Cindy Truong
Photo Courtesy of Pixabay
COVID-19 has already caused many stresses in our lives. With the inability to go outside freely, social distancing, and the transition to online school and work, this is a relatively new experience that everyone is getting used to. The stigma surrounding the cause of the Coronavirus and its origin of Wuhan, China, has brought another worry into the Asian community: discrimination toward Asians. Recently, President Donald Trump has repeatedly called COVID-19 the “Chinese Virus”. Using the name “Chinese Virus” allows others to target Asians and creates a negative connotation amongst them. This can lead to deadly attacks and xenophobia against Asian communities. Some Asians avoid going outside to their local grocery stores or laundromats, in fear of racist attacks towards them. Vast amounts of Asian businesses are also being greatly affected during this pandemic. People worry about contracting the virus if they travel near Asians, but they are instead labeling an entire race on a virus that does not discriminate. Sales within Asian businesses are suffering as people stray away out of fear and assumptions.
As New York became the epicenter of the Coronavirus in the United States, hate crimes increased toward Asians, mostly stemmed from panic. According to Newsweek, an Asian woman in New York City was attacked for allegedly wearing a face mask in the subway station. The woman, only wanting to identify as Gin, was beaten with an umbrella, was called “diseased b***h” and was imitated. She tried to tell the attacker to go away, but he continued to harass her until a witness stepped in and pulled him off. Wearing a face mask and being Asian increased her chances of becoming a target, but “what people are forgetting is that many Asians wore face masks way before the #coronavirus trend. They came in many varieties. The ones who wore the surgicals were doctors, nail techs, collected cans, or worked in a dim sum spot. The rest were worn by artists and celebrities,” Newsweek stated.
Another attack occurred at Sam’s club in Midland, Texas.19-year old Jose L.Gomez stabbed three Burmese Americans, a father, and his two young sons. The FBI report explains, “three Asian American family members, including a 2-year-old and 6-year-old, were stabbed … The suspect indicated that he stabbed the family because he thought the family was Chinese, and infecting people with the coronavirus.”
As concerns of xenophobia attacks towards Asians increases, more people are realizing that this should not be tolerated and normalized. Ordinary people are stepping up and spreading awareness about this issue through social media platforms like Instagram, and Twitter. A student at Brooklyn Latin, William Diep, Class II started a campaign called “Virus: Racism” to raise awareness of the discrimination towards Asian communities because of the Coronavirus. William first got the idea of starting this campaign when he came across videos of innocent Asian American individuals getting attacked in public during this pandemic on social media. This campaign gathers student voices and their stories to share on social media in hopes of garnering people’s attention, especially politicians to listen to the struggles Asian communities are facing right now. William stated, “When we unite to share our voices, then that brings a new generation of leaders to our world. I hope that the campaign can simply raise awareness of the discrimination against the Asian-American community because of COVID-19.”
However, despite the many positive reactions this campaign has received, there has been some difficulty managing this campaign. They need as many testimonies as possible to grow this campaign and there has also been hate left on the existing testimonies. Nevertheless, William has stated that “if we continue to share our testimonies, then unity and love will overpower any form of hate that comes.” This campaign runs on student testimonies so if you want to support them or even share your own testimony, feel free to check them out on Instagram at @virusracism, email them at virusracism@gmail.com, or contact them over twitter at @RacismVirus.
With more and more people stepping out about this issue, there is hope that racism toward Asians would not be ignored and hatred towards others would not be spread during difficult times like these. The coronavirus does not discriminate. The discrimination that people create is a new virus itself, spreading just as fast as the coronavirus.
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