COVID-19 Pandemic and Anti-Asian Racism & Violence in the 21st Century

• Author: Hyeyoung Lim,Claire Seungeun Lee,Chunrye Kim
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/21533687221138963
• Published date: 01 January 2023
• Date: 01 January 2023
• Subject Matter: Editorial

COVID-19 Pandemic and

Anti-Asian Racism & Violence

in the 21st Century

Hyeyoung Lim

1

, Claire Seungeun Lee

2

,

and Chunrye Kim

3

Abstract

Since the beginning of the 21st century, we have experienced major pandemics

and epidemics. However, we believe the COVID-19 pandemic was the f‌irst

time a certain racial/ethnic group or nationality was blamed for the pandemic/epi-

demic. Anti-Asian racism and violence worldwide are not new, but they are on

the rise during the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the crimes against Asians dur-

ing the pandemic received substantial media attention, there has been a paucity of

empirical research in social science that addresses xenophobic sentiments, rac-

ism, and violence against Asians. To bridge the gap, the Korean Society of

Criminology in America (KOSCA) invited papers to address the current global

issue of anti-Asian racism and violence in mid2021. It was challenging to conduct

empirical research because of the lack of data availability, time restrictions, and

the narrowed research scope (e.g., Asians). This editorial introduction intro-

duces six articles in this Special Issue of Race and Justice,“Anti-Asian Racism &

Violence.”We call for further, continuous attention to anti-Asian racism and vio-

lence, and we hope this special issue creates more scholarly discussion on this

understudied, often-neglected topic.

Keywords

Asian, race, ethnicity, racism, hate, violence, COVID-19

1

Department of Criminal Justice, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA

2

School of Criminology and Justice Studies, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA, USA

3

Sociology and Criminal Justice Department, Saint Joseph’s University, Philadelphia, PA, USA

Corresponding Author:

Hyeyoung Lim, Department of Criminal Justice, University of Alabama at Birmingham,1201 University Blvd.

UBOB 210, Birmingham, AL 35294, USA.

Email: hyeyoung@uab.edu

Editorial

Race and Justice

2023, Vol. 13(1) 3-8

© The Author(s) 2022

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DOI: 10.1177/21533687221138963

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