Sinophobia is real and in your backyard
COVID-19 has been the cause of many things — losing friends and family, tanking the global economy, and raising the unemployment rate in the US to the highest it’s been since the Great Depression. However, it’s also caused another thing that’s seldom been talked about: the bigotry, racism, and discrimination faced by Asian Americans in the wake of the pandemic.
Asian Americans are often seen as the ideal minority. Men and women leave their native country in pursuit of the American dream, not speaking the language but succeeding in spite of that. The U.S. has no shortage of Asian American public figures and celebrities, ranging from former presidential candidate Andrew Yang, rappers Rich Brian and Joji, and Hollywood legend Jackie Chan.
With COVID-19 rampaging throughout the globe, however, racism against Asian Americans and Asians, in general, has blown up. From incidents like a Singaporean man being attacked in London by a group of teens while shouting about the coronavirus, or President Donald Trump calling the virus the “Chinese Virus,” to even PCC having to make announcements telling students and staff members to not discriminate against Asian students.
A student from PCC who requested to not be named described an experience they had at the DMV.
“It lasted for a few seconds and he drove away with his middle finger towards us,” said a student who experienced racism.
“It happened around mid-March … the school stopped face-to-face classes as well,” said the student. “When we got off the car and on our way to the line, a car stopped in front of us. The driver lowered his window and coughed at us intentionally. It lasted for a few seconds and he drove away with his middle finger towards us.”
They do not know anyone else who has personally experienced racism due to COVID-19 and hope that it remains that way.
Considering how Asians make up 24% of PCC’s student population, there is a possibility that another student, another peer has experienced something similar and hasn’t been given the chance or platform to talk about it. PCC has made attempts to quell the racism against Asian American students with emails and school announcements, but as classes are entirely online now, it’s hard to tell how effective they’ve been.
Hate crimes against Asian Americans, or just Asians in general, have skyrocketed recently.
This isn’t just an isolated incident either. Hate crimes against Asian Americans, or just Asians in general, have skyrocketed recently.
A woman at Starbucks requested for her drink to be remade since her barista was Asian, a man told an Asian woman to not “bring that chink virus here” and an Asian man was spat on a Brooklyn subway.
When you consider that a woman in London died after being spat on by a man claiming to have the virus, these incidents start looking a lot more dangerous.
Most of the above incidents were found in an article done by Cathy Park Hong for the New York Times, titled “The Slur I Never Expected to Hear.” Hong details many more incidents as well.
Why have these incidents begun to come out of the woodwork recently?
Peter Yu, President of the PCC CSSA (Chinese Student & Scholars Association) has a theory.
“I think there are several reasons that cause racism against Asian-Americans,” said Yu. “The first reason is that many news media said that COVID-19 is from China at the beginning. At this time, the situation in the U.S. is very serious, and many Americans have no income. So they really need a way to vent out. The second reason is that many Americans are influenced by the White House and President Trump. They now blame China for no reason and they passed this negative attitude to American citizens.”
The term “Chinese Virus” turns into associating Chinese people and Asians by extension with the virus, which leads to bigotry, discrimination, racism, and even violence.
Trump’s utilization of the term “Chinese Virus” serves no purpose other than to fuel the xenophobic and racist tendencies of many of his followers. As the president of the U.S., Trump has the eyes and ears of every American citizen on him. Whether people support him or not, the term “Chinese Virus” turns into associating Chinese people and Asians by extension with the virus, which leads to bigotry, discrimination, racism, and even violence.
It doesn’t help that Asians have long been the victims of covert racism.
Asians can’t drive, Asian’s can’t see well, Asians are good at math, the internet meme that there’s always an Asian better than you — these are all examples of the aforementioned covert racism, a form of racism that’s socially acceptable due to being passive aggressive, non-confrontational and evasive that works through the subsconscious.
While the jokes and memes may be humorous and not terribly offensive, they still work to undermine a group of people. Many Asians have simply learned to embrace them and learned to roll with it, for better or for worse.
It’s easy to get fired up and angry at the powerlessness many Americans feel thanks to COVID-19. People losing their jobs, people scared of getting sick, students feeling uncertain about their futures. Tensions are extremely high.
Racism and discrimination aren’t the answer to people’s frustrated outlets, though. Pasadena is in an area of L.A. County with a large Asian community. Neighboring cities like Arcadia and San Marino have a very high population of Asians. Asian students, such as Yu or the student who was coughed on, are people like everyone else.
