Fight the Virus and Fight the Bias: Asian Americans’ Engagement in Activism to Combat Anti-Asian COVID-19 Racism

Abstract

The global COVID-19 pandemic reinforced anti-Asian biases, accompanied by the rise of violence against Asians. We examined Asian Americans’ engagement in activism to combat anti-Asian racism and advance their community using the situational theory of problem solving (STOPS) and two additional factors—past discrimination and subjective norms. Asian American activism includes social media, political, and advocacy actions. Structural equation modeling was conducted with data from online survey responses of 240 Asian Americans. Our results suggest pathways from Asian Americans’ past racism experiences to political and advocacy actions via three perceptual factors in STOPS (problem, involvement, constraint recognition), subjective norms, and expression of opinion on social media.