Education, not just laws, can help root out racism

Hating or even violently attacking somebody just because his or her ethnicity is different from yours is one of the most deeply rooted aspects of pernicious racism.

Recently, alarmingly growing numbers of cases of such hate crimes across the United States and Canada have highlighted that, sadly, racial prejudice is alive and well, even in places where it may be least expected. Stop AAPI Hate, a group that fights hatred, harassment and discrimination against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States, reported 2,800 hate incidents last year alone.

Of course, it must be admitted that every race, every country, contains both good and bad people. But to set yourself against all the members of a particular race, for reasons best known only to yourself, though generally including a large dose of ignorance, represents the height of racism and is an ugly thing to see.

In response to the thousands of unprovoked assaults in recent months on Asians living in the US, the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, which aims to deter hate crimes against Asian Americans, has been passed by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden. But can any such legislation alone, however well-intentioned, stamp out the deeply entrenched racism, while crimes are committed by so many prejudiced citizens?

Recent well-publicized cases of people assaulting Asians in the US have shocked the world. But that is not to say that racism does not raise its ugly head elsewhere, and all too often. To reach a situation in the US where the numbers of such hate crimes are diminishing, rather than dramatically increasing, as now, will only be achieved when hearts and minds are swayed. Legislation alone, sadly, will not be sufficient to stamp out this deeply rooted problem from US society.

In a distressing recent video clip that has been widely circulated on social media, a tall and hefty man knocks an elderly Asian woman to the ground, then proceeds to kick her repeatedly in the face. Not the least loathsome aspect of such vile conduct was that it was an unprovoked attack, with the bully hurting a frail senior only a third his weight. As well as being an appalling bully, he is also a coward.

Such distressing brutality was made all the worse by the lack of anyone near the scene of this attack daring to intervene to protect the woman. To take no action in such a situation can be misread as supporting the flagrant, racially motivated brutality. Shame on the passive onlookers for their inaction.

Such a violent attack, on a public street in broad daylight, points to the brazen hatred of the vile assailant and also to his confidence in surmising－correctly, as it turned out－that nobody would go to the aid of his frail, innocent victim. These and many more anti-Asian attacks seem to have become far more widespread in the US of late, which is itself deeply shameful.

It is sadly ironic that any ethnic minority should face prejudice in the US, which after all is a land of immigrants who played instrumental roles in making the country the economic success that it is today. Most families in the US have been there for only a few hundred years at most.

All ethnic groups need to get along with each other, to coexist peacefully in the multicultural mix that the US is today. These anti-Asian hate attacks, preceded by generations of discriminatory government policies and interpersonal prejudices against Native Americans and African Americans, show that there is still a very long way to go before a truly tolerant society is achieved.

In dealing with hate-crime perpetrators in the US court system, those found guilty of such appalling crimes should receive long sentences to stop them from being able to repeat their crime.

But no legal sentence in the world can be a magic bullet. Instead, we must go back to education, where efforts are needed to provide familiarity with different ethnic groups. This is because a level of ignorance about other races plays a large part in the development of racial prejudice.

To tackle that at school means, sadly, that even if these much-needed, enhanced measures are introduced quickly during education, it will take a number of years to produce more-enlightened graduates.

That leaves us with a number of racially prejudiced, violent adults who need to be deterred from undertaking more assaults on Asian Americans by the reactivation of the strong arm of the law.

The author is a veteran commentator on current social issues. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.