In a recent article in The New York Times, Vanessa Hua tackled the subject of how American- born Asian Americans are finding it challenging to protect their parents from the current spate of xenophobic attacks. Language and cultural norms are getting in the way.

Writes Hua, “In the wake of recent shootings in Atlanta by a white gunman that left eight dead—six of them of Korean or Chinese descent and surging attacks against Asian-Americans across the country, families have grappled with how to talk to their elders about protecting themselves.”

Of the more than 18 million Asian-Americans in the United States, roughly three-quarters of adults were born abroad, according to William H. Frey, a demographer, fellow at the Brookings Institution, and professor at the University of Michigan. “Generational and cultural gaps make conversations about race and violence difficult between parents and their American-born and raised children and grandchildren, who may not fluently speak the native language of their elders.”