Assistant Professor Cary Wu<\/a> has been teaching at York University over the past year and has been studying how COVID-19 has been affecting the well-being of the Asian community in North America.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n One of Wu's students shared an incident with him when he was still teaching in person in the spring. She explained that some people would just push her during the pandemic. He shares that incidents like this are what motivates his anti-Asian racism research.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Professor Cary Wu launched The Asian Experience Project earlier in the pandemic. Headshot courtesy of Cary Wu.<\/p><\/div>\n Wu and his colleagues describe COVID-19 as a \u201cshadow pandemic.\u201d While there are a few definitions of a \u201cshadow pandemic\u201d globally due to the rise in anti-East Asian hate crimes, it is referencing the rise in anti- East Asian sentiment.<\/span><\/p>\n Wu shared insight on alleviating anti-East Asian discrimination in reporting. He <\/span>emphasizes\u00a0 the importance of not only objective reporting, research and data collection, but also institutional education and socialization to combat generational racism.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHistorically, when we look at one generation to another when we look at those issues of racism, a lot has to do with socialization or institutional education...We need to find ways to start early in school,\u201d Wu says.<\/span><\/p>\n![\"Headshot](\"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Cary-Wu_Sociology-333x500.jpg\")