UMD prof uses disputed database to criticize media coverage of anti-Asian hate crimes
The professor uses data from a 'community-based reporting site' that the National Association of Scholars has criticized as a product of 'social justice education.'
'Campus Reform' previously reported on another article in which a professor argues that 'White supremacy does not require a White person to perpetuate it.'
University of Maryland professor Janelle Wong recently wrote an article criticizing media coverage of anti-Asian hate crimes for showing the attacks being perpetuated by Black men.
In last week’s Medium post, the Asian American Studies professor argues that despite the number of “viral” videos showing Black men assaulting Asian individuals, “multiple data sources show an age-old historical pattern of white [sic] people being responsible for the majority of anti-Asian violence.”
Wong repeatedly cites “StopAAPIHate,” which she describes as a “community-based reporting site.”
As Campus Reform reported in April, Stop AAPI Hate — a project spearheaded by San Francisco State University — collects data in an entirely self-reported and anonymous fashion, while neglecting to require substantial evidence of hate-based incidents.
“The entire point of social justice education is to subordinate academic research to progressive activism — and producing this sort of website, intended to gather factitious data to support progressive policy, is exactly what they now think is their academic mission,” explained National Association of Scholars Director of Research David Randall to Campus Reform in April. “Certainly real academics would care more about best existing practices for collecting and reporting data, and seek to provide information to be used for any policy response whatsoever.”
Additionally, Wong’s remarks are similar to those of Jennifer Ho, a University of Colorado-Boulder professor who claims that “White supremacy does not require a White person to perpetuate it.”
Ho stated in an article that although “Black people are also attacking Asian Americans,” White people “are the main perpetrators of anti-Asian racism.”
Campus Reform reached out to Wong for comment; this article will be updated accordingly.
Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @BenZeisloft
