Learnings from a Friend from Wuhan, China
Racial intolerance lurks within all of us.
Though there is no conclusive proof of its origin, many people are labeling this pandemic as the Wuhan virus, China virus, or the COVID-19 from Wuhan.
I did too. Until a day in the early stages of the Pandemic, when I called a friend in New Jersey to ask how her parents were doing in China. It was February 2020 and the virus had not spread across America, yet.
This friend is Chinese and lives in the U.S. Her elderly parents live in China.
In our conversation, she shared that her parents visited the U.S. for the Christmas holidays and are back in China now, staying with relatives in Beijing because Wuhan is under strict lockdown!
Wait, what did she say? Her parents are from WUHAN?
Startled and intrigued, I asked if she was born there. She said yes and her parents still live there but are currently displaced in Beijing.
Awkward SILENCE...
The pandemic hadn’t hit the U.S. in full force yet, but Wuhan, the epicenter of this pandemic, was a household name.
A plethora of questions came to mind.
- Have you been to the wet market in Wuhan?
- Is that the source of this virus?
