Anti-Asian Racism

Anti-Asian Racism

When talking about racism, many young people are introduced to the concept as being defined as specific hateful words, or simply as “treating someone different based on the color of their skin”. The purpose of this video is to introduce the vessel through which racism moves to affect those in the AAPI community and highlight the differences of lived experience of AAPI folks and white folks.

By identifying and defining character traits and exploring what character traits Asian people are assigned versus their white counterparts, young people will be able to more easily discern and distinguish what a microaggression means and feels like.

Start the Conversation

How do you talk about anti-Asian racism with your child? Start the conversation with teaching artist Eric Gelb in our latest Start the Conversation series.

In the video, Eric defines key terms like race, racism, and stereotype and encourages young people to think critically about how to identify, challenge and counteract anti-Asian racism.

Next Steps

Are you ready to continue this conversation?

After watching the video, talk with your young person about Anti-Asian Racism. Try asking them the following questions:

• What is a microaggression, and how is it still harmful as a form of racism for AAPI people specifically?
• What differences are there between the way Asian characters and White characters are presented in the media?
• What is context, and why is it always important when talking about racism?

More Resources for Parents:

Anti-Asian Violence Resources

Violence Against Asian Americans: How Do We Support the Children?

Anti-Racism Resources for the AAPI Community; Cornell University

Asian Americans, racism, and antiracism in the COVID Era

30 AAPI Books for Kids of All Ages

Teaching Young Children About Race from Teaching for Change 

Let’s Talk: Discussing Race, Racism, and Other Difficult Topics with Children from Teaching Tolerance 

Yong, Proud, and Sung-jee by Joyce Y. Lee and Emily Ku 
This is a children’s book on fighting anti-Asian racism during COVID-19. The purpose of this book is to provide an educational resource to help generate meaningful discussions between adults and children about anti-Asian racism. An incident involving anti-Asian racism is directly introduced in the story. Additional resources for parents and caregivers, as well as a list of child-friendly definitions of some “big words” are provided at the end of the book. A downloadable version of the book, along with translations in multiple languages, can be found at: www.youngproudsungjee.com

Start More Conversations

NYCCT’s Start the Conversation series has covered topics like race, civic duty, immigration, re-emerging from COVID-19 and more.

Future Conversations