How COVID-19 exacerbated xenophobic and anti-Asian rhetoric.
Anti-Asian racism has plagued our history since the beginning of continental travel. Those who are not White and Catholic were automatically labeled as” less-than,” incomparable to the white-savior coming ashore to rescue the foreigner from themselves. Long has the Asian community been used as scapegoats in times of crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated xenophobia and Anti-Asian racism. The dangerous rhetoric spewed by COVID deniers often mislabels the pandemic as the “Chinavirus,” or the “Kung-flu,” mirroring language used by President Donald Trump who was caught crossing out “corona” and replacing it with “Chinese” during March 2020 COVID briefings at the White House. Many Americans made similar xenophobic remarks during the Japanese internment camps in the 1940s as well as Islamophobic comments after the 9/11 terrorist attack. These sediments have long exposed the United States’ chauvinist ego. While we are beginning to call attention to this issue, deeper social injustices reveal the xenophobic attitude cemented in the world’s mentality.
Image by @ianhutchinson92 from UnsplashThe COVID-19 pandemic abruptly halted all sense of ordinary life, disrupting peace and creating a globally shared feeling of anger and fear. For the Asian community, the virus coming out of Wuhan further minoritized Asians, effectively “othering” an entire race from the rest of the world. An “Us versus Them” mentality was normalized for a brief moment while we struggled to transition from calling it the “Wuhan virus” to the “coronavirus.” The world shut down, and century’s old bigotry bubbled into our society. Asians are the third most common race found in America, yet the most common in the world. The narrative, however, implies that the Asian-community is a minority among whatever non-Asian country they’re in. By ostracizing the validity of a group, Westerners demean their power.
Western countries constantly prioritize the white man over every other race/gender; the Asian community was wholly invalidating Earth’s largest race. A study done by the Asian American Bar Association of New York found that “Anti-Asian hate incidents increased dramatically in the wake of the 9/11 attacks and then surged after the election of Donald J. Trump.” As the pandemic rages on with no end in sight, frustrated virus deniers all around the world search for an outlet to express their anger, while violent attacks towards Asians have risen exponentially. Many countries have instated anti-racial discrimination laws to prevent xenophobic attacks against victims who are usually old and defenseless.
Image by @MacauPhotoAgency from UnsplashAs of this moment, Asians are growing increasingly fearful of violence at an unprecedented rate. CEO of Jetset Times, Wendy Hung, tells an increasing awareness of being perceived as an Asian in a world where “Usually, folks couldn’t figure out where I was from until we conversed beyond cultural barriers and racial stereotypes.” Wendy’s Founder’s Note is one story out of the millions who now feel targeted for merely existing.
The only way we will make it out of this pandemic is if we stop the incessant finger-pointing, putting the blame where productive action should be. We are all suffering through the same circumstance; the entire world has shifted in perspective and lifestyle. Humans need to be helping one another. If you see something, say something, we can’t halt the spread of pandemic through unjust murder. We’ll only lose more of our humanity.
