Increasing Racism Towards Asians And Asian Americans

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Increasing Racism towards Asians and Asian Americans 

Coronavirus and Racism

We’ve all come to know the Coronavirus since these last couple of months and we are also getting to see how drastic and deadly it is. It has single-handedly made the human race vulnerable and scared. The cases are still increasing very rapidly until to this day and the death toll is about hit the hundred thousand mark only in the U.S. And almost everyone is struggling financially, mentally and physically during this time, millions and millions of people have lost their job and more are continuing to lose their jobs because their companies are going under or going bankrupt, as a result, unemployment rates are skyrocketing. People are concerned about their rent, food, and the health of their family members. And during this time of crisis, some ignorant and bigots are discriminating against the Asian community mentally, physically, and virtually. Those bigots are making them feel alienated and they are making them feel ashamed just because they are who they are. And during this difficult time when they are already struggling, these kinds of hurtful actions and messages are having a massive negative impact on the Asian community.

For the past couple of months, videos and articles related to hate crimes towards Asians because of Coronavirus have been appearing on many social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube, etc. And many people including me were deeply hurt, upset, and outraged to see these things happening and many of them spoke out against these racist actions and many demanded justice for the people who were the victim of these crimes. And I decided that I would dig a little deeper so I watched a lot of these videos that were reported as hate crimes because of the Coronavirus against Asians, did quite a bit of research and read many articles and I have discovered some very interesting, new, and solid pieces of information. And I have selected a few of those articles to analyze this situation, to show how these racists, ignorant, and irrational acts are affecting the Asian community and how Trump might face obstacles in the upcoming election because of this whole Coronavirus ordeal. Many people are showing their support to the Asian community by speaking out against bigoted, racist, and xenophobic crimes by making videos of themselves or posting their writings on social media platforms. Also, many celebrities are trying to raise awareness with the help of their fame, connection, and enormous fanbase. Among many of them, some noted celebrities are, John Cho(actor), Mark Ruffalo(actor and producer), Cardi B(famous singer and actress), Jack Tapper(CNN anchor), and Joey King(actor), etc. They are trying to raise awareness and prevent xenophobia and trying to unite everyone together during this difficult time instead of playing the blame game. And the goal of this research is to spread awareness and to support the Asian community during this difficult time.

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The effects of discrimination against Asians on the Asian community

As the Coronavirus made its way to U.S.A from China and spread its wings to various states and the cases started to grow exponentially, many people panicked and prepared themselves for a possible apocalypse, they were busy with themselves and their family but there were some prejudiced people who were making life hell for the Asian community. The Asian community have faced and are still facing many, many hassles because of the ignorance of some people, even during the early stage of coronavirus when there were only a hundred or less cases, the Asian community faced difficulty because of the stereotyping stigma that was inflicted upon them by ignorant, racist, and backward peoples, business for Asians were terrible, all Asian restaurants that were crowded usually were near empty, Asians shops were missing customers. And not to mention Asians were being abused mentally, physically, and even on the internet. (Kandil) They were not being treated like humans, one moment they were model residents of America, and next, they were being spat on, racially verbalized, even beaten. (Tavernise)By May, there was over half a thousand racists acts committed against Asians in just one week. (Kandil). Children of both the victim and the inflicter were being exposed to racism at a young age which might just give them a distorted view of the world when they grow up. The Asian community is concerned and afraid for their health and family, they are afraid to get out, they can’t go out do even normal activities. And some are so scared and concerned that they are purchasing guns to protect themselves and their family.

This is not the only time, they have done it before

People and officials of the United States tend to associate certain diseases with specific races of people and treat them as the scapegoat for the casualties of that disease. NPR host Emily, Kwong, with the help of historian Erika Lee, in the NPR Podcast, “As Coronavirus spreads, Racism and Xenophobia too”, brings out the big topic that associating specific diseases with a certain race is part of a bigger and longer history, they have done it a lot of times before. And not just with Asians but many other races and ethnicities were victims to being linked to certain diseases. In the 1900s, the bubonic plague was discovered in Chinatown, San Francisco and it was blamed on the Chinese immigrants, Americans viewed Chinese people, their spaces as cesspools of vermin, infections, and diseases. And all the white residents of Chinatown were removed except the Chinese people and the whole Chinatown was quarantined and flooded with disinfectants and chemicals. (Kwong, NPR) And there are many more histories and examples where ethnicities got entangled with diseases and were discriminated against and victimized.

Coronavirus and Trump’s remarks, possible key factors in the upcoming election for Trump

As the whole country and the economy suffers, the Asian Community crumbles with fear and shame because of racism and bigotry, and while some are trying to prevent this, the supreme political leader of our country is not helping. It’s his duty to stop these things from happening or even speak out against it but instead, he sort of encourages and approves these kinds of behaviors by making what is supposedly racist remarks. In his press conferences and tweets, he uses the term, “Chinese virus” on multiple occasions. And that gives the ignorant people more excuses to spread their irrational beliefs and ideas. Melody, Hahm phrases Andrew Yang in, “ Andrew Yang: Trump’s ‘evil’ claims about Asians and coronavirus could be ‘key factor’ in the election”, Andrew Yang who is former presidential candidate told Yahoo Finance, “It’s not just wrong and evil to characterize this virus in racial terms,” Yang told Yahoo Finance. “It’s also going to be a key factor in whether he’s successful in getting re-elected by making the case to the American people that this was somehow a foreign effort as opposed to a phenomenon that frankly experts have been warning about for years ahead of time.”(Hahm) Trump and Trump’s administration faced immense criticism for the way they handled Coronavirus from the beginning until now and Trump is constantly trying to blame his incompetence and faults on China. And it is very possible that Trump’s chances for triumph on the next election may be reduced due to the late response and really underestimating the virus from the very beginning and then when it starts to get out control he tries to clear his name by blaming foreign countries.

Works Cited

  1. Hahm, Melody. “Andrew Yang: Trump’s ‘Evil’ Claims about Asians and Coronavirus Could Be ‘Key Factor’ in Election.” Finance Yahoo, 23 Apr. 2020, finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-asians-coronavirus-could-emerge-as-key-election-issue-andrew-yang-195214098.html. Accessed 27 April 2020.
  2. Kandil, Yoshiko Caitlin. “Asian Americans Report over 650 Racist Acts over Last Week, New Data Says.” NBCNews.Com, NBCUniversal News Group, 27 Mar. 2020, www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/asian-americans-report-nearly-650-racist-acts-over-last-week-n1169821. Accessed 26 April 2020.

Works Cited Cont.

  1. Kwong, Emily, and Gene Demby. “As Coronavirus Spreads, Racism And Xenophobia Are Too.” NPR Choice Page, 11 Mar. 2020, choice.npr.org/index.html?origin=https://www.npr.org/2020/03/09/813700167/as-coronavirus-spreads-racism-and-xenophobia-are-too. Accessed 26 April 2020.
  2. Tavernise, Sabrina, and Richard A. Oppel. “Spit On, Yelled At, Attacked: Chinese-Americans Fear for Their Safety.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 23 Mar. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/03/23/us/chinese-coronavirus-racist-attacks.html. Accessed 28 April 2020.    

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