Confronting Anti-Asian Racism in Art and Visual Culture Education

Abstract

A s Asian American art educators, we have paid close attention to the recent violence and hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI), such as the Atlanta-area spa shootings on March 16, 2021, and a 91-year-old Asian man being shoved to the ground in Oakland, California. According to a STOP AAPI Hate national report (Jeung et al., 2021), Asians, Asian Americans, and Pacific Islanders were targeted in 3,292 hate crimes in 2020 due to the COVID-19 global crisis. The Pew Research Center reports that 40% of U.S. adults believe more people have expressed racist views toward Asians since the pandemic began (Ruiz et al., 2020). The STOP AAPI Hate report (Jeung et al., 2021) addressed hate crimes and harassment concerns about AAPI, stating that 1,800 racist incidents against Asian Americans took place between March and May 2020. In this article, considering these urgent issues and concerns about AAPI in our society, we provide antiAsian racism strategies and art pedagogies that art educators and students can use to address anti-Asian hate crimes and violence in art education.