On March. 17, six Asian women were killed in what many large media outlets failed to call an Anti-Asian hate crime. Since then, and with hate crimes on the rise following the start of the pandemic, there have been countless acts of racism and brutality faced by Asian Americans on a daily basis.

“I’ve seen lots of Asian discriminations, and misconceptions, for the Asian people… I know some families are receiving some misconceptions from others,” Chloe Lu, ‘24, said. Lu is an Asian American and club president of the recently formed Asian Media Club at WHHS. 

Hate crimes against Asians surged almost 150 percent in 2020 according to a report by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism. With phrases like “you don’t belong here,” and “take the Chinese virus back to your country,” being shouted at Asians, many are left scared to walk down the streets in fear of being taunted. 

After witnessing and having firsthand experiences with Asian stereotypes and prejudice, Lu wanted to spread awareness and give students an outlet to talk about all things Asia.

From K-pop, Anime, Asian cuisine, clothing, language and more Asian Media Club provides students with a way to share their thoughts and experiences in what Lu described as a “comfortable environment”. 

“[We want to] talk about Asian discriminations and all of these stereotypes they have against Asians, and just a lot of terrible things people think Asians do,” Lu said. “I would also like to get in-depth about more of the cultures and music too.”

Her main goal is to start the conversation at WHHS and take a look at the many different types of Asian culture. Talking through these important issues and about some of the ways Asia is portrayed in the media is something Lu hopes to do more of in the upcoming meetings. 

“We would like to tell everyone that Asia not only has the three countries, China, Japan, Korea but also many other countries and cultures,” Lu said. 

Lu leads the club with her friends Macy Brown, ‘24, Katherine Sampson, ‘24, Sophia Lin, ‘24, and Asha Balachandran, ‘24, who she’s known since seventh grade. 

“We share the same hobbies and we like to listen to K-pop and talk about Asian culture so it made sense [to lead the club together],” Lu said. 

As club leaders, their main role consists of planning for upcoming meetings. Although a large part of meetings consists of club members speaking and contributing to discussions, Lu also puts together slides to have some talking points prepared in advance. 

Getting Asian Media Club approved was a long and difficult process that took about six months from the idea to approval. 

“We had a total of two meetings, in the first one first we got rejected. It was because there were so many other similar clubs already,” said Lu. “By our second meeting, we revised our club charter to specifically differentiate our club from other Walnut Hills clubs and got approved.” 

In the future, Lu and the other club leaders hope to expand the club’s Instagram page, and when it’s allowed again, start to hold fundraisers after school to further raise awareness about Asian hate and discrimination. 

“I really hope we are able to hold fundraisers soon by selling bubble tea and a lot of wonderful Asian snacks and or products and accessories at Walnut,” Lu said. 

For now, because clubs cannot switch to meeting in person, Asian Media Club will continue to meet via Google Meet the first Thursday of every month from 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Currently, there are nine club members but anyone who’s interested, Asian or not, is invited to join. 

“We hope that people can join and simply talk about things, these topics, and express their opinions and feelings about it,” Lu said. “Anyone interested in learning Asian culture is welcome.”