Black on Asian Violence= White Racism?

Hat tip Campus Reform 

Campus Reform has an article running on a Colorado University (Boulder) professor of ethnic studies and critical race studies named Jennifer Ho, who writes that prejudice against Asian people (and Asian- Americans) is mainly fueled by "white supremacy". The Campus Reform article is here, and Ho's written article in The Conversation can be found here (as well as in the Campus Reform article by Ophelie Jacobson).

With all due respect to Ho, who is of Asian background herself, I respectfully disagree with her thesis. Though I myself am not of Asian background, I have spent most of my life in close association with Asians and Asian-Americans as well as having lived in Asia for three years (Thailand). Nobody can accuse me of being anti-Asian; quite the opposite.

It is indisputable that in historical terms, racism against Asians in America is a fact. From the Chinese Exclusion Act to the relocation of Japanese and Japanese-Americans from the West Coast during World War 2, there has been much racism directed against Asians, and it has historically been primarily by whites, who were at one time in America in a position of true supremacy. I need not add the history of discrimination against African-Americans in this country. Yet, I still would argue that America today is no longer a racist country, and the notion of white supremacy has all but been eradicated in recent decades. The fact that you can dig up an occasional KKK or neo-Nazi type out from under a rock does not change that fact. For example, the KKK, once powerful in some parts of the country, has no influence today.

Where I differ with Ho more specifically is that, in my view, while some white prejudice does exist and was to a certain extent manifested during the Covid-China debate, whites are not the primary perpetrators of attacks on Asians today. Ho concedes that many of the attacks have been committed by black people. Yet, in true academic form, no matter who commits the act, it is white racism that must be blamed, according to Professor Ho. 

But what do you expect from a university professor of ethnic and critical race studies? To blame any attack carried out against Asians on white racism no matter who the perp is can only be described as academic nuttery.

At no time do I suggest that blacks are anti-Asian as a rule. They are not. However, it is pretty clear that strains of anti-Asian feelings do exist within the black community, and for Ho to try and whitewash this does no favor to that community. It is the same as anti-Semitism; we must all acknowledge and fight hate within all our communities or ethnic groups.

In a broader sense, if all this hate crime legislation is going to have any credibility, it must be applied evenly to all, no matter who the offender is and no matter who the victim is. There is a great tendency today not to point the finger of blame unless the perpetrator is white. Anything other than the pure unvarnished truth is a disservice to all of society. At one time or another, we have all been guilty. Who has been completely innocent of bias?