Understanding anti-Asian hate: You eat dogs, don’t you?

Making a stand: Some 3,800 hate incidents against Asian Americans have been reported in the first full year of the Covid-19 pandemic. — Reuters

READERS of The Straits Times might recall a column by Olivia Ho that appeared a year ago this week in which she took note of rising racism against Asians in the United States.

While holidaying with her family in the city of New Orleans, just as the Covid-19-pandemic-induced lockdowns were kicking in, a man cycled past Ho and her sister with his dog in the basket. “Want to pet him?” he offered, before going on to say: “Bet you’d eat him.”