harassment — one that hasn’t really abated 19 years later.

“One would think we would have progressed more than we are today,” he said.

While hostility against Asians and Asian Americans may be making headlines at the moment due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the campaign is really about stopping hate and harassment in all its forms, no matter who is the target.

Hanami encourages SAG-AFTRA members of every ethnicity to take this as a call to action to make positive change.

“If you feel like you’re an ‘other’ or know someone who feels like they’re being treated like an ‘other’ — an ‘alien,’ like I was called — we can stand up for each other. We can actually change the world.”

This item originally featured in the SAG-AFTRA magazine spring 2020 issue.