When I first read the reports of mass shootings at the Atlanta spas, it seemed likely that the establishments would be tied to Asian immigrant business owners and workers. So it was tragic but not shocking to learn the identities of the victims. What came next, however, were the reports—largely taking the word of the shooter—that the killings were “not racially motivated.”

If we go back in time, we can actually see this happening again and again. Asians in the U.S. have been the victims of countless assaults, yet the non-Asian perpetrators and authorities have been quick to disclaim any racial motivation. This has occurred even in instances like the Cleveland Elementary School mass shooting in Stockton, California. In 1989, a decade before Columbine raised the specter of school shootings, a white man named Patrick Purdy gunned down five Southeast Asian children during recess on a school playground.

Before the media reported that Purdy was repeatedly heard making racist comments about Asians and refugees taking away jobs from whites, the police had already told the public there was no way to determine what motivated the killer.

When it comes to American exceptionalism, this is a feature not a bug. For decades, the U.S. has moved to expand its territorial reach through the conquest of land and other expressions of military and economic power. But such maneuvers have always been downplayed, misrepresented, or recast as acts of benevolence, defense, and democracy.

When the history of Asian Americans and U.S.-Asia relations surfaces inconvenient truths to dispel these myths, it is disregarded. When Asian Americans speak out, they are met with silencing and gaslighting. This book is part of a longstanding effort to elevate those voices and correct the record.

As traumatizing as many of Trump’s policies have been, his attitude may at least bring more clarity because he comes straight and claims imperialist intentions based on racist ideologies. As readers will see in my chapter on the colonization of the Philippines, even presidents William McKinley and Teddy Roosevelt tried to use relatively coded language and not say the quiet part out loud.