In the viewpoint essay, How I Learned to Speak Up About Anti-Asian Racism, Jason Eric Cheng his frustrations with not only the way Asians have been treated due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but also the response of the Asian community to these hate crimes. He also provides solutions in his own workspace as a psychiatric resident program director.

In the magazine article from The Horn Book Magazine, From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry: The Killing of Vincent Chin and the Trial That Galvanized the Asian American Movement, Paula Yoo looks to educate the readers about the height of Anti-Asian Hate Crimes in the 80’s. She shines light on how Vincent Chin’s death sparked the first ever Asian American Civil Rights Trial.

In the article, Reckoning with America’s Alarming Rise in Anti-Asian Hate, from the Clinical Psychiatry Newsletter, author Lorenzo Norris raises concern for the alarming rise of Asian Hate Crimes in the US. The author references data from dating back only two years also looks at his personal level of education on the topic as someone who is not Asian.

In the academic journal, Discrimination in the United States: Experiences of Asian Americans, from the Health Services Research talk about the leadup to the rampant rise in Asian hate crimes. The journal is broken down into 4 sections with subsections in between talking about the socio-economic leadups to hate crimes.

Rhetorical Situation

The author felt the need to write this essay due to the recent events. Prior to him writing this, there was a major anti-Asian hate crime that led to the deaths of six Asian victims in an Asian salon. Since these unfortunate series of events had taken place before the essay was written and the essay also mentions the exact same event, this article gained traction due to the increase in anti-Asian hate crime searches at the time. The author of this article being an Asian man who has also encountered racism, makes this essay a good reference for those looking to educate themselves on this topic.

The need for this magazine article is imperative if society wants to learn where it all started. The author, who is an American Asian who grew up at the same time as the victim mentioned in the magazine article. She also was able to interview the victim’s, that she wrote about, family which makes this a credible source.

The article was written to address the research community to do some more research on the topic of Asian Hate crime, but also to address the psychiatric community to start research into the emotion of hate. Furthermore, the paper sites data from multiple institutions and the author uses his personal experiences and opinions on the matter. However, what separates this source from the others, the author is not an Asian and his personal experiences involving Asian hate crimes are very different to that of the other articles.

The journal goes in depth into the disparities between the Asian community and others, like the white community. The journal also presents data on income, racist encounters, household size, and etc to leave no variance in data out. This is all to shine a light on the hate crimes that Asians Americans face. The article was peer reviewed and used many other accredited references to base their research on, making this accredited research.

The Purpose

The viewpoint essay was written in hopes to shine a light on the rampant Asian Hate crimes and to lead as an example. The author, Jason Eric Cheng, wants to mobilize the Asian American community in combatting the hate and to create solutions in their own communities, something that he has done in his own workspace as a psychiatric resident program director. In the end the author describes how challenging it was to share his experience and encourages himself to keep fighting, which will in turn encourage others to fight for their rights as well.

This magazine article was written with the same purpose as the previously mentioned essay. The author is also an Asian American who had grown up during the time that she is writing about. Her main message was to voice concerns for the rampant rise of Asian hate crimes and to remember Vincent Chin who, although unfortunately was murdered, helped set in motion the civil rights movement for all other Asian Americans.

The purpose of both academic journals is to more to provide data on the rampant rise of Asian hate crimes. The difference between the two journals is that one of them is taking a more psychiatric approach, using personal and secondhand experiences. Whereas the other journal from the Health Services Research is using a variety of data to show the rampant rise in Asian hate crimes in America. Nonetheless, both academic journals’ purpose is to present the rise in Asian hate crimes. The overall purpose of each of these sources are all the same, and it is to shine light on the overlooked topic of Asian hate crimes in America.

The Audience

Although all the sources have the same purpose, the audience is different for some of them. The viewpoint essay, How I Learned to Speak Up About Anti-Asian Racism, audience is mostly other Asians and the general public. The author shared his experience to encourage others to stand up for themselves and find a voice in all of this prejudice. The author, Paula Yoo, for, From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry: The Killing of Vincent Chin and the Trial That Galvanized the Asian American Movement, wrote this magazine article in order to shed light on what started the civil rights movement for Asian Americans and the audience is also predominately Asian, but is also geared towards the general public. Overall, both authors do an effective job in addressing the Asian American audience and those who understand the trauma within the community.

The audience of both academic journals are similar to each other. The audience is predominately the academic community. The author of, Reckoning with America’s Alarming Rise in Anti-Asian Hate, and, Discrimination in the United States: Experiences of Asian Americans both use data to present and back their points up. Data is something that a small minority of the general public is inclined to read and attempt to interpret, whereas the academic community is accustomed to reading data. Therefore, most of the audience that the two authors of the academic journals are trying to address are those in academia so that more research and institutional changes can be made to combat Asian hate crime.

The Genre

The genre of all four sources is very different. The viewpoint essay was written by a psychiatric resident program leader, who is not trying to appeal to a specific audience but is able to appeal to the general public. The genre of, How I Learned to Speak Up About Anti-Asian Racism, is an opinion piece, where the author was giving his own opinion and trying to inspire the general public to speak out on the rampant rise of Asian hate crimes. The genre of the second source is an informative article. The article was published by a well-established magazine and edited which shares aspects from the other sources that it was peer-reviewed. The third source is a peer-reviewed article published in a Psychiatry newsletter. Although the article is a call to action for the psychiatric community to do more research on hate, it is also to respond to the Asian hate crimes that has been on the rise. The fourth article is an academic journal. It has an abstract that summarizes the bulk of the information and refers to other studies, research papers, and data on income, racist encounters, household size, etc. This is different to the others however, since this academic journal does not have personal experiences.

Work Cited

Cheng, Jason Eric. “How I Learned to Speak Up About Anti-Asian Racism.” Annals of Family Medicine, vol. 20, no. 4, July-Aug. 2022, pp. 374+. Gale Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A712558418/AONE?u=cuny_ccny&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=19599fb5. Accessed 14 Sept. 2022.

McMurtry, Caitlin L., et al. “Discrimination in the United States: Experiences of Asian Americans.” Health Services Research, vol. 54, no. 6, Dec. 2019, pp. 1419+. Gale Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A609143898/AONE?u=cuny_ccny&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=f79b8d3b. Accessed 14 Sept. 2022.

Norris, Lorenzo. “Reckoning with America’s alarming rise in anti-Asian hate.” Clinical Psychiatry News, vol. 49, no. 10, Oct. 2021, p. 12. Gale Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A681947497/AONE?u=cuny_ccny&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=1e481f98. Accessed 14 Sept. 2022.

Yoo, Paula. “From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry: The Killing of Vincent Chin and the Trial That Galvanized the Asian American Movement.” The Horn Book Magazine, vol. 98, no. 1, Jan.-Feb. 2022, pp. 32+. Gale Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A691002740/AONE?u=cuny_ccny&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=26b2c5c2. Accessed 14 Sept. 2022.