BTOB’s Peniel puts spotlight on rise in racism & attacks on Asian-Americans

BTOB’s Peniel recently used his platform recently to bring attention to the increase in attacks on Asian-Americans in recent weeks. Though people have only started to speak out now, it has been an issue since the COVID-19 pandemic due to people blaming China for the outbreak and thus to racists just everybody who looks remotely Asian.

Others have recently started to speak up about this to bring attention to the issue.

The amount of hate, racism, and blame for COVID towards the Asian community is disgusting. The fact that this topic is not very widely covered makes me concerned. I only found videos and information because I was scrolling through my IG feed and by some algorithm it appeared.

— NaomiOsaka大坂なおみ (@naomiosaka) February 7, 2021

This week a Thai American was MURDERED, a Viet grandmother was assaulted & a Fillipino American was slashed across the face. Mainstream media does not spotlight our stories. Racism Kills. @CNN @MSNBC @maddowshow @andersoncooper cover us! We are dying to be heard. #justiceforvicha pic.twitter.com/P4OHZuwZjU

— Amanda 🚀 (@nguyen_amanda) February 6, 2021

I got a chance to speak with an elementary school teacher subjected to a racist tirade. "The part that was scariest was when he was like, 'I've a rock for your head'." #StopAAPIHate recorded 2,000+ anti-Asian incidents nationally. Latest on @newsy. Warning graphic content. pic.twitter.com/kJadpr9ubs

— Cat Sandoval (@mcatsandoval) July 23, 2020

For those who keep track of Asian-American news, this isn’t much of a surprise, as these incidents spiked hard within a couple months after the pandemic truly got messy, so I’m happy at least some people are starting to speak out. That said, kinda disappointed to see the lack of concern over this from Asian entertainers, I know other Asian-Americans in the industry have brought it up and like Year Of The Ox did a hit on it a while back, but it’s something that impacts all Asians.

https://twitter.com/bettinamak/status/1358873614741831693

Not sure what I expect to come from this, but honestly anything better than friends saying they’re concerned about letting their parents leave the house would probably be an improvement.