Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

"First, you find a house and scope it out. Find a Chinese neighborhood, cause they don't believe in bank accounts." These are the lyrics to the song "Meet the Flockers" by American rapper YG. The song, while describing in detail how to break into homes and steal, also explicitly says to target Chinese. Though the song is a couple of years old, it has recently drawn the outrage of Chinese netizens, for obvious reasons.



It is important to understand the context. As surprising as it might be to Chinese, there's actually nothing unusual about rap music going into details about how to commit crimes. Theft, murder, gangs and drugs are all regular themes in the genre of music known as "gangster rap." There is debate on whether the music is glorifying crime or simply artists making music about their lives. Whether the song would actually result in more people committing crime is not clearly established.



Under the assumption YG is simply rapping about what he knows, it only reaffirms an issue that receives very little attention in the West and even less in China. There is a serious societal issue in Western countries regarding the targeting of Chinese for crime.



Though almost none of it gets mainstream attention, some incidents are reported. For example, Asian students were systematically targeted for bullying, with some sent to the hospital, at South Philadelphia High School. There are also increasing cases of Chinese protesting these targeted crimes. Hundreds of Chinese protested at San Francisco's City Hall. The San Francisco Examiner cited a police study that in 85 percent of 300 physical assault crimes, the victims were Asian and the perpetrators were African-American. In New Zealand over 5,000 people signed a petition complaining that international students were being targeted for robberies. In Australia, there was a crime wave at the University of Melbourne that had so many Chinese victims that the Chinese consulate got involved. In France recently, tens of thousands of Chinese protested similar issues. These examples are just some of the high-profile reported ones.



Chinese should spread the truth of the bigger picture of what is happening. It is more productive than venting anger over a rapper's video. In context, a laundry ad that featured an untidy black man being transformed into a clean-cut Asian and an article in a Chinese airline magazine that warned travelers to avoid multi-racial areas of London, both of which were hyped up by Western media as a big racial issue, are quite telling.



Look at what the Western media pay attention to and make a big deal about. Look at what they ignore. It tells Chinese exactly what sort of people they are. The Western media should be ignored until they are ready to actually look at reality. With what is going on in the US, particularly recently, it is flattering they concern themselves with China so much. Chinese media should start extending the same courtesy.



Thorough reporting on what really happens in Western countries would help Chinese in China understand racial issues much better. For anyone shocked over the rap video, there are far more racist things in the West. Any Chinese who is surprised should take it as a sign that they have no idea what is going on. Blind foreign worship is a cancer in China that only flourishes due to lack of awareness. Perpetual ignorance breeds perpetual surprises - bad ones. Unfortunately Chinese media haven't done their job in reporting the truth of what happens in Western countries. There's no reason why crime and discrimination targeting Chinese shouldn't be covered more prominently in China. We must educate Chinese about this before they go overseas — even though we will end up protesting about it anyway.



Some say the problem is the belief that Chinese carry around a lot of cash or don't use banks. There's a difference between irresponsibility and doing something normal that criminals take advantage of. While there could be merit in recommending safe practices regarding wealth, that isn't a solution for crime. It's the authorities' job to deal with crime. Only when that fails, is it really necessary for the victims to make themselves less appealing as targets. So unless Western law enforcement is ready to concede they can't uphold the rule of law and protect the law abiding, making what Chinese victims need to do the primary focus is misplaced. Also if it is the case that Western society is more tolerant of robbery when the victims carry cash, then Chinese should be informed of those societal values as soon as possible.



Whatever else YG's song means, fundamentally it is about a problem that has seen examples all around the world. The situation is in fact dire enough that Chinese should probably thank the rapper for bringing attention to it at all, since few non-Chinese, especially corporate Western media, are.



The author is a writer from KultureMedia, a media watchdog on behalf of Asian Americans. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn Follow us on Twitter @GTopinion