To me, the attacks on Asian Americans are as puzzling as they are deplorable, taking place in cities – New York, San Francisco – that are not only sophisticated, ethnically diverse, and famously tolerant but that have large, long-established Asian communities (the most visible and, one thought, the most accepted being the Chinese). I wonder if the prejudice toward them is new, or if it’s always been there among a small population that now feels emboldened to make it public. Either way, it suggests that as a nation we are regressing.
