OPINION: It’s high time to address anti-South Asian hate

Editor’s Note: This story includes mention of potentially triggering situations, including hateful language and racism. 

As many do after a long day of work, I doom scroll on TikTok. Among cute cat videos and heavy lyrical analysis squeezed into a two-minute video, I frequently encounter videos that, to say the least, are a little unfavorable toward South Asians. In my experience, this unfavorability presents itself in the form of videos that depict South Asian people, especially Indians, as dirty or poorly groomed. 

The increased prevalence of such content specifically targeting South Asians could be attributed to a multitude of factors. Stop Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders Hate (AAPI) talks about how the rise of anti-Asian slurs, especially those directed toward South Asians, has increased over the past few months. This increase is particularly prevalent in online spaces associated with targeted violence like 4chan. Hate toward marginalized communities is as old as time; however, this recent increase could be attributed to a few socio-political events in America.  

The spikes in anti-South Asian hate are directly related to things like Kamala Harris’ presidential run or Usha Vance’s rise to the spotlight during Vice President JD Vance’s election bid. A more recent increase is associated with the rise of the Democratic mayoral candidate for New York City Zohran Mamdani. According to Stop AAPI Hate, the ongoing debates about the H-1B visas and the recent skirmish between India and Pakistan have brought South Asians into the spotlight. 

Alas, this spotlight also comes with a reignition of the prejudices against South Asians in the public sphere. Social media presents itself as a platform for expressing this. Addressing this prejudice is key to challenging this very pressing issue of hate against a marginalized group like South Asians.   

I won’t delve into the origins of prejudice. I will, however, emphasize framing social media as a public sphere and how establishing baseline ethics for engaging with this public space can help us tackle the issue of hate driven by prejudice.  

Here’s a hypothetical scenario: I, as a South Asian, feel unwelcome because of flags or banners hoisted in an area with slurs or hateful language directed toward my ethnicity. I am naturally bound to develop an unsavory notion about that area, irrespective of the views of the people living there. There is a good chance that not everybody living there has the same attitude toward South Asians, but for me, the optics of the visit itself are enough to make me not feel like going there again. I do not hold myself at fault for developing this notion precisely because the community of that area has created a permission structure that allows this open display of prejudiced hate.  

This is very much analogous to the environment on social media. Due to its limited ability to regulate speech and simultaneously uphold the principle of freedom, established platforms like Instagram or TikTok fall prey to creating a permissible environment for hate online. They do not endorse hate content, nor do all of the users on these platforms. However, the existence of such content is evidence of a lack of ethics in communication on online platforms.  

The issue of hate online is not one of content but rather of method, or a lack thereof. In a discussion on regulating free speech in my political philosophy class, a classmate of mine proposed the idea of regulating the method of speech rather than its content. I cannot advocate for the regulation of speech from an authoritative position. However, the idea of establishing a basic ethic or civility of communication seems attractive to me, especially in the case of addressing hate online.  

A simple rule that all of us can follow is to consider how expressing something hateful toward another human being might affect them. I am of the strong belief that most hate isn’t malicious, and everyone who expresses hate can be convinced to turn away from it. It must start with us students, probably the most chronically online generation who will develop into future productive members of society.  

Our membership in a public space itself should push us to develop a safe environment for everyone to exist in. This includes calling out hate when we see it expressed and responding graciously to people who express hate. Offering grace and love can help people recognize their own humanity and inspire them to recognize the humanity of others. This recognition can come by educating ourselves and people around us about the harms of hate and just making an effort to support the victims of hate. The key to live by an ethic is to use our platforms with purpose, we must be active participants in the public discourse as silence is complicity. Be it online or in person, our method of engagement with others must mirror a basic ethic of grace and humanity that everyone deserves.