This was a really interesting topic, one that I was glad to see being covered in an event. Oftentimes, attention is only called to racism when it captures the interest of white populations; during COVID, people are interested in seeing the ways society is changing as a consequence to the pandemic. This has prompted new discussions about racism, which cover slightly different topics than ever before. In this case, the topic was a surge in hate crimes for Asian populations around the world.

Hate crimes are an easy way for white populations to identify racism, which was one point brought up during the talk. The reality is that racism comes in many forms, including generational trauma, displacement, and environmental racism, but these are often less obvious for those who have never needed to recognize it. Populations with high concentrations of people of color are oftentimes sidelined when it comes to resource allocation, voting, and safety: we saw this with Flint, Michigan, and numerous other communities which have experienced poisonous conditions that may still remain undetected. Due to the complex nature of centuries old acts of racism, one more noticeable way to measure racism in media tends to be the measure of hate crimes.