The allure of standardized metrics for college admissions is understandable. A truly objective way for students to showcase their potential regardless of race or class would be a powerful equalizer. Sadly, the SAT and ACT are just the opposite -- they obfuscate students’ ability while amplifying entrenched power structures.

A center tracking reports of racism and discrimination against Asian Americans says it has received 6,603 firsthand complaints since last year. There were at least 2,410 anti-Asian hate incidents in the first three months of this year, according to Stop AAPI Hate's latest report, released Thursday.

Racism against Asian Americans is longstanding and complex, and requires a comprehensive and multi-faceted approach. We need resources dedicated to local communities, including community safety programs and in-language support for those in need of mental health, legal and immigration services.

Cynthia Choi of Stop AAPI Hate and Chinese For Affirmative Action joins us to talk about scapegoating, the data collected on these verbal and physical attacks, and the pressing need for community-led, intersectional public safety initiatives.

In a troubling report released last month, Stop AAPI Hate said 126 of the incidents involved Asian Americans over the age of 60. “These violent assaults have a devastating impact on our community as they are part of an alarming rise in anti-Asian American hate during the COVID-19 pandemic,” co-founders of STOP AAPI Hate said in a February 9 statement.

“Something is changing in this generation of Asian Americans," said Lin. "We are tired of being told that we don’t experience racism, we are tired of being told to keep our heads down and not make trouble,” Lin, who plays for the NBA G League’s Santa Cruz Warriors, wrote in an Instagram post Thursday. “We are tired of being invisible, of being mistaken for our colleague or told our struggles aren’t as real.”

California is one of the most linguistically diverse regions in the world nearly a year into the pandemic, that distinction continues to complicate attempts by state officials to disseminate critical information to all Californians. So far, the state provides materials in 18 languages and 10 indigenous dialects spoken in Latin America.

Leaders in the Asian community want the tech industry in particular to be more vocal and take sustained action, owing to the outsized power and influence it wields, its large Asian employee and customer base and its dominance of the San Francisco Bay Area, home to a large Asian population.